ONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2004
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emissions from petroleum diesel exhausts. Biodiesel discharges also reduce potential cancer-causing compounds such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by 80 to 90 percent. Carbon monoxide is lessened by 48 percent and carbon dioxide - the man-made greenhouse gas thought to be responsible for increased global temperatures - emissions are reduced by more than 78 per cent on a life cycle basis.
The NBB's employees work with domestic biodiesel producers and suppliers to spread biodiesel use and crusade for the environment. Jenna Higgins, director of communication, says biodiesel currently comprises less than 5 percent of the fuel market, but the goal is 10 percent of the fuel market. She says the goal can easily be attained depending on the likelihood of a Senate Energy Bill passing through Congress. The bill, which stalled last Christmas, included a biodiesel tax incentive through the USDA bioenergy program. Higgins says rising gas prices could entice politicians to pedal biodiesel. "It has pretty strong bipartisan support," she says. "The White House supports biodiesel. The President supports it."
While the Bush administration appears to accept the progress of biodiesel and the effort to subsidize alternative energy products seems to be coming along, a battle still rages in the trenches of biodiesel production and
"You can pretty much drink the stuff.It's not that harmful to the enviroment."
-Chris Dabney, Santa Barbara, Calif. resident referring to a cruder biodiesel called "backyard biodiesel."
distribution. Bigger tax advantages for petroleum have stalled the advancement of biodiesel, says John McQuery, technical services manager at Hampel Oil. McQuery's company, operating out of Wichita, is one of 11 retail fueling sites in Kansas. It even provides 2 percent biodiesel for three cents more than the street price of diesel gas. McQuerry says no market exists in the United States for passenger biodiesel automobiles as in countries like Germany.
McQuery says the biodiesel market thrives in Germany because Europeans view gasoline as a privilege rather than a right, resulting in heftier government tax advantages for cleaner energy products. Germans pay as much as $4 per gallon, a large reason why nearly every retail pump in Germany offers B100, the hard stuff — pure biodiesel. In addition, domestic car manufacturers in Germany such as BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen all offer diesel engine cars. McQuery says the biodiesel situation in the States rides on the realization of the energy bill. If the bill passes, the doors will open to strive for the goal of 664 million gallons of biodiesel necessitated to fuel every car in America with at least a 2 percent blend.
White biodiesel producers increasingly dot the U.S. map with new facility
ties, other suppliers are surfacing with out making the grid recognized by the NBB. A league of underground biodiesel merchants have infiltrated the biodiesel field. That's right —black market biodiesel. They carry the name "backyard biodiesel," and peddle blends of fuel not registered with the EPA. Chris Dabney, Santa Barbara, Calif., resident, aspires to join the ranks of the backyarders, Dabney, a 22-year old, sushi eating, self-described health freak says he's got alternative energy in the blood, growing up in a house powered by solar panels. Though the NBB discourages the use of backyard biodiesel, Dabney says the fuel is the same, only a little bit cruder. He cites a friend's backyard refinery, in Las Vegas that fueled 2,000 cars last year on backyard fuel, as evidence that the unregistered product is really no different."You can pretty much drink the stuff," Dabney says. "It's not that harmful to the environment." Backyard suppliers, like alley cats, scour the streets gleaning their leftovers. Dabney says most of the backyard supply comes from leftover cooking oil at restaurants.
cooking on a college kitchen.
Besides its black-market fame, biodiesel is also touted at eight other colleges around the nation. In the fall of 2002, four University of Colorado engineering students developed the idea to implement biodiesel for the campus bus system. The CU biodiesel program finances its project through bus pass sales at a cost similar to the passes distributed at the University of Kansas. But unlike our campus, Colorado students pay an additional 49 cents per semester to fund the program.
Student Body President Steve Munch followed through on his campaign promise to get the KU bus program chugging on bean power. Munch, says securing the biofuel for the buses wasn't a hard task because of its eco-friendly reputation. "It's hard to be anti-environment," he says. "There's not going to be people who say 'no we don't like the environment.'"
Biodiesel has found a niche here at the University, in environmentally aware underground markets, and depending on the success of the U.S. Senate Energy Bill, it could find it's way into your car. By 2012, the U.S. government intends to have $5 billion gallons of biodiesel domestically produced each year and will provide a $1 tax incentive for each gallon produced. With these numbers, in a decade every diesel car in the United States will have the potential to run a limited blend of biodiesel. By 2015, the possibilities could be endless. So who knows, maybe DeLoreans will fly in the future. Maybe all cars will have Mr. Fusions strapped to their trunks. Maybe every car will run on beer and banana peels. As Doc would say "The future is at stake."
8.19.04 Jayplay
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