Off the Grid Eco Lodge Turns to Biodiesel Powered Electricity
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires 
on 09. 4.07
Saying that an eco lodge runs on biodiesel electricity does sound odd. But what if you knew the venue is not only a tourism facility, but also a complete conservation project that will use that to replace the diesel it consumed to fulfill the little energy it consumes? In addition, what if you found the biodiesel is being sourced from recycled kitchen grease? The panorama changes, certainly. This is why we thought worth highlighting that Lapa Rios Eco Lodge, located in Costa Rica, has announced recently a transition to primarily biodiesel-powered electricity. Isolated from electrical systems, the lodge has so far produced the little energy it consumes (for laundry, refrigeration, lighting and low consuming artifacts like fans or guests’ computers) with regular diesel generators; but is now adjusting its electrical generation system to work with biodiesel. This friendlier fuel will be purchased from local company Energias Biodegradables, partially sourced from the lodge’s very own kitchen grease, and will mean a reduction of 75% in carbon emissions, the organization informs. Until the system is ready, the lodge is starting with a 5% mix of biodiesel with regular, and in three months will jump up to 60% blend. The lodge is also introducing a blend of 30% biodiesel in all its transportation services. Learn more about the lodge’s policies in the extended.
We have mentioned Lapa Rios Eco Lodge before. This venue is located in a private nature reserve over 1,000 acres of Costa Rica’s lowland tropical rainforest, built with local natural materials, and equipped with locally made bamboo furniture. With policies like no-air conditioning, no phones, television or music, solar water heating, minimal electricity usage, and employment of only people from the local community, among many others, the lodge is really a chance to get in touch with the wild and help a project whose aim is to conserve a great portion of nature. ::Lapa Rios (in English) ::Energias Biodegradables (in Spanish)
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Dear tree hugger:
1) I'm getting tired of the conflation of biodiesel with ethanol. Yes they're both biofuels, but c'mon. Let's use up all the waste veggie oil for biodiesel before automatically evoking images of crop price increases before complaining about that when it comes to biodiesel.
2) Get your facts straight. Using corn for ethanol DOES NOT result in a net energy loss. This is an urban legend. Treehugger ought to consider a feature like snopes.com for this kind of misinformation repetition so these myths don't continually get repeated. Visit this site:
http://www.newrules.org/agri/netenergy.html
Hi Steve, thanks for your comment. it's my mistake for confusing ethanol with biodiesel. I'll try to get that straight.