Posted on 07/23/2006 6:27:54 AM PDT by CubaninMiami
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A growing number of Americans are setting up mini-refineries in their homes to produce biodiesel, a fuel made from waste cooking oil which is cleaner and cheaper than the petrol sold in gas stations
The sky-high price of crude oil is scaring everyone.
Biodiesel has Hollywood backers like actress Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman, is sung about by country star Willie Nelson but also meets the political correctness of the American right wing which has made the campaign against imported oil a mantra... ...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Since biodiesel is cooking oil reprocessed in to an ester, the government is getting its cut from the alcohol that is used to make the esters.
Of course not. That doesn't deny the reality that we must embrace alternative fuel sources. Too many people (expecially in this forum) think they can bury their head in the sand and wait for gas to return to $1.49/gallon. Those days are over and will never return.
We are now competing for fuel with the emerging economies of India and China.
Tapping domestic reserves (even ANWR) are but temporary band-aids.
We've had 30 years to try and come up with a solution. Instead we've developed Lincoln Navigators, Ford Excursions, Cadillac Escalades and Chevy Tahoes.
Gas is going to do nothing but rise in price. Oh sure, there will be temporary declines but $4/gallon is coming soon to a pump near you. $7/gallon and $10/gallon aren't far behind. We've got to do something --and do it soon.
And, no. I'm not a long-haired, pot-smoking, tree-hugging peace freak.
In any event, I'll just hold out until somebody figures out how to turn dog poop into fuel. Then, I'll go back to the shelter and get two more mutts just like the fertilizer factory I already have in the backyard.
I know someone who actually made quite a good living from collecting grease from restaurants and then selling it to cosmetics companies.
Too many people (expecially in this forum) think they can bury their head in the sand and wait for gas to return to $1.49/gallon. Those days are over and will never return.
I don't know a single person as you describe. I do know they exist, they even serve in Congress, but I would not hang out with them or even wish to talk to them.
I certainly will not plan my life according to their brainpower.
I don't expect ever again to see 5c chewing gum, either.
We are now competing for fuel with the emerging economies of India and China.
We have both exported oil forever and have always competed with other countries. Are you old enough to know history? Question: what was the driving force behind Japan's attempt to conquer Asia?
Focus on the oil/energy aspects of that question.
Tapping domestic reserves (even ANWR) are but temporary band-aids.
Meaningless phrases by the clueless. Implicit in every new oil find is the certain knowledge that it is a finite new source. D'OH!
We've had 30 years to try and come up with a solution. Instead we've developed Lincoln Navigators, Ford Excursions, Cadillac Escalades and Chevy Tahoes.
Meaningless distraction to the main point. That you hate large inefficient cars is irrelevant to me. I don't own any of those.
The idiots who buy them buy into their own punishment. I appreciate their disproportionate contribution to the economy. It is a good thing.
Gas is going to do nothing but rise in price. Oh sure, there will be temporary declines but $4/gallon is coming soon to a pump near you. $7/gallon and $10/gallon aren't far behind. We've got to do something --and do it soon.
A manhattan-type program to exploit oil shale. And firing squad punishment for any who oppose it for any reason. It's not that complicated.
Even $10 a gallon gasoline will not impact me as much as most other people. I don't need mommy government to plan for me.
And, no. I'm not a long-haired, pot-smoking, tree-hugging peace freak.
Just talk and act like one?
Ignoring the absurdist slap at the "politically correct right wing," I have a friend who is setting up a biodiesel plant in his garage. It's an interesting process, although I can see it getting a little messy. And I've yet to see him run his truck on the stuff. But I wish him all the luck in the world. I'd run a car on Al Gore's emissions if it would release us from the Arab stranglehold.
The only people deluded are those who think we have in infinite supply of oil.
I don't know a single person as you describe.
There are plenty of them on this forum.
We have both exported oil forever and have always competed with other countries. Are you old enough to know history? Question: what was the driving force behind Japan's attempt to conquer Asia?
