I'm a CNET fan. I browse the CNET family of web sites on an almost daily basis and I check CNET's news site at least once a day. My office is not far from CNET headquarters here in San Francisco and I 've met some of the staffers. I like them and I like CNET.
So it is not at all unusual for me to find something of interest on their site to share here with you. This morning they ran a photo and caption line about a biodiesel plant. It piqued my curiosity.
Here's the story that developed:
In the photo: The Grays Harbor, Washington, biodiesel refinery being opened by Imperium Renewables. The 12-acre facility will be capable of churning out 100 million gallons of biodiesel by the end of the year, the company says.
Imperium Renewables wants to build three copycat plants over the next 18 months. When it comes to total diesel consumption, 100 million gallons is a drop in the bucket, but it's a start. Imperium says it can produce biodiesel cheaper than competitors.
With less than 3% of the world's reserves, our nation consumes over 25% of the world's petroleum production and, despite our efforts to reduce dependence, our appetite for crude oil is growing. World wide growth in demand for petroleum exceeds growth in supply. The economic, environmental, and security implications of our consumption are mounting, threatening every aspect of life in America and around the world.There is a better way. It is biodiesel.
One of America's leaders in biodiesel is country mega-superstar Willie Nelson who launched Bio Willie. For more than 20 years Willie Nelson has advocated for the American farmer. Few people in America have not heard of Farm Aid.
Now, the legendary singer has developed a whole new approach to promoting American farm life - Bio Willie - a brand of biodiesel he is promoting throughout America's heartland.
This may not be an area for Bio Willie expansion, but the San Francisco Bay Area is an absolutely perfect area for Martin Tobias and his Imperium Renewables to develop a major biodiesel production facility. I'd like to see ABAG (the Association of Bay Area Governments) continue its work with the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities and the Bay Area Economic Forum to stimulate interest in biodiesel production and develop plans to invite the biodiesel industry to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bay Biodiesel is a San Francisco Bay Area start-up and a local biodiesel pioneer. It is owned by Patrick & Lori O'Keefe. Patrick is vice-president of Golden Gate Petroleum, which owns Golden Gate Biofuels. The latter is the largest biodiesel distributor on the West Coast.
For more information on biodiesel and other biofuels, visit the National Biodiesel Board. Another good source of information on biodiesel is the bioenergy section of the Union of Concerned Scientists website.
1 comments:
Sam this was an excellent article. Hopefully bay area will lead the way (like it often has different areas) in a national biodiesel revolution.
Am researching the posibility of using a plant by the name of Jatropha whose seeds can be crushed to produce biodiesel. Countries like India are way ahead on this, but hopefully with time, this will be a good alternative for the production of biodiesel.
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