The Yodeler, May 18, 2009
San Francisco Seeks A Biodiesel Future
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By Eric Smith and Aaron Israel
As part of the effort to make San Francisco's city operations carbon-neutral by 2020, Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order calling for the use of B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum diesel) in all of the city's diesel vehicles. In less than a year San Francisco had become the largest city in the world to use biodiesel in its entire diesel fleet, including emergency vehicles and the new hybrid electric buses that form a large percentage of Muni's fleet because they have been found to be the best solution for the city's steepest hills.
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Around the same time the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission launched its SF Greasecycle program, which collects used cooking oil from city restaurants and converts it into biodiesel. The city is also home to two biodiesel non-profits, the San Francisco Biofuels Cooperative and the Biofuel Recycling Cooperative, who work together under the umbrella of the Green Depot, an environmental-justice nonprofit. Along with Global Exchange, and funded in part by the city's Public Utilities Commission and Department of the Environment, they run a "green jobs" biodiesel intern program giving training in the grease-collection process and biodiesel production. Last December, Dogpatch Biofuels opened the city's first B100 biodiesel station. Three predecessors (Olympian Station, San Francisco Petroleum, and Rainbow Grocery) already were selling B20.
By E. "Doc" Smith
The world of biodiesel producers, advocates, retailers and scientists, descended on San Francisco this week for the annual 2009 National Biodiesel Board Conference and the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit at the Moscone Center. San Francisco is perhaps the largest city in the world to employ biodiesel in its diesel fleet, including MUNI and the SF Fire Department, as well as private companies like the Red and White fleet at Fisherman's Wharf and the locomotives of the San Francisco Bay Railroad. With luminaries from around the globe and advocates like actress Darryl Hannah in attendance, the NBB's executive director Joe Jobe opened the conference and spoke of the many challenges facing this alternative fuel, including an assault from junk scientists and lobbyists from the petroleum industry.
To showcase San Francisco for the event, Jobe scouted the city several months ago, filming San Francisco's wide array of successful biodiesel uses, from the SFPUC's successful Greasecycle, to Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis. What transpired was an unforgettable week of biodiesel education, networking and the resolve to join together in facing one of the planet's biggest challenges, our dependance on oil.
By E. "Doc" Smith
Green Depot is happy to announce that Dogpatch Biofuels is finally open! They are located on Pennsylvania between 22nd and 23rd in Potrero and is the first ever all B100 station in San Francisco. They have a beautiful shop and two brand new B100 pumps. Fuel is $3.78 a gallon cash and I was actually their first customer! Read their press release below.
"At last: Dogpatch Biofuels is open for business!
Our first-ever batch of fuel is from Bently, based out of the Reno area. Bently makes some of the highest quality biodiesel around, from 100% recycled waste vegetable oils. The cloud point is an extremely low 1 degree Celsius (about 34 degrees F), and the gel point is 0 degrees Celsius (freezing).
By E. "Doc" Smith
Last Friday, among the grazing goats of the nearby SF Bay Railroad, (used to keep the tracks clear of weeds), I joined the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, Department of the Environment Director Jared Blumenfeld, Randall Stuewe, the CEO of Darling International and Kim Brandon, President of the Port Commission to announce Darling's planned 10,000,000 gallon biodiesel plant at Pier 92.
There is currently a "green jobs", biodiesel intern program, run by the Biofuel Recycling Cooperative, Green Depot and Global Exchange, and funded in part by the Public Utilities Commission and the Department of the Environment which trains youths from Bayview to become skilled in grease collection and biodiesel production.
By E. "Doc" Smith
This Friday and Saturday, I'll be in Santa Monica for the The Second Annual Alt Car Expo, a gathering of alternative fuel presenters showcasing the latest in electric, natural gas, biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol, propane and hybrid technologies. Members of the Bay Area's alternative fuel community will also be speaking as well as attending, including the San Francisco Biofuel Recycling director, Ben Jordan.
By E. "Doc" Smith
At the opening of the City's first fleets-only biodiesel fueling station yesterday, Mayor Gavin Newsom called on "every municipality in the country to do what we have done" as he highlighted the City's remarkable progress in converting its own fleet of diesel vehicles to a biodiesel fuel blend and in moving toward a Fall launch of the PUC's program to provide some of that fuel by recycling grease from restaurants.
