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Biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil |
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Score
87%
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18 votes,
Feasibility
97%
Originality
50%
Humour
50% |
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Biodiesel fuel, made from recycled cooking oils, has gone on sale in a number of petrol stations across the US. It reduces emissions, recycles unwanted restaurant waste, and requires no alterations to any diesel-engined vehicles built after 1986. Diesel fuel is known to be particularly smelly and polluting, so the introduction of such an alternative is all the more welcome. The new yellow fuel gives off less thick, pungent fumes with a slight smell of french fries, and although it doesn’t reduce nitrogen oxides, it does substantially reduce carbon emissions.
‘Already, recycling trucks, school buses and the Department of Energy’s own vehicle fleet are using the fuel’
One gas station in San Francisco is selling fuel that is 100 per cent biodiesel made from soybean oil, a by-product of food processing. Already, recycling trucks, school buses and the Department of Energy’s own vehicle fleet are using the fuel, and many other environmentally-minded people are expected to join them. Biodiesel is more expensive, and it does reduce fuel economy slightly, but the costs are coming down year on year and the economy can be improved by adding a small amount of petroleum diesel to the mix. A station in Nevada has pre-empted this problem by selling a fuel which is 20 per cent biodiesel and 80 per cent petroleum diesel. This reduces the price and the economy problems, although the environmental benefits are obviously reduced to some extent as well.
Nevertheless, it does point a way forward for the future. As Jim Brandmueller, administrator of the Nevada State Energy Office, says, “By taking our waste cooking oil and turning it into biodiesel, we are not only cleaning up the air at a reasonable price, but also creating jobs.”
‘Instead of mining in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we can mine the nation’s supplies of restaurant grease’
Sales of the fuel are expected to grow massively in the next few years. 6.7 million gallons of biodiesel were sold in 2000, but that is estimated to reach 20 million gallons in 2001, and the Department of Energy aims to replace ten to 20 per cent of petroleum diesel with biodiesel in the next 20 years. As Teri Shore of environmental campaigners Bluewater Network puts it, “We’ve got to break our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. We can use the vast source of soybeans and other fuel crops grown right here in the United States, and instead of mining in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we can mine the nation’s supplies of restaurant grease.” Perhaps George W Bush will be funded by the biodiesel companies in the future.
• See www.biodiesel.org for more information.
Summarised from an article by Jane Kay, entitled ‘Biodiesel revolution in San Francisco’, in the San Francisco Chronicle (May 23rd 2001) and from an article entitled ‘Diesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil on sale in Nevada’ in the Las Vegas Sun.
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