Americans love to drive and our love affair with cars is unlikely to die. It’s no secret gasoline is bad for the environment, we don’t have an endless supply of fossil fuels to produce it, and it increases our need for oil from politically tumultuous countries. Dependencies on oil and contributions to green house gases have inspired people like Kevin Whilden to use alternative means for fueling their cars. Kevin Whilden is a founding member of Portland’s biodiesel cooperative, Go Biodiesel, and he knows a thing or two about alternative fuel sources, the importance of change and what we can do to start the ball rolling in a different direction.

What is biodiesel?
Biodiesel is diesel fuel made from cooking oil and runs in any diesel engine. It’s much less toxic than gasoline fuel and it isn’t made from fossil fuels. It was invented in 1894 when Dr. Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine as a way for farmers to fuel their farm equipment with fuel that they could grow. The first diesel engines ran on peanut oil. In the 1930s and 1940s when fossil fuels became so plentiful, we stopped using biodiesel. And now with all the problems that fossil fuels cause in the world, it’s time to start using it regularly.

Who is currently using it?
There are all kinds of people using it, everybody from standard consumers to cities for public transportation vehicles such as buses, and farmers use it to operate farm equipment. In fact last weekend the state of Washington passed a bill in the state legislature to give a tax credit to people who make and sell it.

Tell us about Portland’s biodiesel co-op.
The goal of Portland’s biodiesel co-op is to advocate people to start using biodiesel. We see biodiesel as a grass roots fuel supply, and a way to escape from the fossil fuel addiction. Anybody can make it, and we want to teach people how to make their own fuel. We also are blueprinting the methods for setting up a waste oil collection, storage, and biodiesel processor. The Co-op will work out the details, with the hope that people in other cities can form their own co-ops and make their own fuel.

Can you tell me a bit more about the benefits of biodiesel?
Absolutely. Number one it’s a locally produced fuel grown on American soil. It’s also non-toxic. It’s less toxic than table salt and it’s biodegradable. It actually bio degrades in a matter of weeks. For example it’s been two decades since the Exxon Valdez spill up in Alaska, which happened in 1989, and there is still an incredible amount of pollution existing from it. Even today, you can lift up a rock in Prince William Sound and see oil. The ecosystem hasn’t fully recovered.

It also greatly reduces toxic emission. In almost every major category it reduces emissions from 50 to 100%, and it doesn’t contribute to global warming, which is a big looming issue. Scientific consensus says we have until the year 2020 to start decreasing our emissions in Co2, or the world will warm to a point that could cause irretrievable climate change, massive alterations in the earth’s climate and ecosystems. To get to that decrease by 2020, we have to do everything possible to decrease our emissions and we’re running out of time.

It’s very difficult for many people to grasp the idea of global warming because the time scale is so far off. The warming is going to occur over the course of the next few hundred years, and when you’re thinking about your next paycheck, it’s hard to think of your great, great grand children. But global warming is a very real threat.

When you change climate for a civilization that is teetering on the edge of resource consumption, such as our civilization, a climate change occurring over time can easily knock you off the edge, and your civilization may have a hard time surviving. For instance the Mayans had civil war because of natural climate change. It caused a disruption in their ecosystems, which ultimately affected their food supply. Similar events will probably happen again.

Biodiesel also has great health benefits because it reduces particulates, the black smoke or soot that comes out of diesel engines by 50% to 80%. Particulates contain some of the most carcinogenic substances known to man. And that is probably the biggest health threat from any diesel engine. Biodiesel is the best way to reduce diesel particulates NOW, even in older, dirty diesel engines. In fact, the State of Washington also passed a bill to test biodiesel in school buses, as a way to reduce the toxic impact of old school buses on children.

What cars are best suited for biodiesel?
Any diesel engine will work. But some are better than others. First I’d like to point out there are two types of biodiesel. Pure biodiesel is called B100. The most common type is B20, which is 20% biodiesel and 80% fossil fuel oil. Both have increased benefits for engine life and pollution. Biodiesel will dissolve natural rubber. And newer cars typically have all synthetic rubber. So older cars may need a conversion kit to run B100, but B20 will run in any car with zero modification.

