From: Walter Keller (tokarev@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon May 12 2003 - 14:58:09 PDT
Herr,
Thanks for the article - good reading - A german friend who owns a
courier service in Germany has all his VW Golfs running on Veg oil. It
saves him alot in fuel cost - The gov here doesnt push it because it
doesnt generate any taxes - Money they can give away to bribe votes.
Has anyone tried it in a M35 yet?
Walter Keller
Herr Bookmonger wrote:
>A friend who is aware of my continuing intrigue with bio-fuel sent me this.
>The concept of free fuel for a Military Vehicle continues to fascinate me.
>Just imagine the ammunition it would provide ! "That deuce and a half isn't
>a fuel hog, it's saving oil for the commuters !" etc. etc.
>
>Herr Bookmonger
>M-43
>_________________________________________
>"I'm not a believer," he says, whispering like a conspirator. "The fad won't
>last. But for now, I'm getting my grease hauled away."
>----------
>Fill 'er Up -- From the Dumpster Behind the Restaurant
>
> Biodiesel, made from plant oil or animal fat, is fueling vehicles and an
>environmental crusade.
>
>By John M. Glionna and Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writers
>
>
>SAN FRANCISCO — When Elie Rothchild's 1984 diesel Volkswagen is running on
>empty, he skips the corner gas station and heads straight for his favorite
>greasy spoon.
>
>Donning a pair of surgical gloves, he pumps a few gallons of congealed
>vegetable lard out of the kitchen fryers. With a bit of chemical hocus-pocus
>back in his garage, he creates a newfangled fuel.
>
>Rothchild motors on the front lines of the biodiesel crusade, a
>brew-your-own fuel movement that advocates say can, in a small but
>politically correct way, help slake America's thirst for Middle East crude.
>
>The biodiesel brigade has some advice for drivers of those gas-guzzling SUVs
>they brand unwitting supporters of terrorist regimes: Wake up and smell the
>french fry grease. Because if oil means war, their thinking goes, then
>biodiesel means peace.
>
>Experts disagree over biodiesel's role in the nation's energy future. While
>some say home-brew purists are visionaries, others dismiss them as
>fringe-dwelling dreamers. Daniel Becker, the Sierra Club's global warming
>and energy director, advocates boosting fuel economy rather than turning to
>alternatives like biodiesel: "I don't think it's a solution for the whole of
>America."
>
>Fewer than 1% of all cars in the U.S. run on diesel fuel. Still, a few true
>believers hope for a groundswell of consumers quitting their petroleum habit
>and embracing biodiesel — even if it means brewing made-in-America fuel one
>gallon at a time. Biodiesel production in the U.S. is already way up, with
>commercial sales jumping from 500,000 gallons in 1999 to 15 million last
>year.
>
>Biodiesel can be concocted from just about any plant oil and animal fat —
>from soybeans to mustard seeds and industrial kitchen grease.
>
>"It's so incredibly easy to make this stuff, it's frightening," says
>Rothchild, who runs an upstart biodiesel fuel company. "On top of that, it's
>the right thing to do."
>
>Scattered programs nationwide run garbage trucks and bus fleets on fuels
>such as B20, a 20% mixture of biodiesel and conventional diesel. But for the
>true believers, the only grade that packs a political punch is B100; that's
>100% biodiesel.
>
>The renewable fuel emits roughly half the "greenhouse" pollutants of regular
>diesel and is 94% less likely to cause cancer, according to the U.S.
>Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Rothchild
>boasts that it's as biodegradable as table sugar.
>
>These days, biodiesel veers toward the chic. Actor Woody Harrelson drives on
>the fuel, and Julia Butterfly Hill, the celebrated tree sitter of
>California's north coast, is a promoter. The folk duo Indigo Girls are using
>biodiesel to fuel their current national tour. In Maui, there's a biodiesel
>rental car for tourists who want to make a statement.
>
>Melissa Crabtree, a 34-year-old folk singer and river guide, was about to
>head out on a national tour when she made the switch. Crabtree joined some
>friends to buy a 1984 Ford Econoline van in Reno, converting the old rig's
>engine to run on vegetable oil. (Though biodiesel works splendidly in a
>standard diesel engine, advocates say, pure vegetable oil requires engine
>modifications.)
>
>The Veggie Van was born.
>
>For the next few months, Crabtree buzzed around America, the van's tank
>topped each evening with cooking oils scrounged from fast-food joints and
>lunch-counter diners at each stop. Filtering the swill before siphoning it
>into the van, Crabtree recalled being "covered in vegetable oil most of the
>time."
>
>She turned to petroleum only once, after a french fry wedged in her fuel
>line. Mostly, the Veggie Van ran like a dream. At each gig, Crabtree talked
>it up, prodding audiences to kick their foreign oil addiction and belting
>out a song she wrote about the van.
>
>Back in Berkeley recently, Crabtree met with other biodiesel advocates to
>demonstrate the ease of brewing your own.
