A typical early-morning traffic jam in downtown Ukiah, California. My 1989 VW Jetta idles loudly while we wait at a red light, the diesel motor resonating off the side of my neighbor’s tanked-up 2004 Chevy Tahoe. That massive SUV dumps 1.25 pounds/mile of CO2 into the air. That’s a lot of greenhouse gas at 16 MPG. My Jetta produces almost zero greenhouse gases per mile, but the exhaust includes a few particulates with a yummy odor of fried potatoes, Chinese egg rolls, and other delicious greasy take-outs.
This morning I filled my tank with biodiesel fuel made with recycled restaurant waste oil. I wonder how many people would use biodiesel if they knew about it, and if driving this old clunker is really a step towards a more sustainable future.
When the light changes to green, the SUV zooms forward, and my Jetta is just a tiny reflection in the SUV’s power-olding, heated outside mirror. A twinge of car lust creeps over me, but then I think about how many life forms would be saved if biodiesel vehicles replaced all SUVs.
Oil spills from biodiesel are not an environmental tragedy — the fuel is 85% biodegradable in water within 28 days. It doesn’t require extraction from environmentally sensitive areas, like the Arctic Wilderness. Best of all, veggie fuel does not require billions of dollars of military intervention to protect its source.
On the Road with Biodiesel
In September 2001, my family was living near Boston. We only had to look out our front window to the gridlock below to connect the dots from petroleum consumption to the 9/11 tragedy. It seemed obvious that planetary have-nots would not continue to tolerate our voracious use of world resources forever. So after travelling to northern Vermont to find an affordable VW Jetta, we were ready to return to California in style!
Our first fill-up was in Chelsea, Massachusetts, home of World Energy Alternatives, the leading US distributor of biodiesel. Since “the Jet” gets over 45 mile per-gallon, we were able to cover quite a few miles with a fill-up and the extra five-gallon fuel can. The next fuel-stop was in the thickly forested mountains of western Massachusetts. There we bought some restaurant-oil homebrew and had a tour of an ingenious biodiesel production area made from a recycled bagel boiler, a hot water heater, a maple syrup evaporator and other spare parts.
After an enchanting visit to Niagara Falls, the engine grew more and more reluctant to proceed. Finally, in a remote service station by Lake Erie, “The Jet” rolled to a halt. We had made the big error of many new biodiesel users — we hadn’t brought along a spare fuel filter. Biodiesel in used cars requires one or two fuel filter changes in the first 2,000 miles because biodiesel is a solvent. While biodiesel cleans out ancient carbon sludge, leaving a smoother-running engine, it will also dissolve the natural rubber in older hoses.
With straight diesel, we made it to the next fill-up in Norwalk, Ohio. Fortunately, regular diesel can always be used with biodiesel, mixed in a “splash blend.” We spent a long weekend at a campground near Lima, Ohio, awaiting the arrival of the correct fuel filter at the auto parts store. I’ll never forget how the pungent breeze from the nearby hog farm blended with the smell of barbeques and the quizzical looks on campers’ faces when they saw our patriotic car decoration with an American flag: “Biodiesel Renewable USA Fuel.”
Chugging through the Midwest on soy-oil fuel, we felt a strong affinity with the acres and acres of soybeans that covered the land. Midwestern farmers were delighted to hear that we were using soy oil. There were many fuel stations selling 2% and 5% biodiesel, but we didn’t see any point in going out of our way for such a minimal blend, so we put in a few miles on “dino” (dead dinosaur) fuel.
When we finally arrived in the Bay Area, exhausted, with steel-belts gleaming in The Jet’s worn-out tires, there were no biodiesel fuel stations open to the public. Fortunately, many new biodiesel stations have opened in the past two years and veggie fuel is now available in 2,000 filling stations across the US.
Biodiesel Home-Brew
The largest independent US distributor of 100%- recycled vegetable fuel is located right in my community, making it convenient for northern California drivers to kick the petroleum habit. The ingredients of the “B100” (100% biodiesel) sold at Yokaya Biofuels are approximately 80% restaurant waste oil, 20% methanol, and .05% sodium hydroxide (lye). Mixed in precise proportions, the result is biodiesel —a clear, golden, non-flammable, aromatic fuel oil.
People are starting to catch on to the wisdom of biodiesel. Yokayo Biofuels’ customer list doubled in 2003, in spite of numerous problems with their supplier, vehicles and equipment. Nationwide, biodiesel production has increased from an estimated 2 million gallons a year in 2000 to 25 million gallons in 2003. There are 12 major production facilities with a total capacity of more than 60 million gallons, and that only includes those producers affiliated with the National Biodiesel Board.
Biodiesel can be made from a variety of oils. Peanut oil was the fuel for Rudolf Diesel’s demonstration engine at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. He created the diesel engine to run on any hydrocarbon and hoped his invention would help agricultural development. Today most vegetable oil fuel in the US is made from soy oil, to the delight of soy farmers. In Europe, rapeseed (canola) is most common. But diesel vehicles can also run on lard, coconut oil, palm oil, and gleanings from McDonald’s.
Most biodiesel sold in the US is not B100. I can usually predict driver’s motivation for using biodiesel by the percentage of vegetable oil in their tank.
If you see a driver filling up with B20 (20% biodiesel), the driver is probably using the blend to comply with government regulations. The Energy Policy Act requires utility and government fleets to use a percentage of alternative-fuel vehicles and biodiesel can fulfil part of that requirement. The B20 blend is being used in over 350 fleets in the US, including city transit buses and thousands of school busses.
