[TheForge] OT biodiesel

[Larry and Pat Brown]

NYC parks dept. is using a biodiesel fuel as a pilot program in NYC, they 
started the end of the winter, the first truck had gelling problems but the 
others since then have been alright. The trucks smoke less and seem to run 
as well. The rep told the mechanic that the stuff costs about 2.50 and they 
get a $1.00 rebate

L Brown


At 10:17 AM 5/25/2005 -0700, you wrote:

>I gotta say, I am suspicious of this whole biodiesel thing-
>As far as french fry oil, I cant imagine there is enough used cooking oil 
>in the average town to supply 1/100th of a percent of the current diesel 
>fuel consumption.
>So for a few guys who feel like spending lots of time instead of money, 
>french fry oil will work- but it sure isnt a solution to oil consumption.
>
>And from what I have read, at current prices, it costs more to make 
>biodiesel from plant material like corn than it does to buy diesel fuel 
>from refineries.
>There are only two reasons so many biodiesel refining plants are being 
>built- government subsidies, which means we all pay extra so some farmers 
>can burn more diesel to farm, and scams- it seems there is a company in 
>Minnesota that develops and builds biodiesel refining plants-- using NONE 
>of their own money- they go into a town, convince all the local farmers to 
>mortgage their farms and houses to become "investors" in this big growth 
>industry, then they pay themselves to build and manage what are money 
>losing businesses. Once a critical mass of farmers and locals have their 
>futures tied up in these plants, they start to lobby the state government 
>to REQUIRE biodiesel for many state vehicles, give it tax breaks, etc.
>There are currently something like 50 of these plants either built or 
>under construction in the midwest, and not a single one of them was built 
>by big business- kinda makes you think somebody knows something. Well, I 
>heard Archer Daniels Midland did build one or two, but totally paid for by 
>government grants- none of their own money on the line.
>
>If all the gas and oil was used up, then biodiesel would make sense as an 
>alternative, but right now, there is a lot of smoke and mirrors around 
>this one- its kind of like the 150mpg carburetors.
>
>ries