So wonder what happens to the oil your fries where fried in, well Biodiesel comes from here (new and/or used veggie oil and animal fat). Again the same pattern emerges, an alternative that is actually more costly that E85 and gasoline. Buyers could end up paying anywhere between .20 to .40 cents per gallon for B20 (20%biodiesel 80% diesel). For more information click on What is Biodiesel?

But do the benefits for using biodiesel out weigh the cost. According to the National Biodiesel Board, using a B20 biodiesel fuel blend can reduce vehicle emissions:

• Unburned hydrocarbons – 20% reduction
• Carbon monoxide – 12% reduction
• Particulate matter – 12% reduction
• Biodiesel is domestically produced, so its use helps reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil and can help boost the agricultural sector of the economy.
• Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made from domestically grown crops like soybeans and mustard seed. Biodiesel can also be produced from recycled cooking grease.
• When using biodiesel, lubricity is improved over conventional diesel fuel.

Only 10 million miles have been driven on pure Biodiesel, this is just a fraction of the mileage we drive in the US. In 1994, U.S. residential vehicles traveled 1,793 billion miles (Figure 3.1), a distance equal to more than 70 million trips around the world.

The only way to get around the high cost is that if I set up my own biodiesel production unit, it may take me several yrs before I can break even but hey, my car exhaust will smell like the fries.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.