BrevardBioDiesel Blog

Brevard Biodiesel will be at the upcoming 3rd Annual Progressive Fest held Sunday July 22nd at the Eau Gallie Civic Center in Melbourne FL.
We plan to have a few biodiesel vehicles and would be happy to chat about biodiesel with any visitors. We'll also have prizes for people trying to answer an energy based quiz.
Other fun:
Live Entertainment
Book Fair
Rummage Sale
Face Painting
Food including locally roasted Fair Trade Coffee

The "Transportation Land Use, Planning, and Air Quality Conference 2007" will be held at the Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, FL on July 9,10,11 2007.

Of particular note to biodiesel interests are these two sessions:

MONDAY, JULY 9, 2007
1:30-2:45
Review of the Impact of Biodiesel, Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel, and Conventional Diesel on Emissions from Orange County School Bus Fleet-Ali Bayat, University of Central Florida.

TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2007
1:15-2:30
The Impact of Biodiesel on Emissions from School Buses - Mohamadreza Farzaneh, Josias Zietsman, and Dennis G. Perkinson, Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX.

Full Agenda

Diesel ships and trains are not subject to the same fuel and exhaust requirements that on-road vehicles are subject to by the EPA. The pollution from trains in the Chicago area is estimated to be equivalent to over 53 million cars! (Compare to 6 million registered automobiles in all of Illinois).
The pollution from ships in the Houston area is estimated to be equivalent to over 76 million cars! (Compare to 9 million registered automobiles in all of Texas).

The EPA is stepping up controls on both ships and locomotives. The proposed rules are intended to reduce particulate emissions from ships and locomotives by 90 percent, NOx by 80 percent, and "sizeable" reductions in HC, CO, and other air toxics. Comments on the new rules are due by July 2nd. Instructions for submitting comments are located at this page under the "Public Participation Opportunities" section.

Honda has seen the light with regard to its hybrid Accord and is dropping that model for the upcoming year.

The 2007 Honda Accord hybrid model boasts a whopping 2 more MPG (combined) than the gasoline only model. Honda must have figured that consumers would go for the extra power the 6 cylinder hybrid model provided - but consumers didn't bite. Last month, only 1.4% of the Accords purchased were the hybrid type. Meanwhile, the hybrid Toyota Camry, which gets 10 more MPG than the gasoline mode, accounts for 15% of the model sold.

The good news for biodiesel users is the expected appearance of diesel models in Honda's line for 2009. Honda produced an award winning ad in the UK to promote their clean diesel technology:

The Times Online reports on the disturbing consequences of increased biofuel demand:

A surge in demand for biofuels derived from agricultural products has unleashed a chaotic land grab by a new breed of gangster entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the world’s thirst for palm oil and related bioproducts.

The Columbian Institute for Rural Development reports that 95% of the palm has been planted illegally (without consulting the land owners, using force).

In a 2003 order by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights it was noted that:

Since 2001, the company URAPALMA S.A. has initiated cultivation of the oil palm on approximately 1,500 hectares of the collective land of these communities, with the help of “the perimetric and concentric armed protection of the Army’s Seventeenth Brigade and armed civilians in their factories and seed banks.” The goal of the armed raids and operations in this territory has been to intimidate the members of the Communities, so that they either join in the production of oil palm or evacuate the territory. The company’s preparation of the land in order to expand the crop continues to advance toward the community of Nueva Esperanza, near the place chosen by the members of the Communities to set up their “humanitarian refuge zones.” Moreover, under these circumstances, the cultivation of African palm and the exploitation of the natural resources on the Communities’ territory endanger the lives and survival of these families;

Pictures from a Solidarity walk in Uraba, Columbia including pictures of land taken over for palm growth.

Movements for sustainable palm oil include Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
and a new Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance led by Daryl Hannah, Willie Nelson and the King's of Pacific Biodiesel.