We mentioned the now growing complaint about biodiesel production harming the rainforests a couple of weeks ago. It seems everyone is picking up on this issue and the “greens” now say we’re dumping our problems on third world countries. Is there anything short of rolling back civilization to the dark ages that will satisfy the [...]
November 2005
A recent article in a Seattle newspaper pointed out the difficulty facing the state of Washington as it tries to start its own biodiesel industry. Farmers tried to raise canola and found growing conditions were not as good as they were in various midwestern states. Adding to their problems, no crusher is currently available within [...]
Almost as an underscore to my earlier post about there being no need for incentives to move toward the production and use of biofuels, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Airways, said he is planning to move his entire air fleet to biofuels as soon as possible. The rising price and unstable supplies of conventional petroleum [...]
Whether we are talking about biodiesel specifically or biofuels in general, which include bioheat heating oil, various ethanol blends or even SVO (straight vegetable oil), the rapid expansion of both demand for and supply of these fuels is evident. It’s a great example of the free market at work but some of the activity in [...]
As I noted the other day, with the rapid growth of biodiesel and bioheat, the demand for left over cooking oil will eventually turn that waste into a commodity. Only those restaurants not paying attention will continue to give this oil away for free rather than use it themselves for making biodiesel or burning it [...]