LVM's Environmental Action Blog

The purpose of this blog is to convey the importance that life choices and daily decisions have on the environment. I will, as a member of the kayaking community, effectively convey the importance and immediacy of environmental issues written in the paddling vernacular.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

getting into BioDiesel


The 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, Biodiesel ready rig (42 mpg regular diesel, too).
To read a Canadian Driver review of the TDI, Click Here

Daniel and I have been talking about biodiesel from the very beginning of this misadventure, because unless you are willing to make some serious sacrifices, you need a car. As kayakers, especially, we are bound to our fossil fuel powered vehicles to transport us to and from the river. More often than not we need them for shuttle as well: that’s at least two gas-guzzlers for each boating venture. We can choose to drive more fuel-efficient cars, but that may be a difficult choice for some.
Hark! Another option exists: BioDiesel.
BioDiesel is essentially a combustible fuel refined from cooking oil that can be run in modified diesel engines. Just like petroleum, the same reaction occurs: the combustion of a carbon chain in the presence of oxygen with the byproducts being carbon dioxide and water.
Now you may say that C02 is a green house gas, and this isn’t that big of a step forward. However when considering the source of the fuels as they relate to carbon cycles; there is a big difference between the two fuels. The gas we use to power our cars comes from oil, which has been mined from the ground. This oil is essentially fossilized organic matter (carbon chains) from millions of years in the past. The carbon that makes up this organic matter was initially atmospheric: carbon dioxide; plants take in CO2, produce tissue, and emit oxygen as a waste. So the carbon dioxide that is coming out of our tail pipes is just being reintroduced into the grand carbon cycle. The problem is we are putting this fossilized carbon back into the atmosphere at a much faster rate (like millions of times faster) than the earth can take it back in: the fossilization process takes quite a while.
The carbon chains in vegetable oil are on a much shorter carbon cycle; the carbon dioxide produced during its combustion was taken out of the atmosphere very recently; so the net impact of its reintroduction is much smaller.

To watch a commercial about biodiesel from Choren Industries GmbH =>
Click Here

To learn more about Choren Industries =>
Click Here

Another big advantage, in polluting terms, is BioDiesel combustion produces no sulfur oxide compounds. Sulfur oxide compounds are a major component of acid rain (hence forth to be referred to as acid deposition: the new fancy term) and smog. Sulfur dioxide is a hydrophilic molecule, meaning it draws in water molecules, and in turn disperses light. This affect can be seen here especially in the southeastern US with our decreasing visibility. Also the acids formed by SO2, sulfurous and sulfuric, are very strong and their affects on vegetation can been readily seen at high elevations.


The trees atop Mt. Mitchell and Clingman’s Dome show their scars from acid deposition.

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