Mixing Biodiesel and Ethanol in Your CAFÉ Could Be Good for Everyone

If Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in America were equal to those in the European Union, the USA would not have to import one gallon of foreign crude oil. That's what Bill Bradley, former NBA star and former presidential candidate, claims in his new book The New American Way. I haven't read the book, and I am not endorsing yet another potential candidate, I am just repeating his claim here because I heard it on Bill Maher's show (from Mr. Bradley, of course) Real Time this past week. Funny thing about that comment was that Mr. Bradley didn't seem to be very aware of "biodiesel" when Bill Maher had a satellite interview with Sheryl Crow and her traveling companion Laurie David from their biodiesel tour bus. I may be wrong, but that was the impression I got as I watched.

Meanwhile Ms. Crow and Ms. David are on an 11 college route to Washington, D.C. ending on Earth Day, April 22, 2007 to raise awareness of global warming. I don't know how much information they are conveying during their concerts, though it was kind of interesting that during the Bill Maher interview they claimed not only to environment friendly by using a biodiesel bus, but Ms. David said they were taking showers together to save water, while Ms. Crow said they were also sleeping together. Since their tour is called the, "Stop Global Warming College Tour", I guess they can hardly fail to raise a little awareness of the issue.

Would it surprise you to hear that the EPA has mandated that all diesel must be blended by 1% biodiesel next year, and raised that standard to 2% biodiesel by 2010? Don't cheer too quickly if that pleases you. The EPA in this case is one that exists in Taiwan, Republic of China. In fact the regulations are being applied starting this year in a limited range of filling stations, according to the China Post online. By 2008 all counties will be subject to this requirement. I am not sure we can absolutely rely on the accuracy of the reporting in this case, or perhaps it is the reliability of the translations (as most English speaking people, unfortunately, still notice in written instructions on products from Asia generally). The article begins with the "news" that, "... drivers in Taiwan will be required to add biodiesel in addition to gasoline to their vehicles to reduce air pollution ..." which would be an interesting innovation indeed.

The use of conventional diesel in European cars does, in fact, contribute to their far better average mileage overall. Current standards in Europe are around 40 mpg (not that they measure in gallons, of course). And as someone pointed out in a discussion I read recently (sorry, I don't remember where), they are the same automobile manufacturers who make North America's automobiles who are selling those fuel efficient cars in Europe. I believe the writer who was pointing this out also reported he had driven (presumably in Europe) a diesel powered BMW 330d that gets 40 mpg. You can buy one yourself. They've been around since at least 2001, because I found one for sale for 13,750 Euro's (that's about US$ 18,500). American EPA standards are tougher on diesel in the USA, and the resulting "ultra low sulfur" diesel is a good thing. Whether one could actually import one of those BMW 330d cars and meet local emissions standards (and all the other standards) is problematic. But the good news is that although the 330 diesel has a lower horsepower rating than the 330 gas model, it has much higher torque, so it easily delivers more than 10% better acceleration in the "passing test" going from 50mph to 70mph according to Car and Driver's review and comparison.

Okay I was going to refrain from commenting on the Don Imus firing from his radio/TV show, but I got an email claiming the old adage was untrue that, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Apparently we have lost all common sense and need to refer to Eleanor Roosevelt's translation of this same sentiment when she said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Of course an insult can sting. An insult that is true stings all the more. But letting untrue statements "damage" you, or stain you, or, "scar you for life," is granting power to the person hurling the unkind words that they do not have without your assent to thus empower them. I strongly resent that people have given certain words a power that they simply do not have, and thereby have banned them from use. That is, banned them for anyone ELSE to use, while making the excuse that within their culture it is all right to use those same words as part of a form of "artistic expression." Isn't that racism, too? (Not to mention the sexism.) I am going to try to leave this topic with a quote that everyone, perhaps, should take to heart. It is the lyrics to an old song by a group called, "Supertramp", that goes like this:

"Now they're planning the crime of the century. Well, what will it be?

Read all about their schemes and adventuring. Yes, it's well worth the fee.

So roll up and see

how they rape the universe, how they've gone from bad to worse.

Who are these men of lust, greed and glory? Rip off the masks and let's see.

But that's not right, oh no. What's the story? Look, there's you and there's me.

That can't be right!"

