What are the reasons for using biodiesel?

Environmental:
The enviornmental reasons for using biodiesel include reduced global warming as mentioned in the "renewable" section above. Using biodiesel is said to produce 78% lower carbon dioxide emissions than petrodiesel (taking into account the production process). Carbon dioxide levels have been steadily rising over the past couple hundred years, and accelerating in the latter part of this century. This has caused a corresponding rise in average global temperature, resulting in the shrinking of the polar ice caps, more violent weather, rise in sea level, droughts, infectious disease, etc. (see the Union of Concerned Scientists website on this issue. Check out the great carbon cycle animation that my son Matiah Shaman created to illustrate the CO2 benefits of using biodiesel.

Biodiesel has no sulfur, so its emissions do not include sulfur dioxide which reacts in the atmosphere to produce acid rain. Other noxious gases are also reduced: carbon monoxide by 50%, particulates (soot) by up to 65%, and cancer-causing chemicals by up to 94%. For a detailed analysis, see the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 2004 Biodiesel Handling and Use Guidelines. Other environmental benefits include the fact that, as mentioned earlier, biodiesel degrades quickly if spilled on land or water, and does not pose a fire hazard. As it is all that petroleum we use has to be shipped on huge highly polluting ships from the Middle East and other regions. These ships occasionally have spills which create huge environmental disasters. It has been estimated that it takes over 3 gallons of fuel to get every gallon of gasoline into your tank. With biodiesel, the figure is only about one-third of a gallon.

Sociopolitical:
Many people including myself like using biodiesel because it allows us to be off of the petroleum grid. My favorite bumper sticker says, "Biodiesel: No War Required." As the supply of petroleum becomes more and more limited, people will fight over it more and more. Plus most of the world's oil comes from the Middle East, where countries are less stable politically. And our current administrations' bullying in Iraq has only exaccerbated tensions in this region, and animosity toward our country. We simply must become independent of foreign oil, and of oil period. Estimates are that we've used up about half of all of the available oil on the planet, and the less there is, the more energy it will take to extract it. The statistics vary about when the oil will be used up, but even if there's enough for a while, we shouldn't be burning it because of ever-increasing global warming. For information on "peak oil" click here.

Health:
Diesel exhaust contains over 40 toxic chemicals, at least 15 of which have been classified as known carcinogens (cancer-causing) by the Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, the Califonia Air Resources Board has classified diesel exhaust itself as a known carcinogen. Yet, we expose our children to these carcinogens in significant amounts every day as they take the bus to school. Two major reports said that children and drivers are exposed to 4 - 15 times as much diesel exhaust INSIDE the bus as they would if they were outside the bus (see diesel pollution under links). The NRDC report says this translates to an increase in cancer risk of as much as 46 times the amount allowed under federal law.

Biodiesel cuts emissions of nearly all emissions: (click here for more details):

- carbon dioxide: down 78% over life cycle (taking into account how much is produced to make biodiesel). B20 reduces C02 by 16%

- carbon monoxide: down 50% with B100, 20% with B20. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that interferes with our ability to breathe oxygen.

- hydrocarbons: down 93% with B100, 30% with B20. Hydrocarbons are the unburned fuel that contributes to soot.

- particulates: down 30% with B100, 22% with B20. Particulates are tiny particles of carbon and other chemicals that are breathed deep into the lungs and can cause lung cancer and trigger asthma.

- Toxics: down 80 - 90% with B100, 13 -50% with B20. Toxics include chemicals that are known to cause cancer, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

- Sulfur dioxide: down 100%. Biodiesel contains no sulfur, so has none of this chemical which causes acid rain.

- NOx, or oxides of nitrogen, is the only emission that goes up slightly with biodiesel: 13% with B100, and 2% with B20. NOx contributes to smog, but smog formation also requires hydrocarbons which are greatly reduced, so the overall smog forming potential is lower with biodiesel. Also, NOx can be controlled by retarding engine timing, and using catalytic converters. These should be standard equipment for all diesels when the US starts using ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) in 2006. Right now catalytic converters are only used on fleet vehicles that use ULSD, because sulfur kills the catalyst in the converter.

Diesel exhaust not only causes cancer, but also triggers asthma and exacerbates bronchitis. Children are more susceptible to the effects of air pollution from diesel exhaust because their lungs are still developing, and they breathe more air proportionately to their size. A preliminary research study by Dr. Sally Liu and Michael Compher at the University of Washington showed that elementary school children riding Seattle School buses had decreased lung function after riding the bus, and also showed the presence of hydrogen peroxide, and lower pH in their breath.

There is so much evidence that diesel exhaust is harmful, it seems incredible that alternatives like biodiesel are not more sought after. Unfortunately, in this country we seem to have the attitude that we can use dangerous substances until they are 100% proven to be harmful to health. What we should be doing is always asking, based on current knowledge is there a safer alternative to this substance? This concept, called the "precautionary principle" is gaining popularity. The City of Berkely, California applies it to everything the city purchases. They have started using B100 in all city diesel vehicles.

Safety:
Biodiesel has a flash point of over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is much safer than petrodiesel (flash point of 125 deg F). Biodiesel is also less toxic than table salt, and is biodegradable. It simply is not a hazardous substance!

Lubricity:
Biodiesel has a lubricating quality and so is better for the moving parts of a diesel engine. For this reason, biodiesel is a popular additive to ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD), which is very dry and requires a lubricity additive to prevent engine wear. Even 2% biodiesel is enough to provide the required lubricity lost with ULSD. Many fleets have found that the use of B20 allows extends their interval between oil changes, and thus saves money on oil changes and oil filters (click here for excellent example with a school bus fleet).

Economics:
Biodiesel bridges the blue state / red state divide because it means money for American farmers, not for foreign oil. Right now, about a third of the money you spend at the pump for gas goes to some foreign government. Imagine the economic impact if we spent that money at home? Biodiesel is a boon to farmers, and also provides jobs for people for seed crushing and biodiesel manufacturing plants. The new federal excise tax incentive for biodiesel use is estimated to stimulate as many as 50,000 new jobs (click here for more).