Welcome to Biodiesel Report
27 October 2005Very few alternative fuels have gained so much attention as quickly as biodiesel. You see stories about it everywhere. But biodiesel is still surprising a lot of people. You can tell they’re surprised because they use exclamation points. “Diesel runs on vegetable oil!” or “Man drives truck powered by cooking oil!” Not long ago I saw another article, “You can run biodiesel engines on filtered coconut oil!” and it struck me that a lot of confusion exists out there about diesel engines. I suppose the reason is most drivers have always used gasoline engines and looked at diesels as big, loud engines found only in 18 wheelers.
The engine is not, as the story states a “biodiesel engine,” it’s just a diesel engine, which is the compression ignition engine invented by Rudolf Diesel. Rudy’s first engine on display at the 1900 World’s Fair was running on peanut oil so it was a biodiesel engine right from the get go. But biodiesel then, as now, had a cost disadvantage to petroleum fuel and over the years, people seemed to forget that diesel fuel had its roots in, well, roots! Stuff that grows. Biodiesel isn’t some brand new fuel a bunch of smart techies invented, unless you consider that Rudolf Diesel was a pretty smart techie himself, he just happened to build all of this over 100 years ago. So now if you read the shocking story of how a “Diesel engine runs on peanut oil!” you’ll know it’s nothing new, and maybe those writers will give the exclamation points a rest.
Biodiesel Report will cover this fast growing field with coverage of all of the latest developments, from engines running this very cool fuel to recipes for making biodiesel at home to kits you can buy, laws and regulations affecting the biodiesel user and much much more. If you have a really interesting story of your own biodiesel experience, send it in. We may be able to use it.
We believe that biodiesel has a great future. Will it solve our energy problems all by itself? Probably not, but it may solve your energy problem and mine and your neighbor’s. One by one, we can make a move to build a little more self reliance, save a little money, maybe pollute a little less and over time it adds up. Besides, brewing your own fuel is a hoot! So let’s get going and Welcome to Biodiesel Report.
Posted in Biodiesel
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