Biodiesel is cleaner burning, domestic and renewable fuel that can be refined from plant oil, animal fat, recycled cooking oil or waste grease. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines and oil-fired heating systems with little or no modifications. Biodiesel has energy content comparable to conventional petroleum-based diesel, 118,296 BTUs vs. 129,500 BTUs, and thus provides similar payload, mileage and heating efficiency.
Biodiesel is produced through a fairly simple chemical reaction called transesterification, a proven process that generates little or no waste. It blends easily with conventional distillate fuels such as #2 diesel, #2 heating oil and kerosene, and these biodiesel blends can be stored and distributed through the existing petroleum fuels infrastructure. Biodiesel's multiple economic, environmental, public health, and energy security benefits are well-documented.
"The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated that the northeast U.S. exports over $20 billion in consumer wealth annually due to its regional dependence on imported heating oil."
The Importance of Biodiesel as Renewable, Supplemental Energy
There are a number of important reasons for our country to be using biofuels. Perhaps the most important and most debated is that no one knows how long our world's petroleum resources will last. But we do know that petroleum is finite, and when the supply has been depleted we must have alternatives ready to keep our country moving. Because advanced biofuels like biodiesel are made from renewable sources and because they can be blended with petroleum fuels, they play a vital role today in supplementing our current supply of fossil energy. Furthermore, developing the technology to sustainably increase the production of advanced biofuels will ensure an ample supply of transportation and space heating fuel in the future, and provide assurance against the uncertainty surrounding the petroleum resource timeline.
The Importance of Biodiesel as a Domestic Source of Energy
Producing our fuels domestically also improves our energy security as we become less dependent on the strategic, political, and economic whims of other countries. By developing the market for domestic biofuels we are investing in our energy infrastructure, we are recycling waste products (which are currently being shipped outside of the U.S.) into BTU rich fuels, we are creating green collar jobs and we are driving technological innovation that has been the lifeblood of the American economy for over a century.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard (now known as RFS 2) which as of Q4 2012, now mandates:
- The use of 36 bgy of renewable fuels by 2022.
- The use of 1 bgy of biodiesel in 2012.
- The use of 1.3 bgy of biodiesel in 2013.
The Importance of Biodiesel as an Environmentally-Friendly Fuel
Finally, producing and using advanced biofuels like biodiesel is much better for the environment than burning fossil fuels. Biodiesel produces fewer harmful emissions during production and combustion. Most significantly, biodiesel derived from waste grease, reduces life cycle GHG emissions by 80%, far greater than any other scalable and agricultural-based biofuel feedstock at the present time. Greenleaf Biofuels is proud to offer WVO-based biodiesel - the most sustainable biodiesel available today.
Further information on feedstock GHG emissions and RFS2 can be found on the following EPA web sites:
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/420f09024.htm
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/420f10007.htm
Greenleaf Biofuels is working with the following Research and Development Laboratories:
Yale
The Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale
http://greenchemistry.yale.edu/
UConn
The UConn Biodiesel Testing Laboratory, housed within the University’s Center for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE)
Intertek Caleb Brett
Biodiesel Testing
http://www.intertek.com/energy/alternative/biodiesel-fuels-testing/
