June 24, 2008

Lately there has been some negative press concerning "Biofuels". We wanted to dedicate our news letter this time around to setting the record straight. So please, read on for the real facts about biodiesel and remember we have this great local fuel available today -- so please get in touch!

Thank you all for your ongoing support and keep your ears peeled to BBC world service this week for an article about Tri-State Biodiesel.

Facts and Myths about Biodiesel

Some say that biofuels are pushing up the cost of food, and others say they cause more pollution or take more energy than they create. These are all untrue for Biofuels and especially untrue for Biodiesel.

Biofuel is a broad term that can mean many different kinds of fuel from many different sources. When the media says Biofuel, what they usually mean is ethanol made from corn. Biodiesel is a more specific term that refers to an alternative diesel fuel made from fats and oils. Biodiesel is not made from corn. In fact, in the US, most biodiesel is made from either soybean oil, waste animal fat, used cooking oil or some combination of the three.

When the media says biofuels are making food more expensive, what they should be saying is that corn ethanol (one of many biofuels), not Biodiesel, is a minor contributor to rising food costs. The main factors to rising food costs in the US are growing demand driven by China and India, a weak dollar, bad weather, and high fuel costs. With soy-biodiesel, the food part of the bean is still used for food, so soy-biodiesel actually encourages more food production, not less. With waste cooking oil, and animal fat derived biodiesel, we are actually making fuel out of a waste product, that is not competing with food at all.

Another myth is that Biofuels take more energy to make than they create. The truth is that, according to the EPA and DOE, even the least efficient of the biofuels family, corn ethanol, creates 1.2 units of energy for every one unit used. In the case of soy-bean oil biodiesel the fuel creates 3.2 times the amount of energy than was used to make it. In the case of waste cooking oil based biodiesel, which is what we sell here at Tri-State Biodiesel, each unit of energy used to create the fuel yields a lifecycle equivalent of 5.5 units of energy!

A third myth about Biofuels is that they contribute more to global warming gasses than they mitigate; the rational being that if you burn down rainforest to plant more crops you would create more CO2. While this may be happening in certain countries it is not happening in the US. In fact, a recent report from National Geographic showed that all biofuels reduce the volume of life-cycle carbon compared to fossil fuels. In the case of corn ethanol the reductions are meager, but in the case of biodiesel, long range EPA and NREL studies show a 78% reduction in life-cycle carbon emissions.

In May of 2008, a group of senators alerted the public that much of the negative press on biofuels was a result of a corporate smear campaign conducted by a Washington DC public relations firm. This smear campaign is using fuzzy math and anonymous studies to slow the US transition to biofuels, in much the same way that similar campaigns slowed action on global warming for several years. The most unfortunate thing about this campaign is that well-intentioned groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and usually reliable news sources like the New York Times have bought into the myths.

For more information visit www.Biodiesel.org.