GreenStop Alternative Fuel Filling Station Opens in Ontario
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 09.20.05
The first all-alternative filling station in Canada opened last week in Ottawa. Run by Topia Energy, Canada's biodiesel leader, Greenstop is a franchise model expected to spread throughout the country. GreenStop offers biodiesel and two ethanol blends. (Only B20 is available, however: 20% biodiesel, 80% petrol. People are still scared of the pure stuff, it seems, although I and untold others run on B100 with ease) Also part of the fueling station is the Real Café, stocked with organic snacks, natural soda pop, organic coffee, and fair trade cigarettes. Psych! No smokes. ::GreenStop
More proof that Canada is more civilized than the U.S. Any idea when one of these will pop up south of the USA/Canada border?
There's been one of these places in St Catharines (ON) for a while now, or at least it was there last Xmas.
Oh thats just amazing, I hope they do well so they can open more locations in Canada.
Yes, I hope they do well. I hope they are able to spread. Maby across the border.
If they wanted to open a few in Chicago, they would have a line at the pumps. There are thousands of alt-fuel vehicles in the city, including a large portion of the city's fleet. ComEd (our electric company) owns a fleet of over 2,000 alone.
Plus, I personally know several people who run BioD in their VWs.
Although this is really cool, am I the only person who sees a problem with the idea of having "only alternative fuel" gas stations? We already have a huge network of filling stations in North America, now we're trying to build a second network to supply biofuels? This reeks of inefficiency. Sure, I'd like to use more environmentally friendly fuels, but if I have to drive 20 km out of the way to get them, isn't that counterproductive? What we really want is regular gas stations that offer alternative fuels. And I guess that's why this is really cool; not because a few odd alt. fuel filling stations will serve any direct purpose, but they will educate people and make the owners of the big gas chains realize that there's an untapped market, so they might change their tune eventually.
On a side note, I don't have access to such a facility (plus I don't have a car), so I'm wondering: what is the price of these alternative fuels relative to regular gasoline or petrodiesel?
About B100 -- I've had exclusively a (almost)exclusive VW mechanic tell me that burning B100 will eventually cause problems long-term. How long have you been using exclusively straight biodiesel?
About B100 -- I've had exclusively a (almost)exclusive VW mechanic tell me that burning B100 will eventually cause problems long-term. How long have you been using exclusively straight biodiesel?
If anything, B100 should be better for an engine in the long term. It is known to clean off deposits caused by petrol based diesel.
Perhaps your mechanic was confusing B100 with a greasecar type of system.
I have also heard many times that biodiesel was actually good for engines, keeping them cleaner and better lubricated.
you have two basic options with biodiesel:
1) the superior SVO kits that preheat the oil to the right vicosity, or 2) mixing in methanol and a catalyst -like lye- or with regular diesel. the second option is what people are selling in the b20-b100 range... when a mechanic tells you that b100 will damage your vehicle what he probably means is that SVO (straight vegetabel oil no chaser) will damage your engine if you dont have an SVO kit-- you can pour oil into the tank straight, but with no preheating or mixing of alcohols, the striaght veggie oil will eventually cause your engine to sieze.
===BTW cool gasbar!
Kudos to the Candians, but the United States is not lagging when it comes to filling with biodiesel from the pump, friends! Check out these two websites for stations. All of them provide a minimun of B20, but many others have B100 and several even cary filtered WVO: http://www.geocities.com/biofuelstations/list.html http://biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/distributors/
To find out how the legislature is promoting biodiesel, keep up to date on the Lonely Garden Forum under Alternative Fuels, where you will also find some nice photos and documentation of my 2001 VW TDI Jetta's conversion to run waste veggie oil http://tonyakay.com/phpbb.index.php
tonya whats the link to the Lonely Garden forum?? wanna see those pics!
I agree with Chris Ball about having to tap into a gas staion market that involves both a standard and alternative resource. This is America and choice is the name of the game and the only way,I feel,to reach this lifestyle of a very conservative base.
This rocks. I, too, would like to see these stations in the Chicago area.