14-03-05

If fans of biodiesel get their way, 2005 will be the first year in which thousands of drivers fill their tanks with the increasingly popular alternative to petroleum diesel at a network of public fuelling stations.
Biodiesel co-op members will get a discount on the fuel, which is derived from natural fats and oils. But drivers of any diesel vehicles will be welcome, according to entrepreneurs hoping to establish biodiesel plants and filling stations in their communities.

That marks a change from the way many co-ops have operated in the past -- often in secret, and without legal permits. By going straight, the co-ops hope to improve their image as well as educate and attract investors, the public and government agencies.
"You can't go and speak to the DOE if you aren't legal," said Lyle Estill, vice president of Piedmont Biofuels, a biodiesel co-op in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Estill writes a weblog that includes an account of his recent wrangling with the local fire marshal.

Piedmontat the moment operates a small plant for its members on the back porch of a double-wide mobile home. The plant is capable of producing "a couple of hundred gallons per week, depending on how motivated the people are," said Estill.
Piedmont is planning to open a new facility, capable of turning out a million gallons of biodiesel annually. Estill is working to secure permits for the plant, a process he expects will not be simple.

Piedmont, which is in a rural area, has always kept its operations public. But in cities, where zoning laws can be very strict, biodiesel co-ops tend to organize "below the radar" of regulators, said Maria Alovert, a Berkeley, California, activist who teaches classes on making biodiesel. Anyone wanting to sell biodiesel to the public must also get approval from state and federal environmental agencies, Alovert said.
"It's against the law for people to sell fuel or fuel additives to the public without registering with the EPA," said Alovert. "That is a difficult process for small-scale producers to go through."

But some city co-ops want to become more visible in their communities. In places like Boston, Atlanta and Asheville, North Carolina, they aim to make automobile traffic less polluting and to provide an alternative to expensive home heating oil.
"It's very important that we are able to locate our facility in the city, where people live," said Kris Smith, director of the Positive Energy Foundation, a co-op forming in Atlanta. While there's no need for the fuel to be produced in a densely populated area, it does need to be distributed in one, he said. Biodiesel producers also prefer to be close to a concentration of restaurants that can donate the old vegetable oil from which the fuel is commonly made.

But co-op owners will have to convince code-enforcement officials they can make the fuel without harming themselves and others.
"You may need to be working in a room with proper ventilation, or with explosion-proof fittings," said Capt. Maurice Mahoney, head of the Special Hazards Division at the Boston Fire Department. "If it's not done properly, I can see someone blowing up their garage one day, or their basement."

Source: Wired News