>
>First came acquisition of the raw ingredients. Maria Alovert, an East Bay
>free spirit whose dark hair is dyed with streaks of red and yellow, hefted a
>one-gallon plastic milk jug to scoop gobs of grease from a trash bin in back
>of Spenger's Fish Grotto near the briny east shore of San Francisco Bay.
>
>Alovert, who teaches courses on concocting biodiesel, brews her fuel in a
>greasy 30-gallon drum. The process is relatively simple, though a bit of
>caution and a good biodiesel cookbook are advised. Fryer oils and grease get
>dumped into the vat and warmed with an electrical coil from an old hot water
>heater. Next, a mix of methanol and lye are added. The broth is stirred,
>then left to sit overnight. Glycerin produced by the process is drained off
>for use as soap. What's left is ready for the tank.
>
>*
>
>How About $1 a Gallon?
>
>Typically, 1 1/2 gallons of restaurant grease yield about a gallon of
>biofuel. Advocates say the home brew costs up to a dollar per gallon to
>make. Mass-marketed biodiesel runs quite a bit higher — about 50 cents a
>gallon more than regular diesel fuel.
>
>"If you make your own, it's extremely cheap," Alovert said.
>
>Activists crowd the spotlight, but there's a buttoned-down industry behind
>them.
>
>So far, about 20 companies have popped up nationwide. The industry has its
>own trade association, the National Biodiesel Board, funded largely by
>soybean farmers who stand to gain if biodiesel booms. That Midwest
>agricultural connection has helped gain Washington's ear: Congress is
>considering new tax subsidies for the fuel.
>
>Biodiesel executives certainly don't disagree with activists about the
>fuel's benefits to the environment and energy independence. But some wince
>over the counterculture embrace, worrying that their budding industry won't
>be taken seriously.
>
>The industry has already carved a mainstream niche, supplying about 300
>government fleets, harbors and even a smattering of military vehicles. In
>Bakersfield, what activists are heralding as the nation's largest biodiesel
>plant is also in the works. Garbage trucks in San Jose and Berkeley run on
>it.
>
>Dave Williamson, recycling manager at Berkeley's Ecology Center, said his
>beefy rigs perform well on 100% biodiesel. Though studies have shown that
>the alternative fuel produces about 12% less energy than traditional diesel,
>Williamson said he's seen virtually no loss of power as the trucks climb the
>city's steep eastern hills.
>
>Biodiesel advocates also boast about its superior lubricity, saying the fuel
>cuts down on engine wear and maintenance. (One consumer warning: The rubber
>hoses on some autos and pickups built before 1993 can be eroded by the
>fuel.)
>
>Scientists call biodiesel an alternative for those who see their cars as a
>reflection of their political and environmental ethic. Said David Friedman,
>a senior analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists: "People are
>frustrated because they can't walk into a showroom and say, 'Give me a
>vehicle that can reduce our oil dependence.' In today's car buying market,
>the only choice is color and what kind of cup-holders there are."
>
>*
>
>Those Who Doubt
>
>Others say biodiesel is destined to stay a small fry.
>
>Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC
>Davis, says biodiesel will probably remain a boutique industry, undercut by
>its relatively high production cost.
>
>"I've been there, done that," said Sperling, who fermented ethanol out of
>cannery wastes as a graduate student. "I sympathize with their idealistic
>notions."
>
>Rothchild has bought the biodiesel concept pump, hose and nozzle. He
>recently saw a biodiesel demonstration and went right out and bought a
>diesel-powered vehicle. He converted it to run on pure vegetable oil as well
>as biodiesel fuel. Now, in a petrol pinch, he can hit an area supermarket
>for a plastic bottle of cooking oil to funnel right into his tank.
>
>"When Dr. Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine, it ran on peanut oil,
>not the other stuff," he says.
>
>Kenneth Kron, a biodiesel entrepreneur who makes about 50 gallons a week for
>a dozen customers, sees gold in restaurant grease. "In the future, they're
>going to call us lazy over the way we plundered the land for oil," Kron
>says.
>
>*
>
>'Not a Believer'
>
>Rothchild is walking down a busy sidewalk with his grease pump in hand. His
>eyes widen as he approaches a Mexican restaurant. Many ethnic eateries use
>animal lard, which he says is thicker and packs more wallop.
>
>He walks right into the kitchen. The cook smiles and waves him into a back
>alley, where Rothchild spies two barrels left out in the rain. He lifts the
>top on one and takes a long, languid whiff, like a wine aficionado. He fires
>up the pump.
>
>Inside the restaurant, manager Otto Laksmono can only shake his head at the
>idea that his kitchen glop would one day power a few of America's vast
>armada of automobiles.
>
>"I'm not a believer," he says, whispering like a conspirator. "The fad won't
>last. But for now, I'm getting my grease hauled away."
>
>
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