Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
You know guys, this whole conversation is academic until/unless commercial bio-diesel becomes widely available (like every second or third interstate highway exit in the country). It's fine to use BD to putt around near home if you happen to have a local supplier, but you're not using very much fuel anyway.
On Sunday, I'm driving my 300D about 1200 miles from CO to MI, than back again on Friday night. If I could hop off the interstate at any random exit and fill up with BD, I would probably do so. As it is, I will stop and get about 3 tanks of petro-diesel each way. The following week, I'll be in Dallas; and the two weeks after that I'll be in Phoenix. The point is, unless BD is available out in the real world, it's not useful and it will not make a noticeable difference in U.S. consumption of imported oil.
As far as homemade BD, WVO, SVO, etc. how many people do you think have enough free time to play with that stuff? Not me. Most of us are going to buy whatever is commercially available and reasonably priced.
If you want to make a difference, try talking major commercial carriers into using BD, and get major truck stops to carry it. Try getting diesel engine manufactures to endorse the use of BD. This will require the involvement of major oil companies, and probably some tax incentives for those oil companies. I understand that it's fun to "screw big oil" by using alternative fuels, but in practice you are going to need them if you ever want these fuels to become mainstream. Take a lesson from the backers of E85; they are miles ahead of the BD folks, and they still have a long way to go.
What you folks are doing now is the equivalent of growing your own vegetables because you don't like the local food store. It may make you feel better, but no one else is going to notice. If you guys are serious about this, quit dumpster diving for used oil and start writing letters.
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For every person filling up their tank on BD instead of petro, that's one less customer for big oil. The more BD users, the more it impacts big oil. That's how change happens.
As for not affecting much because we're only using BD for in-town driving, what are you talking about? Isn't in-town driving what most people do? Don't people typically put 12,000 miles a year on their cars just doing a daily commute?
I use about 35 gallons of BD every two weeks (two diesel cars), for 99% in-town driving. Over the entire year, that equates to a hell of a lot of fuel.
BTW, I'm pretty sure BD is available in every major city in the US in one way or another. Sure it's not as easy to find as petro, but it's there. Many Shell stations are selling B20 too. The real world spreads wider than the borders of the US, and you know what Craig? Europe is a big consumer of BD.