Probably the same reason Hitler tried (and failed) to send his Panzers into Baku. Oilfields. And yes, we have always competed for oil with other countries. The difference is that while we were competing for oil with other developed nations, 2+ billion Indians and Chinese were riding bicycles. Now they modernizing and embracing the internal combustion engine. Those slices of the pie are getting a lot thinner and more expensive. Saudi oil production has peaked.
Meaningless phrases by the clueless. Implicit in every new oil find is the certain knowledge that it is a finite new source. D'OH!
Too many people here think domestic drilling will solve all of our problems. There's no need to conserve fuel because ANWR is the answer to our prayers! Those damn greenies!
The idiots who buy them buy into their own punishment.
I agree wholeheartedly.
I appreciate their disproportionate contribution to the economy. It is a good thing.
The House of Saud also appreciates their contribution to the Saudi economy!
A manhattan-type program to exploit oil shale.
Again, postponing the inevitable.
Just talk and act like one?
Now c'mon! That hurts! :)
Assuming the latter problem can be palliated to a sufficient degree, the price of the input will sooner or later (sooner, in my view) stabilise at a low level. There is no economic reason why turkey growers should continue to pay for offal disposal; there is only dog-in-the-manger pique.
Grant, generously, that the cost of production of light oil from such a plant runs $18/bbl using 'free' input, 42.8 cents/gal (the plant, one of ConAgra's joint projects, says COP is about $15/bbl). Given that 200K lbs of turkey offal, processed, yields about 600 bbl, 25200 gal, of what is effectively #2 oil, and given that average-grade diesel weighs approx. 7.1 lbs/gal, the plant could easily afford to pay 5.25 cents/lb for the offal, and wind up with a **total** production cost, before taxes, distribution, and profit, of just 80 cents/gal for the product.
Add the others in (depending on how greedy the gov'ts involved will be) and you get something like 1.15/gal for light #2, in distributors' hands (i.e. shipped once -- this stuff can be piped, btw, which should keep shipping costs lowish). Put another 15 cents on it for the distributors' profit when selling to homeowners/local businesses, and you've got 1.30/gal for a final consumption price. It might be more efficient just to sell the turkey biodiesel as motor fuel rather than as heating fuel; transport costs would certainly be lower. And, all this assumes, remember, that the actual COP is 20% higher than the plant's stated COP, so the real-world price is almost surely lower than this 1.30 figure when the plant pays a nickel or so per pound for the input.
Front-month #2 oil on NYMEX closed at 1.95/gal Friday. This price differential between turkey (et al) biodiesel and #2 will do nothing but decrease in future, too, as economies of scale kick in. The downside to turkey biodiesel is that there's not enough available input to produce, ever, more than 8-10% of the mkt demand.
Unless, of course, we start using chicken offal, and hog waste, and other inputs that we have entirely TOO much of and don't know what to do with.
However, TDP doesn't require any finished alcohols to operate, which fact among others makes it commercially viable **until** gov't idiots start messing with it.
Read the wrong column in the table, sorry!
from the site you posted: Based on the combined resources of both industries, there is enough feedstock to supply 1.9 billion gallons of biodiesel (under policies designed to encourage biodiesel use). This represents roughly 5% of on-road diesel used in the United States.
Any idea how you make this stuff? I have enough real-estate so the 25 sq. foot space isn't a problem. I'm tried of paying $3 a gallon for gas (I have cut back tremendously how how much I travel, which is helping keep down the overall maintence costs on my car, but that's not the point I would love a cheaper fuel option for my car).
And to think my hubby and I had to pay someone to cut down our pines in our yard here in SC!! Wished I would've known I could've sold them!!!
2400 bucks and all that time and labor???
How many years until he even breaks even? Perhaps, never?
There's a guy here in Houston, Tx. who has converted his pickup to run on cooking oil. The conversation kit was NOT expensive. He goes and will pick up the oil, then he runs it through a cloth type filter to remove whatever is left from frying fries and so forth. His truck runs fine on the oil and he even commented he didn't even know the price of gasoline.
I'm going to get in on this one.There is 1.8 trillion,THATS Trillion barrels of oil locked up in oil shale in this country ALONE. THAT my friend is about 100yrs of supply for this country in oil shale alone. I'll take 100yrs of inevitably.
Don't they always?
Nothing new.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.