Re: Heating New York With Biodiesel, A Bad Idea (?)

He's right(sorta)... but he's not thinking ahead.  Sure, biodiesel *from
virgin crop*, is not *currently* (much?) better than just burning the oil
straight up.  *However*(!), that argument ignores several important facts...


A) Not all biodiesel is made from virgin crops!

B) As the technology matures, the biodiesel picture will continue to
improve.  Currently we are using about the worst possible feedstocks
available, simply because they *are* what's most available, and cheapest.
There are MUCH better options(rape, algae, mustard seed, practically
anything is better than soy)... but those options won't get developed
without DEMAND.  It's a chicken-or-egg problem.  We use environmentally
questionable biofuels *now* in order to promote the development of more
environmentally sound biofuels for the future.
The news alert is full of questionable "facts" too.. I find the 15-30
cent/gal figure hard to believe... it presumes that there is no carbon
emissions reduction from BD useage, it quotes the study that was recently
contested on this list... it claims that ULSD increases furnace efficiency,
which I find hard to believe since ULSD contains slightly LESS energy than
LSD(and the footnote just says PlaNYC p 128, and I can't find page 128 of
the plan online).
The whole argument that biofuels take food out of the mouths of starving
people is fallacious.  Yes, biofuels (currently) utilize food crops, but
that's an oversimplification... (who eats straight soy oil??)  And as was
recently pointed out on this list, using soy oil for BD still leaves the soy
meal portion of the plant for animal feed.

Biofuels use food crops, and people are starving.. therefore using biodiesel
makes people starve?  No... people were starving before we started using
biodiesel, and it wasn't due to lack of food production.  There was (and
still is) plenty of food produced in the world to feed everyone.  The causes
behind starvation are complex, and they have little to do with global food
production capacity or cost.

Please pardon the rant, but the lack of logic in some of these arguments
gets under my skin.

On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 10:10 AM, jeff lee <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> This is only the 2nd or 3rd time I've emailed the group.  I mentioned
> before
> that I was a member of the coop about a year and half ago until my life
> took
> me to the always interesting city of New York.  Anyway, now that I'm
> car-less (and therefore biodiesel-less) you are all still my main source
> of
> biodiesel information.  So I thought I'd run something by you that I came
> across today and see if anyone had some useful opinions or info on the
> matter.
>
> I have an acquaintance who is very involved in environmental issues and
> has
> started a non-profit called habitat map:  www.habitatmap.org.  He's a
> great
> guy, but unfortunately he is very outspoken against biodiesel as an
> alternative to diesel, making the usual claims about the creation process
> causing more harm than good (see news alert link below).
>
> So recently, he sent out a news alert about a bill in the New York City
> Council that would require home heating oil to contain a certain amount of
> biodiesel in order to cut green house gas emissions from the city.  He
> (and
> his organization) has taken a stance against this bill based on the above
> mentioned claims about biodiesel and instead is endorsing a plan to
> require
> Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) to be used in homes.
>
> I don't think any of us would disagree that mandating the use of ULSD
> would
> certainly be a step in the right direction in terms of reducing greenhouse
> gasses but I just can't get behind all the biodiesel bashing.  I'm having
> dinner with this friend soon and want to be able to speak more
> intelligently
> about the matter than I currently feel able.  Should we just agree that
> his
> suggestion for the ULSD is a good idea and leave it at that?  Is there a
> way
> for me to intelligently and respectfully defend our beloved veggie oil
> derivative?  Or is he in fact right, that biodiesel from virgin crop is
> not
> currently a good solution and alternative?
>
> All thoughts and inputs are welcome...
>
> Here's the news alert:  http://www.habitatmap.org/BiodieselFactSheet.pdf
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jeff
> _______________________________________________
> pdx-biodiesel mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.gobiodiesel.org/mailman/listinfo/pdx-biodiesel
>