There used to be at least one thing that kept me sane through the absurd Diesel price increases here (petro diesel now $2.50/gal)... At least biodiesel has no connection to the oil companies and their various excuses for why fuel has become so expensive; it, at least, should remain steady in price.

I stopped by my local biodiesel station twenty minutes ago. Instead of the usual B100 for $3.00/gal, they are now selling B60 for $3.09!

What the hell???

I understand that due to price increases in petro diesel, biodiesel has become more popular. Maybe they don't have enough supply, so they have to mix. But if they're mixing in cheaper fuel, shouldn't the price go down?

The only explanation is they're ripping us off because they think they can get away with it. So the $52 it cost to fill up my tank today is the last money they will ever get from me. Can anyone tell me where to get biodiesel in Ventura? I hope they aren't trying to pull the same crap there...

Addendum: Looks like it's due to increases in soy oil prices, so I'm less pissed off now. I blame the current California heat wave .

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

You can be sore at the oil companies all you want, but they are no different than any other profit making organization including, as you have found out, the biodiesel producers.

Price levels in a free enterprise system are determined by one thing, supply and demand. It stands to reason that if the petroleum based fuel prices increase, the demand for the biodiesel should increase, thus the demand will cause price to increase.

That's about as simple as you can boil down the economics of commodity pricing.

Best of luck,

You are right, of course (ignoring the possibility that the oil companies are using monopoly tactics to manipulate supply and increase prices like the electric companies did here not too long ago).

I was willing to pay a little extra for B100, and apparently now that petro diesel is closer in price, so were a lot of other people. Demand went up. But now they've reduced it to B60 (literally diluting the only reason anyone would pay more to begin with) and increased the price; I think they'll find demand will decrease... Maybe permanently (note that customer satisfaction and loyalty is worth a lot, and they've just thrown that out to try to make a few extra bucks). I'll sure be "voting" that way with my money.

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

Where are they selling bio-diesel in Santa Barbara?

That is a disturbing to hear, but I guess supply and demand is in play. Energy prices being up across the board probably doesn't help either.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

McCormix on Calle Cesar Chavez sells biodiesel (doesn't look like it's far from where that pic in your sig was taken. Uh, aren't you a little bit too young to be driving though?). You have to drive around back to get to the pump, it isn't with the rest. Up until today I would have recommended them, but...

There used to be a station on the Mesa that sold B20, but I don't think they do anymore. The McCormix station in Goleta also sells B20, but you need a CFN card there.

Just for your info, the cheapest regular diesel I've found around here is the Exxon station at the corner of Fairview and Calle Real... only $2.19/gal last week.

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

And I thought $1.79 I paid for diesel last week was a lot!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

B100 here is still $2.34 a gallon, same price as 3 years ago.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

~ $1.60 - $1.70 here.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Is that B100 with road tax? Missouri has $0.46 tax on a gallon of diesel. I just wish they would exempt cars from that tax, we don't tear up the roads like big rig trucks do.

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

We're at $2.05 for dino-diesel...

Biodiesel does take methanol to produce so prices are somewhat tied to crude oil prices. Besides, its all still cheaper than Canada and Europe!

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1983 300td 240k (down with bad tranny)
1984 300d 222k (daily driver) "Olive"
1997 GMC K2500 105k (sled dog limo)

"The scenery in ANWR is as spectacular as the Grand Canyon and the wildlife is more impressive."

Soy oil had a dramatic increase. All over the Bio forums lately. Everyone's been saying stock on BD 'cause it's going up.

Too much of the BD production is tied to soy instead of seed oils that are much more productive, but have a narrow use.

Algae is supposed to be the highest yield/acre, but we're a few years from good production there.

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

If that is the case, then I guess I can forgive my local station (sorry guys!).

Why would the price of soy increase so suddenly? A friend of mine owns a farm that grows soy beans; I swear he just told me a few weeks ago they weren't doing too well. Hmm, I'll have to tell him it must be bad management then .

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)

Yes, as the price of soy has gone up.... so goes everthing made from it. It`s still a deal at what you`re paying in my book.

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300TD W124, Two VW TDI Passat Wagons,Cummins Ram 250, Kubota Tractor
23 cylinders sipping the sweet sauce of the soy bean

While California is a lovely state, the fuel prices are nuts.
Dino diesel in Winston-Salem is $1.61. Filled up my 84
300 sd for $24.00 Sunday.