Although private vehicles are not able to use this station, biodiesel is available locally from the San Francisco BioFuels Cooperative (SFBC), People's Fuel, and Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis. San Francisco, which has taken a leadership role in implementing local solutions to the problems of global warming and sustainability, is ahead of schedule in converting its diesel vehicles to a biodiesel blend, a goal that Mayor Newsom announced a year ago. Currently 39% of the fleet has been converted to B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petrodiesel). Even at 20%, biodiesel contributes significantly to reductions in pollution, especially greenhouse gasses. The City plans to convert it's entire fleet by year's end and to move to higher blends of biodiesel as soon as possible.
The city has had difficulty collecting enough grease for its entire diesel fleet. So there were some high hopes when in September of 2008, Darling International, the country's largest handler of animal-product grease and used cooking grease, announced plans to build a 10-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant at its rendering facility at Pier 92 in San Francisco's Bayview/Hunters Point. The plant could provide an alternative to current sources of biodiesel, which arrive by rail from the Midwest and are mostly made from virgin oils such as soy or canola. The new plant might also bring new green jobs to the neighborhood, according to Darling management.
Darling International, however, has long been considered one of Bayview's worst polluters, alongside the PG&E power plant and the Navy Shipyard at Hunters Point. Can the new project turn a perennial polluter into a more sustainable part of a community that desperately needs it? Initially the city decided to expedite the project by exempting it from proper environmental review. Reflecting the Bayview community's insistence on environmental justice, the Bayview Community Advocates Group and Golden Gate University's Environmental Law and Justice Clinic challenged that decision. The city Planning Department and the Port quickly relented and announced that they will bring together stakeholders in moving forward with a thorough review under the California Environmental Quality Act to ensure that the plant produces biodiesel safely, cleanly, and transparently and that the community's interest in local jobs is addressed.
U.S. oil production peaked over a year ago, and the global peak is estimated to come as early as 2050. Biodiesel can and must play an important role in replacing the petroleum diesel used by the transportation sector. Indeed, biodiesel is emerging as the cleaner-burning, low-carbon alternative to toxic diesel fuel and its devastating health and environmental effects. But for a city long seen as a global environmental pioneer, a high bar must be set for this Darling plant. Serious questions remain - about the feedstock, the operator's commitment to sustainability, and the plant's potential effect on local biodiesel businesses. Can Darling become a better, cleaner, less secretive neighbor in the face of its checkered past? Will this be a project that San Francisco can be proud of?
Eric Smith is director of Green Depot, a boardmember of the Biofuel Recycling Cooperative, vice chair of the San Francisco Biodiesel Access Task Force, and driver of a 2001 VW Beetle that runs exclusively on biodiesel. Aaron Israel is chair of the Bay Chapter's Energy Committee.
Beyond Chron, February 5, 2009
The 2009 National Biodiesel Board Conference in San Francisco
Biofuel Station's Kimber Holmes, Darryl Hannah,
MUNI's Mellera and Green Depot's Smith
"I can't believe they are going sustainable", proclaimed a jubilant Hannah, upon hearing the NBB's adoption of the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance's sustainable principles. The grassroot offsprings of the NBB, the SBA and the California Biodiesel Alliance, once languished in "shadow conferences" preceding the traditional NBB meetings. No longer. Now these groups have a seat at the table and the NBB and it's energetic director Jobe have recognized the work of these biodiesel pioneers on the front lines. "Make no mistake, we are out manned and out gunned by an extremely well funded petroleum industry who will do anything they can to stop us", says Jobe. "We have science and the facts are on our side". Indeed, the petroleum industry as well as the grocery manufacturers have hired an army of lobbyists and marketers to sell the public on the fuel vs. food myth, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The City of SF was honored appropriately and a few members of its biodiesel community were brought on to the stage by Jobe to begin the conference. Dr. Randall von Wedel of the biodiesel testing lab CytoCulture, received the NBB's "Impact" award for his outstanding achievements in biodiesel; MUNI's Marty Mallera, SF Fire Department's Mike Ferry, SF Department of the Environment's Vanadana Bali, and the SFPUC's Karri Ving of the SF Greasecycle program, all helped to convert the city to biodiesel and make Mayor Gavin Newsom's B20 mandate a reality. Panelists during many of the NBB's sessions included Tellurian Biodiesel CEO and SF Biodiesel Access Taskforce Chair Eric Bowen, Community Fuel's Ryan Lamberg, Jennifer Ratke of Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis and myself as the Director of Green Depot.