A Canadian radio station, CJOB, reports that a Manitoba Provincial Government sponsored test of 2 identical long haul trucks has shown no difference (except reduced "diesel smell") between the one using conventional petroleum derived diesel and one using a 5% biodiesel blend. The test, so far, has gone 50,000 kilometers and experienced temperatures as low as -40 degrees (it happens that -40 is the same temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius). Biodiesel is expected to have cold weather problems in some cases, especially high percentage blends, and almost certainly with B100 (100% biodiesel) unless some additive(s) is(are) found to reduce the viscosity at very low temperatures. One simple solution, of course, is that B100 can be blended with the "non-ester renewable diesel" from other biomass sources, and still remain 100% biomass derived, requiring no petroleum component at all, because non-ester renewable diesel is indistinguishable from the older version, except that it is likely to be much lower in sulfur, even lower than the newer ultra-low sulfur versions of petroleum diesel.

One of the companies giving a presentation (and represented on the exhibit floor too) at PowerGen Renewable Energy & Fuels conference last month in Las Vegas was BlueFire Enthanol. BlueFire has an interesting process in that they have demonstrated a version of their "concentrated acid hydrolysis" process for providing fermentable sugars from cellulose which works on streams of mixed municipal solid waste (MSW). Of course, once the hexose and pentose sugars are available the fermentation process is pretty much the same as anywhere (although they reportedly use a rapid fermentation processor). The plant using this process is in a small building 3 floors of perhaps 2100 square feet each (pre-processing and drying of feedstock happens outside in a separate area). That is not quite as amazing as it sounds. They estimate (after extensive survey input) that MSW is about 70% some form of cellulosic materials. The waste stream is first sorted to remove recyclables (and anything that would react with the concentrated sulfuric acid to produce undesirable results). However, the basic idea of cellulosic materials converted to simple sugars has been accomplished and the Izumi plant in Japan has been doing it for nearly 10 years now, BlueFire claims. The Izumi operation has been more of a research facility than a production scale plant, but they have been selling ethanol to the Japanese fuels market for many years now.

New Mexico Governor, and Democratic Party presidential primary candidate Bill Richardson appeared on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopolous. Governor Richardson is trying to establish his credentials on the foreign policy front and has some legitimacy to his claim. He has been to Afghanistan and North Korea several times and claims that on his last visit received official assurances that the 6 party deal to curtail North Korea's nuclear weapons program is proceeding as fast as can be expected, and CAN be expected to "go forward" (as ABC phrases it on their web site).

However, Richardson stumbled on the program too. He, among all Democratic front-runner candidates, stands alone on his stated position that all US troops should be out of Iraq by the end of 2007. (Yes, really, he wants them out by then.) For that I applaud his "no pussy-footing" attitude with regard to the speed with which this should be accomplished. Every day in Iraq American lives are being lost needlessly just because they are the obvious targets for Iraqi frustrations. I am tremendously frustrated with the Bush Administration policy that keeps extending and prolonging the agony for the families of Armed Services personnel. But when George Stephanopolous posed the question as to what former generals or other military advisors had endorsed Richardson's strategy for Iraq, the Governor tap danced around the subject and failed to name anyone, regardless of rank, who stood behind his plan. Richardson should have seen it coming. If he wants to be our President, he needs to anticipate the likely questions and have thought through the issues. Endorsement is, not in itself, the only response (though it would have been helpful to have one or two backers handy for the occasion). At least he should have recognized that saving the lives being lost daily should be considered evidence enough that we don't belong in the middle of the sectarian violence which must either be resolved by the local parties to it, or allowed to tear the country into theocratically demographic entities (as Senator Biden has been advocating all along). One would hope that this can be accomplished with peaceful reconciliation of the issues of ethnic redistribution, not wholesale slaughter of ethnic cleansing, which, by the way, is what is behind a good deal of the current violence between the sects. People who lived together in peace and relative harmony under the strong-armed enforcement of the dictator are now killing each other, against all law and reason, fomented by the political ambitions of the clerics who claim the authority of their diety to make policies of violence the path to religious salvation.

On a brighter note, Richardson also pointed out that despite Stephanopolous' assumption that transition costs would have to be funded with additional taxes, that a universal health care plan (his plan, in particular, naturally) would be essentially self-financing because you could eliminate most (or at least much) of the 31% of current healthcare costs that are nothing more than administration. That, plus the fact that we are already, as a nation, including through state and municipal taxation, paying for the uninsured people's health care through publicly funded emergency room care. Eliminating the coughs, colds, scraped elbows and twisted ankles from the expensive (and usually not very time-effective) process of emergency room care would significantly unburden the public purse of much of the costs of health care for the uninsured. It may not be much better than the British or Canadian systems of universal health care, but there are lots of Canadians who will no longer take up permanent residence in the US for fear of being cut off from that kind of health care coverage back home, north of the border. Okay, so Canadian regulations that prevent more Canadians from taking permanent retirement residence South of the border (here) may not be the happiest news I have to convey this week, but the idea that we may actually be closer to universal health care and that it might be affordable, certainly sounds like good news to me.

Love,

Stafford "Doc" Williamson