AltWheels Festival

The AltWheels Festival is next weekend, in Brookline, Mass.

"No matter what your interest or age, AltWheels has something for you.
Exhibits will include working electric, solar, flex-fuel, and hybrid vehicles, as well
as the latest in human-powered transportation. There will be a special section of
ArtCars — motorized flights of fancy designed to delight. Come build and race a
model solar car or watch a fuel conversion workshop and see a car drive in
on gasoline and drive out on an alternative fuel."

Gas prices

Ouch.

(from Kottke's Flickr photos)

I'm currently paying $3/gallon for biodiesel at the Pacifica co-op, here in the SF Bay Area.

Biodiesel pump at The Grange in Issaquah, WA

Rob let me know that Propel just opened up another Biodiesel pump in a Seattle suburb. Nice work, folks!

Massive Biodiesel Plant coming in Iowa

According to Treehugger, a 37.5 million gallon/year Cargill biodiesel plant is in the works in Iowa.

Iowa Biodiesel Plant Coming

The High Plains Journal reports that Cargill is building a:

"37.5-million-gallons-per-year biodiesel plant and a 30-million-pounds-per-year glycerin refinery in Iowa Falls, adjacent to its existing soybean crush facility..."

"Initially, the plant will produce biodiesel and USP-grade glycerin exclusively from soybean oil, but Cargill officials expect to have the capability for using animal fat or waste grease for biodiesel production in the future. The biodiesel plant has been designed to meet the requirements for BQ-9000 certification, the leading, accepted industry standard."

Investing?

A BiodieselBlog reader writes:

"If one believes in the future of biodiesel and wanted to invest in companies either growing the raw material(s) or engineering the technologies for its commercial use, where would be a place, if any, to find a list of them?"

Please post any feedback in the comments.

Feed ads

Hi folks,

I just added Google's AdSense for Feeds to the BiodieselBlog's feed. Hopefully the ads will continue to add value (as do the ads on the site) and be relevant to the content.

Cheers!
-E

Seattle Update

Rob from Propel just wrote to let me know about Laurelhurst Oil's recent grand opening, up in Seattle. KOMO has the scoop:

"Chances are you've heard of soybean-based "Biodiesel" but the high price per gallon may have kept you away. But now the nearly emission-free fuel is finally competitively priced."

"About 2,000 people in the Seattle area fill their diesel engines with Biodiesel, but that number could easily double this summer. New filling stations, like one behind University Village in Seattle, are popping up all over..."

"Right now, you're paying about $2.79 for a gallon of diesel in the greator Seattle area. The price of Biodiesel at this station is $2.96 per gallon."

Great work, folks!

Specs?

A BiodieselBlog reader writes:

"I'm working on a small plant to produce biodiesel in Southern California. Do you know where I can find the actual biodiesel regulations enforced by the dept. of weights and measurements? I'm having trouble finding the actual specs."

Anybody know where he can find info about this?

Biodiesel Benz

Paul Vachier wrote in a few days ago about two of his biofuel projects. First is a great writeup of his experiences with a Golf TDI & biodiesel (this is what I drive). Here's a snippet:

"In terms of driving and overall satisfaction, this is my favorite car to date. It handles great and has extremely comfortable seats and I absolutely love the gas mileage. It is German engineered through-and-through which means it is designed for the driving experience despite its frugal nature and can move along very quickly thanks to the turbo charger."

The second is an article on converting an old Mercedes Benz to run on Straight Veggie Oil:

"Lyle bought a two fuel tank conversion kit for $500 and found a local mechanic familiar with conversions who installed it for $1,000. The car's original tank was kept and holds regular diesel (or B20, B100) fuel for cold weather starting. A second tank was installed in the trunk for vegetable oil. Hoses are run from the car's radiator to the tank to heat the oil via a heat exchanger before it enters the final fuel filter and injectors inside the engine compartment."

Great stuff!

Malaysia

Green Car Congress is reporting that Malaysia is set to build its first Biodiesel refinery. It will all be exported though:

"Chin said the fuel could not be used in Malaysia as the existing infrastructure of the major oil companies in the country to blend the bio-diesel with petroleum diesel was insufficient."

"The companies would have to work together with MPOB and Golden Hope Plantations to develop the infrastructure, he said, adding that there weren't any legal provisions for the alternative fuel in the country at the moment."

Link Roundup

(Apologies for the lack of posting lately; things have been mighty busy at work...)

I've been getting caught up on my Deep Green Crystals reading this weekend; here's an excellent roundup of links courtesy of Martin:

• Wood as an ethanol source
• Bio Lyle's Biodiesel Workshop video
• Waste veggie oil in Seattle
• Seattle Biodiesel got funding and is hiring
• Martin pimped out his new Beetle TDI - love the chrome "BIODIESEL" lettering!