ok, so we are getting spanked on diesel prices.
Can anyone explain to me why biodiesel has been inflated just the same, to continually cost more than regular diesel?

seems like gouging to me. vegetable oil has not gone up in price like petroleum.
even the used oil folks are jacking up their prices. any excuse here other than greed?

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

China is buying up all the Chinese food oil. They also made a deal with all the fast food chains to buy their oil...?

Exxon is veggie oil and feeding it to sick whales?

Aliens?



All I know is the price of my local B100 guy is now on par with D2

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

half the corn belt is under water. my guess is it isnt going to come down soon

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1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale
2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold
2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably)
1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast)
1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style)
2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)

Bio users are willing to pay a premium; until that changes, the costs will remain higher than D2 regardless of the economics of Bio.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

That is changing. Folks I know are disgusted with price gouging; here on the West Coast, dino-diesel is $4.75 and up, BD is now $5.35 and up.

We were always willing to pay a little more, but if the profiteers are going to scam several $ per gallon off of people's environmental concerns, they are gonna lose them; now that it is getting really expensive to drive.

__________________
Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

here is how one such company explains it:

Thursday, February 28, 2008
The price of biodiesel
Fellow Biodiesel Drivers ::

"We have all noticed the increase in fuel prices over the last six months. During this period, SeQuential and our network of distributors have not changed margins on biodiesel, meaning that these price increases are from the increased costs for producing biodiesel.

About 40% of the biodiesel SeQuential distributes comes from recycled cooking oil and most of the rest comes from soybean oil grown in the Midwest. This will continue to be the case in the short term, as local production from recycled oil increases; as Oregon production of oilseed crops increases (currently about 10% of our supply); and as technology companies develop alternative feedstocks, such as algae. As demand for soybean oil has increased of late, so has the price. In addition, a major ingredient in biodiesel production is methanol, which increased in price by about 300% since September 2007. We will do everything we can to get price relief.

We understand that these price increases are hard on your wallet, so we want to take a moment to say that we appreciate your dedication to and support of biofuels. We are all in this together, and together, we are growing a renewable fuels industry and bringing better fuel options to Oregon."

So half the oil they use is not impacted at all by food oil prices. Then I find this: "The soybean oil that can make up to about 80% of a typical plant's production costs is approaching record prices, at a time when the soybean crushing industry is almost swimming in a record supply of oil.

That's right. Near-record prices. Record stocks. If that doesn't make economic sense to you, it doesn't to a lot of people in the industry..." (http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1178843659009.xml)

Sniff sniff, i smell something fishy...

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

Supply and demand, market economics. If you'll buy something from me for $1, why should I only charge you .90??

I spoke with 2 folks at commercial biodiesel suppliers last week, they both said that our federal govnt is giving $1 gallon tax credit for biofuel exported to Europe. Thus making it harder to get here at home, and raising prices. 67% of USA biodiesel is going to Europe.

A good chunk of our BD production is being shipped to Europe as well. The way the various tax laws are set up, a US producer can get US tax breaks/credits makings it then ship it to European countries that give incentives for selling BD in the country. The tax breaks wind up being bigger than the cost of shipping across the Atlantic.

One more example of how government can short circuit the free market without really helping the taxpayer.

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Greg Schwall

1983 300SD - 465,000 miles

I got a tank of B99 recently in San Jose; was surprised it was $5.70 a gal when D2 was $5.15 or so. Their bio is made from rapeseed oil which i understand isn't a foodsource. They've undoubtedly expirienced increased manufacturering and shipping costs, but I doubt that is what was responsible for the +20% cost increase since the last time I purchased there. I'd use Bio if it were competitive in cost but even though all my commute fuel is purchased by my work I cant justify paying a premium for something providing 10% less mpg's.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

Ya, that is my point. Biofuel is getting a black-eye over this price gouging. Less folks are gonna use it, and who can blame them? When all along we have paid a premium for BD, now the suppliers are just getting greedy, this is an insult.

Charging .75 cents more per gallon when the fuel is already over $5 a gallon is shameful. An embarrassment to the movement.

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

I get Bio-D also, that is made from WVO. According to the processor, the people who take, steal, suck-n-run, etc. also cause part of the problem. The WVO delivery co now charges more, and delivers less. Couple that with increased cost of methanol, and it is cheaper to run Dino. The WVO Bio-D is still cheaper than SVO Bio-D.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Just got 10 gallons...for $55

They seem to always be 75 cents higher...

I'm sure they could completely undercut the petro-diesel prices, however, this stuff sells pretty quick around here, regardless. Somebody's gotta make money, right?

Oh...and random thought...my car smells like lo mein! Ha! Great!

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1982 240D, sold 9/17/2008
1987 300D TurboW124.133 - 603.960, 722.317 - Smoke Silver Metallic / Medium Red (702/177), acquired 8/15/2009
262,715 and counting

i guess my town is an anomaly, but in Tucson b99 has been 20-30 cents cheaper per gallon than petro ever since i started using it last year. the supplier here says it is 100% virgin soy. still, the fact that it is diverting crops away from food has me investigating making wvo biodiesel at home. any websites you guys can recommend for getting supplies and learning methods for this?

Glad to hear some distributors have some integrity out there.
This is a great sight, referred to as the Maui board:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/frm/f/419605551

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

Last time I fueled a diesel, I paid about 24 cents a gallon less for B20 than the station around the corner was charging for regular diesel.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.