Biodiesel Growth Projection Strong, Substance in Policy May Help

A Florida radio station had asked me to do an interview this week. But, with the oncoming threat of Tropical Storm Ernesto possibly building to hurricane status before it hit the Miami area, radio host Bruce Wayne politely called to postpone the day before.

As it turned out, Ernesto was not the disaster they feared in the Miami area. I am hoping that the upcoming election turns out to be more sturm und drang with consequences surging in slightly more northerly localities. It is that approaching storm that tempts me so strongly to turn this entire missive into a commentary on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s speech this past week in which he labeled critics of the administration's war policies as being, “morally or intellectually confused.” He associated such critics with historical instances of Nazi appeasers prior to the second world war. It was certainly a comparison his audience that day would interpret with vehement emotional reactions. He was addressing a veterans organization. I will, however, take consolation in the fact that MSNBC’s Keith Olberman has torn into Mr. Rumsfeld twice over this matter, pointing out that Mr. Rumsfeld seems to be confused as to what democracy is all about. Voices of dissent are the heart of democracy. There may have been, at least until recently, a broad feeling of support for the current administration, but that doesn’t mean that the dissenters are wrong. Nor does it mean that the dissenters are “soft” in their opposition to the strangely fascist imperiousness and dictatorial political views of the Islamists who are promoting world domination under their exclusive and intolerant brand of theocracy.

The information I wanted to impart today is of a far more positive nature. A newsletter I received this week pointed me to a report available from “emerging-markets.com” on the current and near future state of biodiesel. According to the executive summary contained online, biodiesel production tripled in the last year, from about 50 major plants in the USA, and that at least 50 new plants are already under construction to meet the projected growing demand. (Actually the report says it grew by “200%” so one needs to be careful with statistics, lest they become “damn lies” [as Mark Twain called them] without ever becoming untrue.) They say that production is expected to double again by 2007. The same report [the insider’s bit, after you pay for it] cites Brazil and Europe as examples of instances where growth of biodiesel is already strong because of the advanced infrastructure and existing production plant capacity, according to the Renewable Energy Access newsletter.

Similarly a $1400 report from RNCOS points to strong growth of biodiesel expected for Europe, dominated by German interests, and suggests that the U.S. can “catch up” to the Brazilians with a concerted effort in the next few years. In Brazil, they report, that in 2004 there was a 44% use of ethanol in non-diesel vehicles in that country. But remember too, that Brazil’s efficiency in ethanol production is due, at least in part, to the use of sugar cane as feedstock to the process, as opposed to most American production which is based on corn. Neither process has yet attempted to take advantage of thermal de-polymerization to turn the stocks into biodiesel as part of a more comprehensive energy production strategy.

One more quick note. Although the candidate himself was trepidacious publicizing his comments, Arizona State Senate candidate, Dr. Ed Gogek, recently enunciated a proposal (a policy? Perhaps.) that one concrete proposal he has for making his state more energy conscious and more global warming cautious is to implement a program to retire older gasoline powered vehicles from the state’s fleet to replace them with ethanol, biodiesel, CNG and perhaps even hydrogen powered models as they become available in the future. In this conservative constituency where Republicans outnumber democrats 2 to 1, (not to mention a stronger-than-average Libertarian contingent) he worried, I think, that putting emphasis on a policy that involves spending taxpayers money might cost him votes. Of course the benefits of mitigating global warming effects and making our air more breathable don’t weigh as heavily on voters as their wallets, but as Dr. Gogek says, he is finding Republicans, “very friendly” this time around in the election cycle.

Nor should he worry too much that he might be seen as too progressive. The Deer Valley School District (also in the Arizona capital city of Phoenix) has converted most, if not all, of their buses and vans to biodiesel and CNG fueling, as have many other public institutions around the country. CNG buses are a delight to downtown drivers in Los Angeles, where we used to dread being stuck behind a smelly bus. New standards for diesel that reduce sulphur content permitted are helping, too. I can tell you from experience that DVUSD buses are a LOT less smelly than the traditional diesel buses, too.

Am I excited about the solar powered hydrogen filling station? Well, almost. The problem is that at present it only works because there are so few users that it has almost all day to develop enough solar generated electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen before it fills just a few tanks. Honda has been “showing” an experimental home hydrogen filling station and electricity generating station for a while now. The problem with that one is, it gets its hydrogen from the natural gas that fuels it, not from water. As a result it is still a net polluter of petroleum based carbon dioxide. For that matter so are CNG vehicles at this time. So next time, a more positive, optimistic look at ethanol, methane, CNG from greener sources.

Love

Stafford “Doc” Williamson

p.s. I’ve also uploaded some of the previous video clips (already on YouTube.com) of Arizona candidates to Google’s Video are if you want to search there.