The only "green" BD is the stuff that is made from recycled or WVO by the home brewers, all of the guys buying it at the pump are fooling themselves. Some sources say that 1.4 energy units are expended for every 1 unit produced when working with Virgin Oil. Not to mention the time put into tilling/planting/harvesting the crop. Ethanol is the same way only worse. Some of the universities are researching ways to make ethanol and biodiesel from a larger amount of the biomass in the plants rather than just the seeds. When politics and big money corn growers get out of the way the research will show that bio-digesters working with Grass crops will produce a much more "green friendly" fuel.
The only reason homebrewers are making a "green" fuel is because they are using a product that has already been used for some other purpose. The recylcing aspect of it is what makes it a viable venture.
Just my $.02
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Originally Posted by Craig
Yup, BD is definitely not in the mainstream here. I still have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. It's about the same price as petro diesel, MB has not endorsed it above B5, and some pretty credible folks are claiming that BD from soy is actually worse than petro diesel from a energy balance/ carbon balance/ environmental point of view. BTW, E85 has all the same issues. I know it "sounds" green, but I just don't see any up-side.  |