Biofuel

Biodiesel is a renewable petro-diesel equivalent fuel manufactured from vegetable oils, animal fat, recycled restaurant grease and algae. It is relatively simple to produce locally, is safe, biodegradable as long as starting fluids have not been added and has lower air pollution qualities.

Biodiesel is very much a grassroots effort. Several local cooperatives have been formed around the country to produce their own biodiesel and make it available to their members.

Unlike ethanol production plants biodiesel production facilities can change their feedstock easily. For ethanol manufacturers if its a corn ethanol plant, that’s it, they can only produce corn based ethanol. On the other hand a biodiesel plant can easily change from soybean oil to canola oil to palm oil easily.

In the U.S. alone last year 62 billion gallons of diesel were consumed. By contrast only about 150 million gallons of biodiesel was produced. In 2007 that should change as companies like Imperium Renewables come on line with large scale biodiesel production plants.

While alternative fuels have always been looked at as a fringe activity it’s quickly becoming apparent that only by switching to biofuels like biodiesel will we solve some of the worlds greatest challenges such as global warming and environmental damage from pollution.