Survey: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Renewable Fuels

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans overwhelmingly support renewable fuels and the U.S. government's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), according to a survey conducted by Research Now and commissioned by Fuels America, a consortium created to defend the RFS.

According to the nationwide study, conducted June 7-12 among 1,000 adults aged 18-plus, 80 percent said they want the nation to be using more renewable fuels. In addition, 73 percent said they want more fuel options at gas stations.

"Oil companies will do anything to keep competition from cutting into profits," Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council, said in a news release issued by Fuels America. "That's why they've launched an all-out assault on homegrown oil alternatives like renewable fuel. Consumers aren't being fooled, however. They know oil companies are to blame and are demanding choices at the pump."

Sixty-nine percent of survey respondents said they believe replacing oil imports with renewable fuel production is "critical" to national security. "With 93 percent of the U.S. transportation sector dependent on oil, America is woefully susceptible to global price spikes and international security threats," added Andrew Holland, senior fellow at the Americans Security Project, a member of the Fuels America consortium.

The Research Now survey also delved into how current volatile gasoline prices affect consumers. More than half of respondents (55 percent) said they would likely take fewer road trips to visit friends and family if gas prices were go up. Twenty-seven percent said they would enjoy fewer meals out, while 17 percent would cut back on clothes spending, and 12 percent would spend less on gifts for birthdays and holidays.

According to Fuels America, its goal is to defend the RFS and the "economic, employment, domestic renewable energy and national security benefits the RFS provides." The Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to use 13.8 billion gallons of ethanol this year and 15 billion by 2015. Ethanol is typically combined with gasoline in a formula of up to 10 percent.

The coalition is comprised of Growth Energy, 25x25, Abengoa Bioenergy, ACORE, Advanced Ethanol Council, American Coalition for Ethanol, American Security Project, Biotechnology Industry Organization, DuPont, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, National Sorghum Producers, Novozymes, POET and the Renewable Fuels Association.

The Research Now survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.