BIODIESEL Roadshow Bus to Umpqua Hotsprings
by Greg Vanderlaan Mergemedia staff 03.06.03
Take a trip on the biobus March 20th to 24th. They will be visiting the Umpqua hotsprings to celebrate the spring equinox. The bus will be leaving the Redwood Peace Center 1040 10th Street, Arcata on thursday morning.
When Rudolf Diesel invented his engine, he ran it on peanut oil. A return to using biodiesel would reduce our need to import oil from foreign countries. Biodiesel is a fuel that can be used in any standard diesel engine without modification. It is made from renewable plants like soybeans, hemp, canola oil, cottonseed, sunflower seeds or animal fats. Hemp, a source of biofuel, is currently illegal in the United States. The technology required to manufacture biodiesel is a simple, time tested procedure. A chemical process called transesterification separates glycerin from the fat or vegetable oil. This produces two products -- methyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerin (used in soap).
Biodiesel contains no petroleum based products. There is a limited quantity of fossil fuel on the planet. According to Dr. Michael Moore, chief economist of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that finding oil will become increasingly difficult after the year 2020. Four countries control the majority of oil today. (Saudi Arabia-26%, Iraq-11%, Kuait-10% and Iran-9%). The United States controls 2% of the world's oil reserves. In the future, the need for renewable energy sources will become extreme. We will no longer have the option of drilling for more oil. Soybeans, on the other hand, can be grown forever. American farmers would benefit from the increased business. Since this fuel is made locally, transportation of the fuel to the consumer is easier than fossil fuel. Recently, there was a large oil spill off the coast of Spain. A world-wide switch to biodiesel would prevent ecological disasters like this. No oil tankers are needed at all for distribution of biodiesel fuel.
At the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology here at Humboldt State University they have a working biodiesel production system. They use vegetable oil from local restaurants as their raw material. The students convert this waste into a usable fuel for their Mercedes Benz. The fellow at the center says that fuel can be made for as little as 50 cents a gallon. Commercial production of fuel is more expensive. Biodiesel costs about $1.33 to $1.70 cents a gallon depending on many factors including the price of soybeans, labor costs and transportation. Private organizations and individuals are free to manufacture their own fuel for their own use. The CCAT website has step by step instruction for making your own.
Biodiesel is just one of many solutions to our energy needs. While talking to Adrian Nichols of the Redwood Peace Center he brought up some concerns that I had not considered before. "Are the soybeans grown organically?" Could a crop cause more damage thru the use of pesticides than it is worth? "If we use the land for growing fuel, will that interfere with using the land for growing food or not using the land at all?" A deeper solution to our problems would be to use mass transit, ride bicycles or walk to get where we are going. He also felt that we should put more effort into getting power from solar and wind sources.
In Iowa, a hybrid electricity generator is being run. It is a windmill with a biodiesel backup generator for use on days when there is no wind. One of the problems with wind power is reliability. Consumers of electricity demand a constant source of current. It is not practical to depend on wind power alone to satisfy our requirements for electricity. Computers can actually be damaged by fluctuation of the power source. With the hybrid wind/biodiesel system, the diesel generator would kick in when the wind power fell below an acceptable level.
The Union of Concerned Scientists is sponsoring a petition drive to clean up the air pollution from school busses. They are concerned about the health problems due to breathing the smoke from the tailpipe. "From school buses in our neighborhoods to eighteen-wheelers on the highway, diesel rigs are a serious cancer and clean air threat." -Jason Mark, Union of Concerned Scientists.
Research conducted at the University of California-Davis has shown that the cancer-causing potential of biodiesel particulate matter is 80% less than that of petroleum diesel. Biodiesel also significantly reduces most EPA targeted emissions, such as carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and particulate matter. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel in the US to complete EPA Tier I Health Effects Testing under section 211(b) of the Clean Air Act. A copy of their petition can be found at www.ucsusa.org
In Canada, the use of biodiesel is gaining speed with the launch of the Montreal Biodiesel project in the spring of 2002, the largest municipal biodiesel project in North America. More than 140 buses, running on different blends of biodiesel derived from animal rendering and U.S. soybeans will be studied over the next year. The project is expected to consume more than 500,000 liters of biodiesel this year.
Sources of Information: Call Andy at 707-826-9783 for reservations for the Biodiesel Roadshow Bus trip or visit the Redwood Peace and Justice Center.