This conference had it all; debates on feedstock issues, sustainability, quality, calculating life cycle analysis and indirect land use assessments, the latest diesel vehicles, and saw a showcase of some of California and the country's best and brightest biodiesel pioneers. Ben Jordan, founder of the Biofuels Recycling Cooperative and architect of the SF Greasecycle, Hawaii's Bob and Kelly King of Pacific Biodiesel, Jeff Plowman and Annie Nelson of the SBA, Kumar Plocher of Yokayo Biofuels, Colorado's K. Shain, Dr. Dan Freeman of Seattle, Rachel Burton of Piedmont Biofuels, Biofuel Oasis co-founder Sara Hope Smith of Oregon and Biofuel Station's Kimber Holmes who hosted the weekend's Sustainable Biodiesel Summit. These folks had worked tirelessly and sacrificed much to see the grassroots biodiesel movement take it's rightful place among the NBB.
Biodiesel Magazine's Ron Kotrba observed in his web column this week that "the second of three general sessions was as moving as it was informative. The National Biodiesel Board shared the stage with actress Darryl Hannah and singer Melissa Etheridge, who are both passionate about using renewable energy and biodiesel. Starting the morning, NBB chairman Ed Hegland said the board's goal is to have biodiesel make up 5 percent of the national diesel fuel pool by 2015, a plan called 5 x 15. "And we're well on our way there," he said. The theme of the day's general session was sustainability, which Hegland called the "defining word of our time."
Kotrba also wrote that Hannah, "a familiar face to regulars at the annual biodiesel event, gave a heartfelt talk to the audience about a documentary she's been working on, regarding sex slaves and the international trafficking of minors for the purpose of selling sex. Her moving speech, which wasn't read off a teleprompter but rather crumpled pieces of paper she held in her hands, went from human trafficking, to the state of the oceans, to the burning of rainforests, to the "toxic patchwork" of unsustainable agriculture, to biodiesel exports. Hannah said she knew a man who lived near a large biodiesel plant and he was excited to start using it, but couldn't find any locally because all of the fuel was being exported out of the country. She said a situation like that needs to change; however, Jobe humorously cautioned that her views aren't necessarily the views of the NBB."
One of the most moving moments of the conference involved singer Melissa Etheridge, who performed during the conference's second general session and according to Kotrba, "Gave a spectacular performance of her song, "If not now, when?" After the song, she told the audience the story about her rise to stardom, and once she made it there, she asked herself, is this it? After years of being a recording artist, her name being bought and sold from record company to record company - she jokingly said one day she found out unbeknownst to her she was the property of Seagram's Gin - she felt like there should be something more. Shortly afterwards, she felt a lump in her breast and she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Etheridge said after weeks and weeks of chemotherapy, lying in her bed the whole time because light hurt, sound hurt, she was taken to a higher place of awareness and understanding; similar to a monk who meditates himself to supreme enlightenment. "I started to understand what we are," she said. Al Gore called her one day, she said, and asked her to "check out his slide show," called "An Inconvenient Truth." She eventually wrote the song for that documentary and won an Oscar. She then realized that in order to be healthy people, we need a healthy planet. "I asked myself, "What can I do?" Later, she ran into Willie Nelson, who was heavily promoting biodiesel then, and the rest is history."
