Clean Energy EXPO 2025: Transportation and Mobility

The 28th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Thursday, July 24, 2025. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucuses serving as honorary co-hosts. It featured eight panels, including Transportation and Mobility.

Genevieve Cullen, President, Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA)

Carrie Annand, Executive Director, American Biomass Energy Association (ABEA)

Arthur L. Guzzetti, Vice President, Policy and Mobility, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

Highlights

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Electrification is a foundational and growing pillar of sustainable transportation, driving economic growth and enhancing energy security.
Biofuels, specifically ethanol, offer a significant and immediately scalable solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and stimulating rural economies.
Public transportation requires infrastructure improvements and technological integration to continue being a vital strategy for energy efficiency and sustainability.

The global and domestic transportation markets are shifting towards electrification. The United States currently has more than 7 million plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads. However, the country is falling behind international trends, with EVs representing 9% of U.S. car sales compared to 25% globally.
While the United States has over 200,000 public EV charging stations, more are needed to meet a growing demand.
EVs promote economic development, with more than $330 billion invested in the EV supply chain in the United States in the last two years, resulting in new jobs that also boost U.S. competitiveness.
Electrification fits into the transportation of the future. It configures to private and commercial needs, offers solutions in an increasingly energy-demanding world, enhances energy security through diversification of energy sources, and is a scalable pathway to sustainable transportation.

Forest and agricultural waste such as tree tops, limbs, rice hulls, nutshells, and oat hulls can be used to generate electricity.
Biomass energy can help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires by converting materials that would otherwise fuel fires into electricity that can power transportation.
Renewable fuel standards can provide credits to biomass power producers to generate more grid power for electric transportation.

Chris Bliley, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Growth Energy

Using an ethanol blend in liquid gas results in a nearly 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to regular gasoline.
Today, regular gasoline has at least 10% ethanol. This ratio will soon increase to a 15% ethanol blend at approximately 5,000 gas stations across the country. However, we still have opportunities to expand to the other 130,000 gas stations in the country along with other markets like aviation and ships.
If the United States switched all liquid gas to a 15% ethanol blend, it would be equivalent to taking nearly four million cars off the road today—reducing greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 17 to 18 million tons.
Ethanol provides consumer savings at the pump and drives jobs to rural economies across the country.

Arthur L. Guzzetti, Vice President, Policy and Mobility, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

As transit finds new ways to carry people, one should not only consider the commute to work, but also big events like sports games and festivals. Improved transportation infrastructure will be particularly beneficial ahead of the United States playing host to both the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and Olympics in 2028.
Optimal public transportation not only embraces new technologies like artificial intelligence but is also cognizant of what kind of world is desired from these technologies. Ideally, these technologies enhance the community aspect of public transportation.
Transportation solutions are not one-size-fits-all. Public transportation in rural areas, for example, primarily consists of demand-response trips, while urban public transportation consists of fixed-route trips.

Compiled by Isabel Rosario-Montalvo and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.