UPDATE: Sustainable Biodiesel Summit Sees Results
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 02. 6.08
Last week we reported on the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit, an annual meeting that is held before the National Biodiesel Board’s convention as an effort to create positive change throughout the industry. Well, it would appear that effort is paying off – at this year’s summit National Biodiesel Board (NBB) CEO Joe Jobe and Board Chair Ed Hegland announced the establishment of a "Sustainability Task Force" to address and incorporate sustainable practices within the biodiesel industry. Co-organizer of the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit, Emily Bockian Landsburg, of Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel (who have been doing awesome work creating fuel from grease traps) was chosen to lead the task force within the national board. Rachel Burton, of Piedmont Biofuels, summed up the reasons why this move makes sense for everyone, whether they are involved in biodiesel for their ideals or their wallet:
“Many people in the industry became involved with biodiesel not for its own sake, but to realize these greater environmental and social goals. Others who are involved for economic development reasons understand that the real reason consumers choose this product is its environmental and social qualities. Either way, achieving these environmental and social goals is the key to industry wide economic viability.”
::Sustainable Biodiesel Summit:: via press release::
Re-using cooking oil is great, and should be done. But how much of the stuff is out there? Is it a significant portion of bio-diesel production, or just a small part of it?
Start off by reading Josh Tickell's book From The Fryer To The Fuel Tank. You will find these answers there. Its a small part of it. THis is why we have scientists out there putting money and energy into algea, switchgrass and other renewable sources that wont add pressure to other agricultural products and countries.
I have been using bio-diesel for my heavy construction fleet,and it works great.I know that it has some issues but it is still more of a green product than fossile fuel diesel.I get it from a small supplier in Santa Cruz,and it just feels better than buying from Exxon!
I saw an absolutely fantastic documentary film at the Sundance Film Festival called "Fields of Fuel". It clearly showed the following:
- unlike the alchol related fuels there is no reduction of energy produced when bio-diesel is used instead of diesel.
- bio-diesel (and diesel) produces 30% more power than gasoline.
- to produce ethanol it takes one unit of energy to produce 1.5 units of energy. To produce bio-diesel it's one to three.
- the common rail diesel engine (wikipedia has a good definition) eliminates the previous problems with diesel engines (black exhaust, loud). It's why the rest of the world is switching to diesel.
Note - I'm still a huge fan of the electric car. All those huge power plants basically shut down at night. Right now you can buy electricity at night for about 1/8th the cost of daytime power.