Yesterday saw the closing of the conference and coincided with Mayor Newsom's press conference about a new biofuel collection plan involving "brown grease", in other words, the waste found in grease traps. Now even this waste can be turned into biodiesel. The biodiesel movement in San Francisco and California indeed rolls on, however many real challenges face this fledgling alternative fuel. There is the continuing debate on NOx emissions and how best to combat them; The California State Water Board still has issues with the "UST's", otherwise known as underground storage tanks. As of today, only blends of B5 biodiesel (5% biodiesel, 95% petroleum), are rated to be in them until UL, (Underwriters Laboratories), certifies them for higher blends. Meantime, biodiesel distributors are in limbo until a temporary agreement can be reached. The EPA, CARB, the California Biodiesel Alliance and the NBB continue to meet with the Water Board to resolve this issue; The petroleum industry, the grocery manufacturers and their lobbyists continue to fund "junk" scientists to try and debunk the benefits of biodiesel and continue their ill-conceived fuel vs. food fight. Lastly, some of the automakers are making the 2010 models more difficult to use pure biodiesel by making them even more petroleum diesel friendly. If they don't change their ways, many states may act to ban those vehicles from being sold and send a clear message that all diesel vehicles must continue to be able to use biodiesel without any potential fuel injection issues.
One thing is clear. In July of 2008, the United States saw its oil supply reach "peak production". That means from here on out, no matter how much we drill, or how many new provinces may yet be mined, we have reached our peak. We will never see oil production at those levels ever again. It is projected that the world's peak production, (Including Saudi Arabia, Russia, South America, etc.), could reach peak production by as early as 2050. Until a new technologies, perhaps electric, can be perfected, the diesel engine is still the world's best motor and biodiesel, of all of the alternative fuels, continues to have the best energy ratio and sustainability.
President Barack Obama understands this dilemma and has spoken about the need to use more biofuels. We really need to listen and heed his advice before it's too late.
Eric "Doc" Smith is the Director of Green Depot, a non-profit that promotes the use of biodiesel in communities challenged by environmental justice issues. He is also Vice-Chair of the San Francisco Biodiesel Access Taskforce and a board member of the Biofuels Recycling Cooperative, architects of the SFPUC's Greasecycle Program. He drives a 2001 VW Beetle that runs exclusively on biodiesel.
Beyond Chron, December 8, 2008
Dogpatch Biofuels is Finally Open!
Dogpatch Biofuels owners Robin Gold and Michele Swiggers
We will be open tomorrow (Saturday, December 13th) from noon to 5pm. Stop by, fill out your user agreement, and fill 'er up!
Our price is $3.78 cash / $3.88 credit.
Starting Monday, December 15th, we will be open from 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM Monday thru Friday, and 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM on Saturdays.
Some computer trouble has kept us from updating the website recently, but we're working on it and we'll get it updated soon. Meanwhile, as a member of our email list, you are the first to hear the news, and we hope to see you all very soon!
Robin and Michele"
Dogpatch Biofuels
765 Pennsylvania Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94107
ph: (415) 643-3435
E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at esmith@greendepot.org.
Beyond Chron, September 15, 2008
Darling's Biodiesel Plan for Bayview
Mayor Gavin Newsom, SFDoE's Jared Blumenfeld, Green Depot's Smith and Darling CEO Randall Stuewe.
The facility would allow for the local processing of recycled fats, greases and tallow to biodiesel for use by vehicles. This announcement was in part, the culmination of the efforts by the SF biodiesel community, the rehabilitation of Darling's image in Bayview, the Port, and the Mayor's "green vision" for San Francisco.
What does this really mean for the City of San Francisco, the Port and the Bayview Hunters Point community, and how did Darling, once one of the city's biggest polluters, change its ways and position itself to become one of the largest producers of sustainable biodiesel in the Bay Area? To understand how this has come to pass, a little history is in order.
Back in 2004, a handful of the city's biodiesel advocates formed the SF Biofuels Cooperative, and sought to make biodiesel more available to its members, first offering B100, (pure biodiesel) at the Olympian Station at 23rd and Third. Their early success led them to partner with groups like the Peoples Fuel Cooperative, (currently supplying biodiesel to Rainbow Grocery), and small companies like Incredible Adventures, a biodiesel-fueled tour bus company specializing in trips to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. Members met regularly, filled up with biodiesel, shared information, experiences, and networked with their counterparts around California and the country.
