Treehugger: This Week in Biodiesel

Treehugger has a nice roundup on some recent biodiesel appearances in the mainstream media, including this factoid:

"The National Biodiesel Board estimates that 2005 saw the production of 75 million gallons in the US, triple the amount of the year before, and factories continue to spring up around the country and the world."

San Francisco's Biodiesel Plans

The SF Bay Guardian has some more info on San Francisco's biodiesel plans:

"Muni and the San Francisco Fire Department plan to test biodiesel in their vehicles sometime next year. Depending on the supply that's made available, the Fire Department hopes to use 1,000 gallons of 20 percent biodiesel for six months, then up its consumption to 12,000 gallons a month. Muni, with about 600 diesel buses, could use much more fuel, though it hasn't offered any estimates yet. Muni typically consumes about seven million gallons of diesel fuel per year."

Biodiesel Car Rentals in Hawaii

The Sep/Oct issue of Via Magazine mentions that visitors to Maui can rent biodiesel-powered VW Beetles, Golfs, and Jeep Liberties for $199/week. From the FAQ:

"The idea for a biodiesel rental car has been a long-time dream of Shaun Stenshol, owner of Maui Recycling. He and partner Pamela Miedtke-Wolf, are constantly looking for ways to make Maui self sustaining, and their lives as close to zero waste as possible. Maui Recycling Service, plus, Shaun and Pam currently use 100% Biodiesel (B100) in all their vehicles. Making Bio-Beetle a reality was just another way to show what we can do, right now, to help protect the planet."

Breakthrough?

Slashdot reports on a potential biodiesel production breakthrough.

Palm Oil's Environmental Toll

FUD from The Guardian: The most destructive crop on earth is no solution to the energy crisis

Veg My Ride

vegmyride.tv will soon be selling a DVD-based video guide for converting diesel engines to SVO; the site has a Quicktime preview.

SF Biodiesel Blog

Eric Bowen of the San Francisco Biofuels Co-op is now blogging: http://allthingsbiodiesel.blogspot.com/

Biofuel and Rainforests

New Scientist reports that an unfortunate side-effect of the rush to ramp up biofuel production is rainforest deforestation:

"The rush to make energy from vegetable oils is being driven in part by European Union laws requiring conventional fuels to be blended with biofuels, and by subsidies equivalent to 20 pence a litre. Last week, the British government announced a target for biofuels to make up 5 per cent of transport fuels by 2010. The aim is to help meet Kyoto protocol targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions."

More commentary over at 37Signals.

[Via SvN]

Biodiesel Not Just for Cars Anymore

Wired reports on biodiesel-as-heating-oil for home use:

"Biodiesel previously was overlooked as a heating fuel because heating oil was cheaper. But prices for conventional heating oil have doubled since 2001...

... the National Biodiesel Board's website now lists 19 companies that supply biodiesel-blended heating oil, known as BioHeat, to residential customers, and the list is growing. Most companies provide BioHeat blends that contain 5 percent, 10 percent or 20 percent of biodiesel (known as B5, B10 or B20, respectively) mixed with conventional heating oil, all of which can be used in existing oil-burning furnaces."

NOLS SVO

The National Outdoor Leadership School's Educational RV is cruising around the country, and it's powered by straight veggie oil:

"Powered by recycled vegetable oil (RVO), solar power, and sponsored by Silk™, the makers of organic soymilk, this educational program on wheels provides an active, environmentally conscious way to learn about the outdoors and celebrate leadership in your community."

They've got a blog, too: http://nols.blogs.com/

Frybrid

If you're looking to convert your diesel-powered vehicle to straight veggie oil (SVO), check out the Cool Tools review of the Frybrid Kit:

"Frybrid was the first to introduce a really efficient heat exchanger and a microprocessor controller that will automatically switch to vegetable oil when the system is hot enough and which will not let you forget to switch back to diesel. The components of the Frybrid system were designed to handle the most challenging conditions, so that they could be installed in a Mercedes or a Mack truck."

Coconut Oil

WorldChanging reports on coconut oil-powered rental cars in Vanuatu:

"Unlike with many biofuels, coconut oil doens't need to be transesterized - mixed with sodium hydroxide and alcohol to change its chemical composition - to run in a diesel engine. Filtered and warmed to temperatures about 25C, coconut oil is a better than satisfactory substitute for "mineral diesel" - it burns more slowly, which produces more even pressure on engine pistons, reducing engine wear, and lubricates the engine more effectively."

[Via BoingBoing]