The RFS is a federal rule that requires renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. RINs are the credits that prove the blending happened, and they can be bought and sold.
RFS stands for Renewable Fuel Standard. It is the federal program that sets how many gallons of renewable fuel must be mixed into the gasoline and diesel sold each year. The companies on the hook, called obligated parties, are mainly refiners and importers, and the law sets each one a yearly target based on how much fuel it makes or brings in.
RIN stands for Renewable Identification Number. Every batch of renewable fuel produced gets a RIN attached to it, like a serial number. When that renewable fuel is blended into regular fuel, the RIN can be separated and used to prove the blending obligation was met. An obligated party that did not blend enough itself can buy RINs from someone who blended extra.
That buying and selling gives RINs a price, and that price moves. So a credit that began as a paperwork tracker has become a real cost or a real source of income, depending on which side of the obligation you are on. The value can swing hard with policy and supply.
Most local jobbers are not obligated parties, so they do not file RFS targets. The reason it still touches them is price: the value of RINs is baked into what blended fuel costs at the rack, so it moves a jobber’s cost even when the jobber never handles a single credit directly.
In useWhen RIN prices climb, the cost of blended fuel at the rack climbs too, so the jobber pays more even though it never trades a credit itself.
Where the word comes from
RFS is short for Renewable Fuel Standard, the federal rule. RIN is short for Renewable Identification Number, the serial number assigned to each batch of renewable fuel.
See also Ethanol blend, Biodiesel, Renewable diesel