When the city of San Francisco wanted to use new, cleaner burning buses, they quickly found that those natural gas buses didn't have the torque needed to traverse the city's steep hills. Faced with the prospect of using the terribly polluting diesel and wary of Berkeley's ill fated attempts, (bad biodiesel ruined a few city trucks), they sought out the SFBC for advice on how to convert their diesel fleet to biodiesel and followed the advice of their experts, Eric Bowen, Ben Jordan, Professor Randall von Wedel, as well "the divas" of Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis, the all-women owned and operated biodiesel station. Alongside MUNI's biodiesel advocate Marty Mellera and the SFDoE's Vandana Bali, the city's biodiesel program was off and running, and Newsom's mandate to convert the entire fleet by December of 2007 became a reality, ahead of schedule. SF is now the largest city in the United States to use biodiesel.
At the behest of the Department of the Environment, the Mayor and Board of Supervisors, the city's Biodiesel Access Taskforce was also created to help the city wend its way through this brave new world of biodiesel. Made up of voting members of the SF biodiesel community and non-voting members of the PUC, the SFDoE, the Port, Fire and Health Departments, the Taskforce and its Marine sub-commitee began crafting recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor on topics of sustainability, quality, incentives, regulations and mandates.
With the success of the the city's biodiesel conversion complete, the move to find or create more sustainable sources was on. Once again the city turned to the SFBC and it's newest group; Jordan's Biofuel Recycling Co-op. Alongside fellow SFBC member Karri Ving, now with the PUC, the "Greasecycle" program was formed. Created to stop the pouring of grease in the city's sewers by restaurants, (and costing millions to clean), Greasecycle began collecting restaurant grease for virtually nothing and turning it into biodiesel, and using its by-product glycerine, into soap. This marvelously successful program had caught the eye of the Chronicle, the New York Times... and Darling.
Darling has been in the grease rendering business here since 1966, and the residents of Bayview will tell you the odors weren't very pleasant. Known as "not very nice neighbors", they had flown a bit under the radar compared to its more toxic neighbors, the Navy Shipyard and PG&E, which were getting the most heat from the Bayview community. Darling had also been in the grease collection game for sometime, charging restaurants to haul their grease away. The biodiesel community had on several occaisions approached Darling about producing biodiesel, but were told, "It wasn't profitable". With the success of the Greasecycle program however, Darling noticed that their grease collection had dropped. They also got wind of the city, the PUC, and its plans for a biodiesel facility.
To it's credit, or the need for self preservation, Darling saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone; expand its operations, deal with competition, and yes, even change its carbon footprint. Surprisingly, Darling invested thousands of dollars and installed new "scrubbers and filters", to help mitigate the smell of their rendering operations. This move has been hailed as a significant reduction in odor by all who have lived and worked around the Bayview for years. They also, (and quite unexpectedly, considering their less than stellar reputation), reached out to the SF Biodiesel Taskforce, the SF biofuel community and organizations like Youth Career Development, Green Depot and the Biofuel Recycling Co-op, about employing personnel from their biodiesel environmental justice programs, folks drawn from exclusively Bayview-Hunters Point.
At a recent hearing of the SWAC, the Southern Waterfront Advisory Committee, Darling appeared along with another potential, "green jobs", Port tenant. That potential tenant was chastised for not knowing about programs already in place, thousands of dollars spent in training and a workforce eager to go. When it came time for Darling's presentation, they surprised everyone with the thoroughness of their homework, leading one SWAC member to say, "It's rare we see someone considered a bad neighbor, and turn it around in this way."
With the blessing of the Port and the Mayor, Darling was on it's way. "This facility will serve as a model for cities throughout the world who aim to reduce their carbon footprint and transform their grease waste into useable, sustainable energy," said Mayor Newsom. "Turning waste generated by local restaurants and other businesses into a sustainable fuel source is yet another major step in reaching our goals of carbon neutrality for City Government by 2020, zero emission public transit by 2020, a 75% recycling rate by 2010, and zero waste in 2020."
