Retail Gas Prices Have Increased Over 27% a Year for the Past Five Years, So What's Next?

Urban Biodiesel Production as an Alternative
Dr. K. Shaine Tyson
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
1617 Cole Blvd, Golden CO 80401-3393

"Biodiesel is a renewable, alternative fuel produced from vegetable oils, animal fats, and recycled
cooking greases. It can be substituted for diesel fuel or blended into diesel fuel in any
proportion. Most people use a blend of 20% biodiesel in diesel fuel called B20 in their state,
federal, and local vehicle fleets and in utility applications. Other applications include
construction equipment, urban bus fleets, school bus fleets, agricultural equipment, generators,
and boats.

Making biodiesel in urban areas offers many benefits to the urban community. These
benefits include local fuel security, air pollution reduction, lower air toxic emissions, lower
environmental impacts of spills and other unintentional environmental hazards, new jobs, cost
savings to the local sanitation plant from avoided sewage line blockages and lower operating
costs, and less illegal dumping of waste oils. Most large metropolitan areas can support a
biodiesel production facility based on their generation of used cooking oils and waste greases.

These facilities can be expanded if supplies of oils, such as soy, canola, or mustard oils, from
agricultural areas are available. Biodiesel production can strengthen ties been urban and
agricultural communities. Large metropolitan areas should consider the potential for biodiesel
production in their communities.
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Note: Biomass fuel generation by either Biodiesel or Ethanol production technologies are currently active worldwide, and are becoming a mature industry. The EU has increased its biodiesel production over 30% a year for the past five years. US biodiesel production was 6.7 million gallons in 2000, and ethanol production was approximately 1.4 billion gallons in 1998. While these are a small portion of the estimated 150 billion gallons of automobile and truck fuel usage per year in America, they could become a much larger segment if given a greater mandate by the Federal, State, and City Governments.

While the retail price of gasoline has been increasing by over 27% a year for the past five years, the cost of manufacturing biodiesel has been decreasing by almost this same percentage. Biodiesel can easily be stored, pumped, and delivered as a standby fuel to facilities that currently maintain a diesel fuel based fleet of vehicles.

With the increase in global warming, and given the fact that one acre of palm trees can be harvested to yield 500 gallons of biodiesel we are missing a bet by not giving this technology the resources it needs to carry the World through the transition from petroleum based fuels to biomass, or hydrogen. Also, given the productive resources of under-developed nations in Africa, Asia, the America's, and the Middle East, developing a renewable source of fuel through biomass processing could add significantly to the economies of these areas.

Write your City/State/Federal Congressmen, Senators, Mayors, and Councilmen and ask them to investigate the benefits that are possible with this technology.And less anyone suggest that this is only a "tree-huggers" dream world, you can forward them to the US Navy Logistics Center where they can demonstrate the viability of a conversion to biodiesel fuel.