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Wed 11 Feb 2009

Media Retraction about Minnesota Biodiesel Bus Gelling

Posted by zhamm under Biodiesel
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Seems the media is finally making corrections about the Minnesota school bus fuel gelling that was all the rage to disparage and mock last month.  Bravo, although I’m sure it won’t get quite the coverage that it did before.

In the Minneapolis Star Tribune (http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/39401032.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc8LDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU), the posted the following article:

Editorial: Unearned black eye for biodiesel fuel

It made national headlines last month when some Bloomington school buses stalled during a subzero stretch, forcing the district to cancel classes for a day. The too-quick-on-the-draw mechanical diagnosis? Biofuel that gelled up in the cold. Fox TV commentator Glenn Beck didn’t call Minnesotans bio-fools, but he came darn close, holding up the state’s first-in-the-nation biodiesel mandate as evidence of how government screws things up.

“Lawmakers put children’s safety at stake because they don’t want their buses to run on a politically incorrect kind of fuel,” opined the bombastic Beck last Friday.

With Minnesota poised to transition to a higher percentage of biodiesel this spring, it’s important to set the record straight on the Bloomington bus issue. Biodiesel wasn’t the culprit causing the school buses to stall out. Unfortunately, the brouhaha has given the state’s pioneering mandates and the promising biodiesel industry an undeserved black eye.

Minnesota law currently mandates that virtually all diesel in the state contain 2 percent biodiesel. Almost any oil can be used to make biodiesel, according to Ed Hegland, an Appleton, Minn., farmer and chairman of the National Biodiesel Board. In Minnesota, it’s mostly made from soybeans, then blended with regular petroleum diesel. Petroleum diesel is the fuel on which most of the nation’s trucks, tractors and road equipment run. Minnesotans in particular are long acquainted with regular diesel’s drawbacks in cold weather. When the temperature drops below a certain point, wax crystals can form and gum up fuel filters. It’s why truckers idle their trucks overnight in cold weather and why many who rely on diesel during the winter switch to a different blend to minimize the problem

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Wed 11 Feb 2009

News and Observer Article about Cary, NC Recycling Program

Posted by zhamm under Biodiesel
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The Raleigh News and Observer did a follow up report which highlighted TBI picking up the used cooking oil from the town of Cary to be used as biodiesel feedstock. 

“From mid-November through the end of January, Cary residents who collected a half-gallon or more of cooking oil and/or animal fat could call the town for curbside pickup. The grease was collected by Triangle Biofuels Industries of Wilson, which turns it into biodiesel.”

Read the article here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1401577.html

(And no, there were no inaccuracies in the reporting on this article.  Well done, N&O.)

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Mon 9 Feb 2009

Yet Another Lazy Reporter

Posted by zhamm under Biodiesel
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What is it with the media and biofuels?  Do they simply refuse to try to do ANY research, or is it just too complicated for them to understand?

This time it’s Sakina Rangwala of the Washington Post, writes an article “Green Is in the Eye of the Beholder” (link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020603539.html).  

When discussing biodiesel as one of the “Green Car Technologies”, Rangwala has this to say: “Biodiesel can be used in any diesel vehicle but automakers will extend their warranty protection only to vehicles that run on B5 biodiesel. B5 is a mixture of 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent conventional diesel. ”

Even a simple Google search for “Biodiesel Engine Warranty” yielded a link to the NBB website would have revealed no fuels are really warrantied by any manufacturer, but that many, many manufacturers support higher blends than B5.  Here’s the link: http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/oems/default.shtm. 

It would also have revealed that the US government mandated using B20 in all government vehicles and many states have mandated B20 as well.  There are even some engine manufacturers that will endorse B100.  How hard was that, well, it took me longer to write this blog entry than it did to research it on Google.  Sad.

Perhaps the NBB needs to have a “Media Liaison Service 1-800″ number to help answer questions for reporters who can’t seem to do the research on their own.  The public is confused enough as it is about biofuels without having bad reporting make the situation more confusing.

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