What does this mean for San Francisco? As it stands now, the city can't collect enough grease to supply its entire diesel fleet or MUNI. With Darling potentially producing the 3,000,000 gallons the city needs, as well as another 6,000,000 for the Port and local distributors, a production plant of this magnitude will represent a paradigm shift in the city's effort to be sustainable. One can only hope it will reduce the cost the city pays for biodiesel, the majority of which currently arrives as soy or canola from the Midwest. Because Darling is one of the world's largest rendering operators, it can also bring in waste and grease by ship or by rail. It's biodiesel plant won't smell either, as the biodiesel "transesterification" process is completely different from its current rendering operation. Darling's Chairman and CEO Randall Stuewe proclaimed, "We are very pleased to be working with both the City and the Port of San Francisco in developing a facility at the Port that will convert used cooking oil from local restaurants into biodiesel."
The SFDoE's Blumenfeld rightly opined that Darling will be producing B100, and when blended locally with 80% petroleum to make the B20 the city currently uses, will mean an 80% increase in supply and a huge reduction in diesel emissions. Not to mention cost. The price of B100 in San Francisco has risen from $2.90 in 2005 to a staggering $5.90 per gallon today. With Darling producing 10,000,000 gallons on the doorstep of the city, the quantity the city will be able to purchase should dramatically reduce it's current costs.
All in all, it appears to a good deal for biodiesel in San Francisco. Darling has promised to add even more scrubbers and filters, hire from the Bayview community for its plant and work closely with it's neighbors, including the Port and the only biodiesel run railroad in the Bay Area, the SF Bay Railroad. It's even added a 1-800 number for residents to call if they detect an odor. As Darling explained at a recent SWAC hearing, they will be able to accurately identify the problem with timely reporting and logs to determine what, if anything caused the odor.
Hopefully, under the watchful eyes of the residents of Bayview, and environmental justice groups like Green Depot and Green Action, the Port, the SF Department of the Environment, the PUC and the biodiesel community, Darling will make good on its promises on making quality, sustainable biodiesel, and employing some of the residents of Bayview-Hunters Point. Darling plans to have it's plant operational by December, 2009.
E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at esmith@greendepot.org.
The Second Annual Alternative Car & Transportation Expo
Jordan, alongside the Public Utiilites Commission and the SF Department of the Environment, are responsible for the city's new Waste Oil Collection program; a program that is already collecting grease from restaurants and delivering it to Bay Area sites and converting it to the virtually Greenhouse gas free biodiesel. San Francisco is already leading the way on the alternative fuel front; 54% of the city's diesel vehicles are already using B 20 biodiesel, a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum. Statistics have already proven a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in other cities using this alternative strategy. Now, virtually all of the city's trash and recycling trucks, Zoo vehicles, Airport shuttles and and the like are using B 20, with plans for more agencies to join in 2008.
With the recent opening of the city's first biodiesel fleet station; the Olympian at 23rd and Third Streets, and another with MUNI's fuel supplier at nearby SF Petroleum, Mayor Newsom's vision of a sustainable city has become a bit more clearer. The Bay Area's first biodiesel plant in nearby Alameda is scheduled to open in 2008, and folks like all-women owned and operated Biofuel Oasis in Berkeley, and Blue Sky's "Betty Biodiesel", who is trying to convince school bus companies like Laidlaw to make the healthy switch to B 20, sparring future generations of children from needlessly suffering the effects of asthma, cancer, and a host of diesel caused health problems.
Those who have watched the fascinating "Who Killed the Electric Car?", will no doubt enjoy the expo, and the promise of more electric vehicles in the future. The Petersen Automotive Museum will even have the famed EV-1 on display. As chronicled in the film, General Motors' destruction of nearly the entire fleet of Saturn-based EV-1 electric cars was enough to make anyone's stomach turn. The Japanese were so afraid of GM's potential dominance of the electric car market, that they embarked on their own program, and the hybrids of Toyota and Honda were born.
There will also be "Bicycle Valet Parking", offered by the City of Santa Monica, and a "New Car Lot" that will feature vehicles for sale, so that attendees can put their money where their heart is and immediately make an impact towards reducing their gasoline usage. From Sustainable Bamboo Skateboards, to the latest in bicycles, scooters and a wide array of new cars will be available to test drive and purchase. Attendees can also participate in a fuel cell "ride and drive" featuring cars from Honda and other manufacturers, and even take an "Ecology Footprint Quiz", and compare how other folks live around the planet.
