It’s Biodiesel or Bust!
It’s time we admit we have an oil problem. The world uses 1000 barrels of oil a second! For every gallon of gasoline that a car burns, 22 pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the air…. It’s 100 degrees in early April and we wonder why! Some of us are actually complaining that gas is getting too expensive, knowing we are running out, and that using it is killing our environment and creating a global warming crisis. The green guru has to ask, “How much is cheap gas costing our planet?” In Europe, gasoline costs a lot more - about $12 a gallon. Not surprisingly, folks there are much more focused on fuel conservation. Maybe expensive gas is the impetus we need to do the same.
The green guru is convinced that the answer to our oil problem and maybe even global warming is biodiesel and other renewable energy sources. The truth is we are running out of oil. That is why we are literally fighting for the last remaining drops of it. Why not invest the money here and support US farmers by using biodiesel instead of gasoline? A study at the University of New Hampshire shows that we have enough farmland here in America to supply our country with all the fuel we need.
Here’s why the green guru likes diesel engines: they get better mileage and they last 2 to 3 times longer than gasoline engines. If you run them with biodiesel they run even better, need less maintenance and may get even better mileage.
Here are the facts about biodiesel:
- No engine modifications are needed to use it, just fill up any diesel with biodiesel!
- It is cheaper than gasoline and regular diesel! Nuff said…
- It’s less toxic than table salt and is fully biodegradable within 21 days!
- King Feed will soon have it, but for now it’s available at Eco-Wise in Austin.
- Biodiesel is not pure vegetable oil, a diesel can run on pure vegetable oil but has to be modified first. Go to www.greasecar.com for details.
- Production of biodiesel results in almost twice as much net-energy as ethanol.
- You can make it yourself! Go to my favorite books section and look for the books that show you how.
- Biodiesel has a net-zero carbon emission profile, which means that the carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere when it is used, is absorbed by the plants that grow the next batch of biodiesel. This is what makes it a cleaner and fully renewable resource.
Quote of the Month: “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become in the course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.” Rudolph Diesel 1912
Heather Carter
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Links to a few articles definitely worth reading. How is John Q Public to know what is accurate?
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/lester_brown_ethanol.php
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/shell_draws_a_b.php
http://www.wholecommunitiesradio.org/pollan/michaelpollan%20illahee.html
The page about biodiesel, however, is less than helpful or informative. They left out very important facts about biodiesel and gasoline, and only used soy bean oil in their numbers. The oil we have in our car right now came from mustard seed and has much better yield per acre than soy beans. So do algae, oil palms, rapeseed, peanut, chinese tallow tree, and the list goes on. I'm sure for every nay sayer out there, there are at least 10 or 20 websites expounding the benefits of biodiesel. One area where this guy is flat out wrong is in the comment that biodeisel is worse on emissions.
When compared to petroleum diesel, biodeisel:
-Reduces net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 100%
-Reduces sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 100%
-Reduces soot emissions by 40-60%
-Reduces carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 10-50%
-Reduces hydrocarbon (HC) emissions by 10-50%
-Reduces all of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocrbons (PAHs) and specifically reduces the following carcinogenic PAHs:
-Phenanthren by 97%
-Benzofloroanthen by 56%
-Benzapyren by 71%
-Aldehydes and Aromatic Campounds by 13%
-Reduces or increases the nitrous oxide (NOx)emissions by 5-10% depending on the age of the vehicle and the tuning of the engine.
The use of biodiesel does not decrease nitrous oxide emissions. NOx emissions are created when nitrogen is burned, or oxidized. Since the Earth's atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, any internal combustion engine running on any fuel produces NOx emissions. Regardless of the fuel used, the amount of nitrous oxides produced by an engine is directly related to the age and design on the engine. While an old, poorly tuned Diesel engine can produce as much as 12 grams of NOx per brake horsepower hour, new Diesel engines produce as little as 1.4 grams of NOx per brake horsepower hour, less NOx emissions than many gasoline engines.
In one of the three books I have read, (that is on my favorite book list), From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank, by Joshua Tickell, in the Appendix #5 he has a table of the top 48 oil producing crops, the most productive being palm oil at 5000 kg/hectare and soybean, at 11th from the bottom, only produces 375 kg/hectare. I hope this gives you some insight to the huge world of biodiesel possibilities. I think with all the disinformation out there it can be confusing to people, my plan has been to stick with the experts and the well respected websites, not just some guy who is not affiliated with any specific research or organization.
I hope you understand, but I am going to delete that link from my website since it is such a shallow and uneducated look at biodiesel. There is enough disinformation out there, I don't want to add to it. Thanks for your questions and please go to the book section of the website to find some really good reads on the subject.
Ideally, I would like to see a world with all electric cars plugged into solar panels for their charging.... But that seems to be a long way away, Marc and I could actually do it someday soon, if we get some more solar panels and they start making electric cars that can go further than 50 miles on a charge. Soon, I'm sure, it will happen, but for now the best thing for the environment is biodiesel, in my opinion. Another thing he forgot to mention is the energy used to create gasoline and ethanol, it is refined much more that diesel fuel, so there is less net-energy available when it is burned in an engine.
This is an extremely important factor in this whole equation and that information and assurance is not coming forward quick enough.
For example, you have to be living under a rock if you haven't heard about biofuels and how they will save us from foreign oil and global warming. But too few really examine or understand the repercussions of generating them irresponsibly.
It really has to be a world-wide effort -- give the poor farmer in South Americca another economic incentive cutdown more of the rain forest... and it's TIMMMMBBBBEEEERRR!
Personally, I'm also opposed to using food source (corn, soy, etc.) for biodiesel feedstocks. From an ethical or moral standpoint, I can't see much difference in "fighting over oil" or "starving people" for it either. These crops feed millions of impoverished people world-wide.
Since this is a new technology I'm sure it will take time to work out all the kinks. Not making any changes, just to keep from making mistakes is not an option either. It will take making changes in every part of our lives to handle the problem of Peak Oil and Climate Change. We have to start by conserving energy, driving less, eating less grain fed meat and more local organic produce, using permaculture as a methodology, choosing renewable energy for our homes and cars, and not supporting foreign oil.
Just so you know the green guru is totally opposed to ethanol, it takes more energy to make that it gives you. It is totally unsustainable. The fact that biodiesel has been lumped together with ethanol now everywhere in the media is outlandish, they(oil lobbies) are calling it all "biofuel" and thus trying to give it a bad name. The biodiesel made in America from a non-food product like cotton seed or mustard seed is not starving anyone and more importantly is creating new jobs and opportunities here.