Editor’s Note: John is one of the newest additions to the Gas 2.0 writing team. Welcome John!
When Greg Steltenpohl, Chairman and Co-founder of Adina, the San Francisco-based healthy beverage company, does something, one might say he takes it to the extreme.
His company’s tagline, “Drink No Evil”, even applies to their vehicles — including a delivery fleet of electric cars and full-size school bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO), which Adina uses at their tasting events.
I recently had a chance to interview him about his company’s transportation options. Several interesting topics popped up in our chat, including corporate responsibility, greenwashing, and the importance of outreach. Read on to hear more.
In a supposed progressive green city, it won’t be until today that San Francisco finally gets its own biodiesel station – Dogpatch Biofuels. It’s been a long time in the making with permits, and inspections and the like. Hasn’t San Francisco seen biodiesel before? You’d think that they were dispensing nitroglycerin the way the approval process worked like molasses.
We’re not counting the Olympic Station that sells B20 to mostly fleet vehicles and trucks or the op-op that used to operate in SoMa. Here, we have an honest to goodness B100 (or rather B99.99999) biodiesel station for autos. All the Mercedes and converted vehicle owners can rejoice at not having to drive to the East Bay or San Mateo to fill up their tanks. Even better, we can all rejoice at the fact that the station owners get their fuel not from GMO corn or switchgrass or any food but rather from San Francisco’s own waste grease program, so we can all be proud when consuming those greasy fries.
One of the main limits to the acceptance of biodiesel as an alternative fuel is its price premium above regular diesel. To bring the price of biodiesel down, the industry uses as much waste material from other industries as possible to make it — such as used fryer oil and animal fats from poultry processing.
In holding with the idea of cheap biodiesel feedstocks, a team of researchers in the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department at the University of Nevada figured that maybe spent coffee grounds would fit the bill too.
Earlier this month, pilots Carol Sugars and Douglas Rodante made history by becoming the first flight-crew to successfully fly across the US in a plane predominantly powered by biodiesel.
Of the total 2,486 miles flown from Reno, Nevada to Leesburg, Florida, 1,776 miles were 100% biodiesel-powered. The remaining 710 miles were powered by a 50/50 mix of biodiesel and standard jet fuel.
Zero South plans to use the vehicle to bring attention to global warming and raise awareness for the viability of fossil fuel alternatives by taking four different alternative fuel vehicles to the South pole next month. The plan has actually been modified recently and it is said that Jay Leno will be helping to install a VW diesel four-cylinder engine to act as a generator for four electric motors powering each track cluster.
Consisting of two pieces of equipment — an ethanol boiler and the mini-refinery — the whole system can fit into an area of less than 30 square feet with 8 feet of clearance and is completely automated.
American scientists have discovered a fungus deep in the Patagonian rainforest that makes biodiesel as part of its natural lifecycle. The fungus is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel sources.
According to team member Prof. Gary Strobel of Montana State University, “The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the moment.”
Researchers at Khon Kaen University (KKU) in Thailand have discovered a new species of algae, which could be used for the commercial production of biodiesel as early as April 2009.
The species, unimaginatively labelled KKU-S2, was found on the surface of a freshwater pond at the university, and was quickly identified as a promising source of alternative fuel. Speaking about the discovery, team-leader Dr Ratanaporn Leesing said, “We can extract oil from this species. Its properties are fit for biodiesel production. Within two days, the number of this alga can double, and within a week or two we can extract oil from it”
Thanks to South Florida’s comparatively temperate climate, Tri-Rail is one of the few commuter rail systems in the country that can operate on such a pure blend of bio-fuel.
“The switch to biodiesel fuel has been long in coming,” said Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Jr., chair of the SFRTA Governing Board. “It follows in the path of Governor Crist’s mission to ‘green’ the state of Florida and we are pleased that the economies and efficiencies have come together to allow us to make this change for the betterment of the environment.”
Glycerin, a common biodiesel waste product, has become so abundant amid the rise in biofuel use that producers often have to pay to dispose of the chemical. Researchers at Rice University discovered that when combined, E. coli and glycerin produce succinate, a useful chemical that can be sold at a profit.
Brian Shank, president of Clermont Scapes in Groveland, Florida, said he decided to plant a 22-acre plot of Jatropha in order to save money for his hurting business, but also to set an example for other companies looking for cost-effective ways to help the environment.
The vehicle, with a high powered clean-diesel engine capable of running on biodiesel, will display a robust collection of world-class technological and design enhancements, including an ergonomically correct cockpit inspired by jet fighters.
The Carbon ‘E7’ – the temporary program code used until the law enforcement community selects a vehicle name – represents the next generation of law enforcement technology as the first vehicle in history designed and engineered from the ground up and bumper-to-bumper specifically for law enforcement operations.
Jatropha has the potential to produce 4 times the amount of biodiesel as soybeans and 1.5 times the amount of even a dedicated oil crop such as canola. This alone has been enough to make people sit up and take notice, but jatropha’s true beauty lies in the fact that it can be grown on literal wasteland — land that has been left for dead with little rainfall, poor soils, and a harsh climate.
Three different armies had killed hundreds of thousands of people, (including an ethnic cleansing campaign waged by Slobadan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic) casting the country into the dark after the power went out. This was a world where people had to run down “Sniper Alley” to get fresh drinking water in Sarajevo, and rural farmers resorted to eating the bark off trees.
A Nuclear reactor, near where I patrolled in my Hummer, sat silent and cold as enterprising people cut down dead power-lines to sell the copper in them. Families held off the cold winter by huddling around burning furniture and tires.
It’s now 13 years later and Bosnia is rebounding, and one of the signs of its new prosperity its new biodiesel factory, about to open near Banja Luka.
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Gas 2.0
Gas 2.0 digs into the viscous world of biofuels and the fast-paced transit arena, exploring the technologies and substances that are the future of transportation.
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