I'll be driving my biodiesel powered VW Bug to the Expo, displaying it with all of the other alt-fuel vehicles and representing the San Francisco Biofuels Cooperative, now located in the Mission district. Several years ago, I attended a similar expo like this one, here in San Francisco. I had thought that if they ever made a hybrid VW Bug, I'd buy it. When I learned that ANY diesel vehicle; from a Ford pick-up truck, to a Turbo-Diesel Mercedes could run on the cleaner-burning biodiesel, without any modifications, I was sold. If you are in Santa Monica this weekend, check out the free, Alt Car Expo.
It could change your life, it definitely changed mine.
E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at esmith@greendepot.org.
Beyond Chron, April 25, 2007
Commercial Biodiesel Station Opens As City Takes Lead in Biodiesel Conversion
SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and Ben Jordan of People's Fuel,
a worker-owned cooperative, at the new biodiesel station.
Newsom also announced that all of the recycling trucks that operate in the City are now running on a biodiesel blend. Local fleets are now able to pump B20 grade biodiesel via a card lock system at the Olympian station at 23rd and Third Streets in San Francisco. .
Jared Blumenfeld, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, urged fleets and school buses to take advantage of this opportunity to reduce the city's pollution, particularly in the Third Street corridor where 1 in 6 children suffer from asthma caused by diesel pollution.
E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at esmith@greendepot.org.
Beyond Chron, February 6, 2006
Sustainable Biodiesel Summit in San Diego
Biodiesel is a vegetable oil based fuel, derived from mostly soy, however recycled veggie oil grease, algae, and others can be used. Once filtered and refined, it can run any diesel powered vehicle without any modification. Led by Laytonville's Biodiesel advocate Kimber Holmes and Berkeley's Sara Hope Smith of the Biofuel Oasis, this illuminating conference ranged from the educational, with new data emerging on the effects of NOX emissions, to the moving story of the under reported floods of Guatemala, and the use of Biodiesel to run the generators there.
San Diego's Sen. Kehoe and Daryl Hannah
By E. "Doc" Smith
A veritable who's who of the grass roots Biodiesel world was in attendance at the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit this weekend in San Diego. Hosted by the Biodiesel Council of California, the SBS, is traditionally a "shadow" conference preceding the National Biodiesel Board's conference which begins today. Luminaries such as San Diego's State Senator Christine Kehoe, and Biodiesel advocate, actress Daryl Hannah, (with a documentary film crew in tow), were just a few of the many advocates who spoke on behalf of the this fast growing, alternative fuel.
San Francisco's Eric Bowen, president of the San Francisco BioFuels Coop, and leading advocate for the city and MUNI's use of Biodiesel, led a fantastic seminar on the legal, and tax ramifications of the "Blenders Credit", a device many in the Biodiesel world use to offset the cost of competing in the petroleum economy.
Author, and Piedmont Biofuels Vice President Lyle Estil, whose book "Biodiesel Power", spoke of the trials and tribulations of being a producer and distributor. Discussions on education via Community College courses, working with the NBB, and a history of the movement ensued, provoking sparkling debates among the attendees.
Colorado's "Mother" of Biodiesel, author Shaine Tyson, LA Biofuels, Kent Ballard, and Dr. Randall von Wedle, one the Bay Area's leading authorities on Biodiesel, led a fascinating discussion on the new NOX emission tests, and the debate on the "Weekend Effect", where apparently, NOX and ozone levels vary due to less bus and truck use. It was previously thought that with less diesel traffic, the effect on the ozone would be less, however new data may support the opposite may be true.
As for the dreaded NOX emissions, the one drawback of Biodiesel, despite the fact that it produces virtually no greenhouse gasses, additives and new "catalytic converter" style devices that are being manufactured as we speak, seem to debunk the NOX issues. Incredibly, many more diesel vehicles are arriving in 2007, Audi, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Honda, Merecedes, just to name a few.
With United States' dependence on foreign oil, and with toxic diesel exhaust being the leading cause of health related deaths worldwide, we need to embrace the benefits of Biodiesel, an alternative energy source whose time has come.
