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[OM] [ot] alternative fuels

Subject: [OM] [ot] alternative fuels
From: Jan Steinman <Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 20:35:08 -0700
> From: Dan Mitchell <danmitchell@xxxxxxxx>
>
> Jan Steinman wrote:
>> I drive on biodiesel I make myself (when not cycling or walking),
>
>   Where do you get the raw materials for this? I've seen a number of
> shows/articles about people who start with used cooking fat from
> restaurants and then reprocess it -- this seems like a great idea, but
> what happens when you pull up to the back of Eat-At-Joes and someone
> else has already cleaned them out for their vehicle?

The best way is to establish a relationship with one or more  
restaurants. They currently have to pay to get rid of it, in most  
cases. If you make out a formal contract and agree to a regular  
schedule, they aren't going to give it to some fly-by-night who  
happens by. Oh, and put a lock on the dumpster, like the big  
collection companies do!

You can even convert a vehicle to run on waste vegetable oil  
directly, without converting it to biodiesel first:
        http://www.VeggieVanGogh.com

Biodiesel requires about 10% methanol, which currently is produced  
from natural gas, and so can be said to be non-sustainable. But you  
*could* make methanol by fermenting and distilling biomass, and  
someday, that will be how all methanol  is made.

> Does it make
> economic sense to start with (say) sunflower oil or something instead?

Most commercially-made biodiesel in North America is made from virgin  
soybean oil. I think this is, in general, a terrible idea. Grain  
harvests have been in steady decline for five years, at about a 2%  
rate, with no indication of change on the horizon. We should not be  
burning food in order to enjoy a profligate life-style! We will all  
be reducing the energy we use in the future, so why not figure out  
how to do it sooner, rather than having it forced on us later.

That said, I can see a farmer growing his own fuel for producing  
food, for example. I just don't much care for people starving while  
Hummers are slurping biodiesel. The current administration's  
irrational love of ethanol have already caused tortilla prices to  
spike in Mexico.

> presumably you can still run on regular
> diesel, right?

For the most part, yes. Vehicles manufactured before 1996 may have  
natural rubber components in the fuel system that eventually break  
down when exposed to biodiesel. But it tends to be a "graceful  
degradation" that give you plenty of warning first. Then you replace  
a few feet of fuel line with synthetics that can tolerate biodiesel.

>   It seems like a great idea to reuse waste to power your vehicle, but
> are there any figures as to how many vehicles can be powered from the
> waste from a typical city's worth of restaurants?

 From memory, I think the US produces about 3 billion gallons of  
waste vegetable oil each year, while consuming over 30 billion  
gallons of diesel fuel. So the waste stream can only satisfy about  
10% of the total needed *at today's level of consumption.*

But there is a growing consensus that the earth's petroleum  
production is at or very near its peak, and will soon begin declining  
by perhaps 3% to 5% per year. Waste vegetable oil can help ameliorate  
this decline while civilization learns to get by on less energy.  
People once lived on 10% of today's energy. They will again someday.  
Like I said, it would be better if we planned for it, rather than  
just let it happen.

:::: Jan Steinman, Communication Steward, EcoReality: http:// 
www.EcoReality.org ::::
:::: 160 Sharp Road, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2P6, Canada,  
250.537.2024 ::::



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