Biodiesel’s propensity for congealing when cold weather hits makes B50 the environmentally correct winter choice. A 50% or less biodiesel to petroleum ratio will rarely solidify.
Driving the Talk
The B100 drivers are deeply committed to changing our petroleum-permeated culture; they’re people who don’t just talk, they act. It takes a great deal of flexibility to use a fuel that’s not available everywhere. Personally speaking, it was a family decision that took a year, extensive research, lengthy discussion, and much searching for an affordable diesel vehicle. Driving the Jetta from coast to coast was an empowering experience for everyone in my family.
Then there are avid environmentalists who want to be creators, not consumers. They are the home-brewers, and they’re not afraid of dangerous chemicals.
Locally, Yokayo Biofuels hosts biodiesel home-brewing workshops, even though they’re teaching people to make the products they are marketing.
“By teaching people how to make small batches, I’m empowering them to stop big companies,” owner Kumar Plocher explained. “This is not possible with conventional fuel because no one can make petroleum in their backyard. Most people don’t want to make their own, but if it gets to the point where you have to, you can.”
Some environmentalists are even more dedicated than B100 drivers. These are the Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) people, who don’t want to drive with biodiesel because it’s made with methanol, a petroleum product. Driving with SVO requires a modified vehicle because the SVO solidifies easily. Thus vehicles can be retrofitted with a dual-fuel system to mainly run on warmed-up SVO, but designed to start up and turn off with diesel or biodiesel.
“Global warming is the most pressing environmental threat,” insists Craig Reece, co-owner of Neoteric, a company that makes fuel retrofit kits. “By driving on vegetable oil, you’re using a fuel that’s carbon-neutral. The plants growing the oil, with their stems and leaves and everything, actually consume more CO2 than the CO2 produced by the fuel you’re burning.
“People can’t believe it works,” says Reece with a grin. “You see their eyes darting around like there’s gotta be a catch....but I got up to 117 miles-per-hour (188 km/hour) on olive oil. This was a ‘98 Mercedes, 6 cylinder.”
All biodiesel stakeholders chant the mantra “sustainability,” but the word has two distinct connotations in a biodiesel future: biodiesel is an agriculturally friendly way to continue the transportation status quo; it also a step towards ensuring the survival of all life forms on the planet.
“Millions of gallons of biodiesel fuel—made from soybeans—already power many buses and trucks,” claims the Council for Biotechnology Information. World Energy Alternatives, the largest US supplier of biodiesel, uses 99% soy oil even though rapeseed produces twice as many pounds of oil per acre as soy. Combined with the fact that 80% of soybeans in the US are GM crops, and that most National Biodiesel Board leaders are connected with the soy industry, it’s easy to see what the biodiesel industry is “sustaining.”
At Yokayo Biofuels in Ukiah, Kumar Plocher would like to have a small production facility, and eventually make biodiesel from algae for a local market. There is also used fryer oil to harvest locally. It’s a concept called bioregionalism — using resources dictated by the region you’re in and working on a small scale. It bothers him that in order to provide his customers with a quality product, he must get biodiesel shipped hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles.
Biodiesel is just one way to start easing US drivers away from petroleum dependency. With the US consuming 25% of the world’s oil, it may seem a gargantuan addiction to cure. Sustainability is a global issue, but it’s most poignant at home, in a nation that’s wasting planetary resources in huge proportions.
From the soybean kings of the Midwest to longhaired home brewers in well-ventilated garages, people are creating alternatives to driving gas-guzzling SUVs. A truly sustainable future will require huge changes in transportation habits but hopefully, the power of agribusiness and the ethical ingenuity of small business can combine their intelligence to work towards that goal.
Louisa Aronow lives in Ukiah where she writes about the new worlds of biodiesel.
BIODIESEL RESOURCES
Yokayo Biofuels is dedicated to promoting the use of biodiesel in northern California. Yokayo operates the Ukiah Biodiesel Pumping Station in Hopland, California, 15 minutes South on Highway 101. From Highway 101, exit Talmage Rd. Turn West, cross railroad tracks and begin watching for Yokayo Biofuels on left. Corner of Talmage and Perry. Entrance on Perry. Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm. Yokayo Biofuels, 150 Perry Street, Ukiah, CA 95482, (707) 472-0900, Fax: (707) 462-7603, Toll-free: (877) 806-0900. Kumar Plocher, kumar@ybiofuels.org. Sunny Beaver, sunny@ybiofuels.org
The Biodiesel Education Network (BEN) is up and running! A partnership between the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and the Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) has led to the introduction of a new expert in biodiesel, BEN, to answer petroleum distributors’ questions. www.biodiesel.org/ben
International Institute for Ecological Agriculture. IIEA Director David Blume is the author of the long-suppressed but soon-to-be-forthcoming book (2005), Alcohol Can Be a Gas. Contact IIEA at (831) 688-0338, 1-888-PERMACULTURE (888-737-6228), or at www.permaculture.com
Grassolean Solutions. Charris Ben Ford is the founder of Grassolean Solutions LLC, an organization devoted to providing people with sustainable energy information and products. Charris is also a “bio-rapper” who chants the joys of bio-fuels and other hip hops under the stage name, “The Granola Ayatollah of Canola.” www.grassolean.com
Locate a US Biodiesel Supplier. Click anywhere on the map at this website to find biodiesel retail locations in the United States. (Note: This map has not been updated to show suppliers on the West Coast.) biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/retailfuelingsites/default.shtm