E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at esmith@greendepot.org.
Beyond Chron, October 7, 2005
Bonnie Raitt Fuels Tour Bus With Cleaner Burning Biodiesel
By E. "Doc" Smith
My recent conversion to the world of Biodiesel began with the acquisition of a "soy" powered 2001 VW Beetle. It averages about 46 mpg, and a bi-monthly fill-up at the SF area's only Biodiesel station, Berkeley's BioFuel Oasis, keeps me going. Driving home recently, past the idling diesel tour buses in front both the Fillmore and the Independent, made me wonder. How many touring musicians employ the use of this planet friendly new fuel? Willie Nelson has actually opened a chain of Biodiesel stations, and Singer Bonnie Raitt, is now doing more for America than entertaining her fans on her nationwide tour currently underway - she's protecting the environment by using biodiesel. She is the first U.S. entertainer to adopt cleaner burning American-made biodiesel for use on tour. Dubbed the Green Highway Tour, the Grammy-winning artist with hits such as "Something to Talk About" is traveling coast to coast performing at major venues while raising awareness about alternative fuels.
"It's no accident that we're in danger of losing both our ecological and our economic well-being at the same time," explains Raitt, who created the Green Highway concept along with colleagues Kathy Kane and Harvey Wasserman. "I feel too many government and corporate policies are inseparably shortsighted and we've created Green Highway to demonstrate that working in harmony with nature can offer real solutions for preserving both our planet and our prosperity."
Biodiesel fits with Raitt's Green Highway Tour because it reduces emissions that are harmful to the environment as well as humans. It is a domestically produced fuel made from any fat or vegetable oil, like soybean oil. Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine with few or no modifications. Although biodiesel contains no petroleum, it can be blended with diesel at any level or used in its pure form.
The Raitt tour is powered by a combination of biodiesel, solar energy, wind and hybrid technology. The tour sets up exhibits on alternative energy at each venue and hands out information to concert goers. Companies donating biodiesel to Raitt include Biodiesel Industries, Griffin Industries, Stepan Company and World Energy, all members of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), which is coordinating the tour's use of the fuel.
"I think it's wonderful that Bonnie Raitt is leading by example in using a farm-grown fuel that decreases emissions and dependence on foreign oil," said Bob Metz, president of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and a South Dakota soybean farmer. "Biodiesel is beginning to enjoy commercial success as one of the fastest growing alternative fuels available, and hopefully Bonnie's use of it will raise the visibility of the fuel and encourage others to use it."
Biodiesel is now available nationwide. More than 200 U.S. fleets currently use the fuel commercially, and it is also becoming increasingly available at public pumps and marinas. Biodiesel performs comparably to diesel fuel, with similar cetane and BTU content. It is the only alternative fuel to have completed the rigorous Health Effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act. The results, submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency in 2000, show biodiesel is biodegradable, virtually non-toxic and free of sulfur. Emissions it reduces include particulate matter, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and sulfates. B100 also reduces lifecycle carbon dioxide by 78% compared to petroleum diesel according to Department of Energy research.
Now Biodiesel isn't cheap, going for around $3.20 per gallon, (which actually looks a lot like today's gas prices!), however it's price will go down with more production, and with some modifications, virtually any petro-diesel auto can run on pure virgin veggie oil. California by the way, doesn't allow any new diesel automobiles to be registered here, until they have a minimum of 7,500 miles on them. After that, they are welcomed in, and exempt from all future smog checks! Strange but true...
With so much dependance on foreign oil, it may be only a matter of time before the renewable Biodiesel is in the main stream. Europe, with so many diesels, is way ahead of us on that score. Chrysler-Daimler are building a Biodiesel plant, The cities of Berkeley and even Chicago now use Biodiesel in their recycling trucks, and there is even talk of a new Biodiesel station returning to SF, the first since the demise of the old Olympian station, at 23rd and Third. The rise of gas of prices since Katrina, the record sales of Hybrids, and the quagmire known as Iraq and Afghanistan are going to continue to drain and strain the planet.
I hope Bonnie's audiences are listening.
E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at esmith@greendepot.org.