WASHINGTON, D.C. --- In 2005, demand for ethanol averaged about 263,000 barrels a day, or 4 billion gallons for the year, a fuel specialist told MarketWatch. Godon Schremp, senior fuels specialist with the California Energy Commission, added that California today uses almost 1 billion gallons of ethanol a year, representing a quarter of the domestic market. In January of this year, the U.S. ethanol industry produced 288,000 barrels a day, MarketWatch reported. Last fall, Congress voted to mandate a seven-year ramp-up in the volume of biofuel blended in U.S. gasoline stocks. Ethanol is expected to fulfill most of the mandated biofuel requirements. This year, the legislation calls for nearly 4 billion gallons of biofuel to be blended. The requirement climbs to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.