BrevardBioDiesel Blog

The Nov. 2004 issue of OEM Off-Highway (thanks Dad!) has an article titled "The diesel solution" by Dave Jensen. (The background DOE study is here.) While not mentioning biodiesel, it does note:

• Diesel engines could decrease the fuel consumption of light-duty vehicles by more than a third without impacting performance.
• Europe: 44% of passenger vehicles are diesel, in the U.S 0.2%
• Today's diesel engines are 60% quieter and emit 90% fewer emissions than their 1988 counterparts.
• Several studies have shown that today's diesel engines produce fewer toxic air contaminants, have lower NOx, methane, and CO2 emissions than those powered by compressed natural gas (CNG).
• Hybrid (gas-electric) vehicles do not provide as much fuel economy gains as clean diesel technology.
• If diesel-powered passenger vehicles were readily available they would quickly capture 38% of the market. This would reduce crude imports by 700,000 barrels / day which is 1/2 the energy used each day in California.
• US light-duty market predictions: 4% in 2008, 7% in 2012.

Lots of food for thought when you consider the additional benefits afforded by adding biodiesel to the mix.

The presentation regarding biodiesel last night drew a good crowd, probably due to the timely Florida Today article. If you didn't make
the meeting you can view the slides here.

If you'd like to get email notices and discuss the use of biodiesl in Brevard County we've setup a mail list for this purpose here.

It turns out the largest biodiesel production plant in the US is "right around the corner" in Lakeland FL.. If possible we'd like to arrange a tour of the plant for interested consumers like ourselves. If you're interested too, fire off an email to us or leave a comment on this message.