I drive a Volkswagen Jetta TDI, turbo direct injection, with a new kind of diesel technology that is extremely low emissions. It gets 50 miles to a gallon, that’s equivalent to the Toyota Prius hybrid car. And hybrid cars also have a lot more environmental impact due to the batteries they use, and the fact that they still contribute to global warming. In smog-prone areas with a lot of traffic like L.A., hybrids may be a better environmental choice, but otherwise I think a biodiesel fueled TDI is the smartest environmentally friendly car in existence

Why biodiesel vs. other alternative non-fossil fuels such as hydrogen, which has been getting a lot of media play?
Fuels cells are not the answer. If we go for fuel cells, it will take at least 20 years before any significant benefit is reached, because it requires a whole new infrastructure. Hydrogen is too little too late when we need to be reducing global warming emissions by 2020. The bio-diesel infrastructure already exists because so many diesel cars already exist, and it doesn’t take very long to grow a few more plants to make oil. We could make a huge dent in fossil fuel needs in the short term with biodiesel. It’s the most exciting environmental fuel option.

Where can folks get biodiesel?
You can make it yourself or look for a local commercial supplier. You can find a list of those suppliers at www.gobiodiesel.com

However, making it is viable option. All you need is a supply of oil and you can build yourself a processor. You could do it in your own garage. You simply need a supply of either virgin oil or waste cooking oil from a restaurant’s fryer. Then you take lye (Red Devil drain cleaner) and methanol (e.g. rubbing alcohol), mix them all together let them sit and you have biodiesel. So you can go to the supermarket and buy your own ingredients to fuel your car.

How do you fuel up for long road trips?
If you can’t find biodiesel you can always run regular diesel no problem. The co-op is hoping to set up a network of biodiesel suppliers in other cities around the country.

Are there any negatives associated with biodiesel?
The one thing it does not do is reduce NOX, nitrogen oxides, which cause smog. All diesel engines emit NOX, and there are so many diesel engines on the road that aren’t going to be going away soon and will keep emitting NOX regardless of fuel choice. But given all of the other environmental benefits, I don’t think there is really a down side to replacing diesel with biodiesel.

Is there a profitable business model to selling biodiesel for biodiesel producers/ manufactures?
Absolutely. There are producers springing up and left and right. Raw ingredients cost can be had for 50 cents a gallon and you can sell it for the $3 bucks a gallon. Considering gas prices now, why not spend $3 bucks a gallon and stay out of the gas/ oil loop.

What are some of the hurdles biodiesel users and sellers face?
It’s accepting something new, enduring a change. It’s having a diesel engine because most of the cars are gas. And it’s finding adequate supply, which takes effort. But we can produce plenty of biodiesel fuel if we want.

Do you ever see biodiesel becoming mainstream?
Absolutely because of how excited people get when you tell them about the benefits. There hasn’t been a single person that hasn’t been intrigued by the concept of biodiesel, regardless of their views. There are lots of people making sacrifices in their life to run biodiesel. One of our members has been making 50 gallons a month to run biodiesel and he has been collecting fuel from several local Portland brewpubs.

You could collect 5% of the US biodiesel consumption from waste cooking oil such as McDonalds fryers. You could make 15% of our diesel consumption from fallow cropland, or cropland not currently in use.

We’ve also done studies to show how rich a source of algae is of oil. And with a relatively small investment we could develop the technology to supply the entire country’s energy needs. We could produce 120% of the entire US energy consumption if we grew biodiesel from algae on fallow cropland. It’s a very exciting possibility.

What is the point in investing in a rollout of biodiesel production when hydrogen supporters say it’s a better and cleaner use of fuel?
It’s simple. Biodiesel will get us to the 2020 Co2 emissions deadline because the biodiesel infrastructure already exists. We can start using and producing biodiesel today, we don’t have to wait.