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It has much cleaner emissions, it keeps your fuel system cleaner, and it supports local economies! It requirs no changes to diesel-powered vehicles made after 1995 (generally). My VW Golf TDI gets 45mpg! It's starting to get big in Portland, OR.

http://www.gobiodiesel.org/
http://www.biodiesel.org/
http://www.biodieselnow.com/
http://www.sqbiofuels.com/

Nice job with the math, but you failed to finish.

An acre is 4840 square yards. Given your calculations, let's say that we can cover no more than a third of land with oil producing equipment.

That would give us 4840/3 = 1613.3 usable square feet per acre.

That gives us about 283 gallons of oil per month of oil. Each gallon of oil produces a gallon of biodiesel, or 3,396 gallons of oil per year per acre.

Contrast that with the amount of oil per acre you get from soy - 60 gallons per season.

That's over 56 times more oil per acre. I'd call that impressive. Cut the estimates in half, hell cut them by 90% and you still have five times the production!

Some more corrections--

Ponds aren't how they're doing it. Read TFA -- they're using tubes to maximize collection area, not ponds.

I also don't get why you think constructing bioreactors will be particularly hard. Care to elaborate?

According to a panel on algae production for biodiesel I saw this year, some forms of algae have up to 80% oil, but I agree we can probably only count on 50-60%.

You've also failed to calculate the certain rise of the cost of oil. It may drop a bit temporarily but it has only one way to go, and that's up. Do some research on peak oil if you doubt me.

Lastly, let's not forget that the petroleum industry is among the most subsidized of all industries. Those subsidies will certainly be given to a nascent algae/biodiesel industry as petroleum prices continue to rise. It's already happened at the Federal level and some States as well.

Biodiesel works, it works right now, and it can solve a lot of our problems. Is it a magic bullet? No. Will we have to dramatically reduce our usage? Yes. Will we need to incorporate other technologies and fuels? Certainly. Does that mean we should ignore biodiesel? HELL NO!

Brian Jamison
GoBiodiesel Cooperative
http://www.gobiodiesel.org/

From what I've read it depends on how you figure the energy cost of making it. The figures I've seen are that ethonal is now ~30% over the energy cost of making it.

Besides, a 1/3 hit for going to renewable, while tough, is doable. Manufacturers would simply have to put larger fuel tanks on.

In the renewable energy future, I see vehicle's fuel being selected less for universiality than for most appropriate for the task.

Electric for close range communters, bio-diesel for trucks, ethanol for those who simply must have a gasoline analog. Of course, I think that bio-diesel is going to be a strong contender, seeing as how from what I've read the process is less convoluted, and I've driven european diesels. I actually didn't realize it was a diesel until I went to fill it up. The problem with that here is the sulfer levels allowed burn out the turbodiesel engines. Of course, biodiesel is naturally sulfer free, so it'd work better in those engines.

The problem with diesel versus ethanol is that you get higher yeilds per acre from ethanol, especially if you use suger beets or cane versus corn.

A source
Another

Shaun and his team visited us last year in Portland, and I wish them the best of luck getting their program picked up.

We have a fairly decent FAQ on our site about biodiesel, I've noticed a lot of questions and some misinformation, especially in the AutoWeek article.

I empathize with you. You are in the denial stage. It does seem far-fetched. However, here are a couple more links. I'm sure you are as good a googler as the next guy to take it from there.

Energy Balance/Life Cycle Inventory for Ethanol, Biodiesel and Petroleum Fuels

The GoBiodiesel Cooperative

Unmodified engines. The only modifications one would need to make:

* If your diesel vehicle is 10 years or older you will eventually need to swap out the natural rubber fuel lines for synthetic ones. Less than $20 in parts.

* If you've been running diesel for awhile now and are switching to 100% biodiesel you will probably need to change your fuel filter after a tank or two. B100 cleans your fuel tank, lines, etc. All that gets filtered.

Biodiesel can be made from a variety of oils (used or new) + methanol or ethanol + lye + heat (basically). It can be for as little as $1/gallon, if you're buying in bulk and getting your used oil for free. Most places will give their oil away for free since they normally have to pay someone to haul it away for them.

Sure, there are drawbacks. The positives outweigh the negatives, though.

I'm involved with the GoBiodiesel Cooperative in Portland, OR.

I'm on the board of directors for the GoBiodiesel Cooperative in Portland, Oregon.

We have priced out what it costs to produce biodiesel (as a cooperative). It costs us approximately $1/gallon in pure supplies (plus electricity) to produce biodiesel. We're just starting (first test batch last weekend!) but are well aware of the costs. We're using methanol right now but would like to switch to the more expensive but more enviro-friendly ethanol. We'll see what happens on that front. Oh, and once we're done producing test batches with lye we will be switching over to ...sodium methoxide (???). I can't recall what it will be, to be honest.

We will need to recoup the costs of the processor, the building it's located in, etc. Plus, we'd like to pay volunteers a small amount for their time.

We plan on selling biodiesel for approximately USD$1.25-$1.50.

If you're interested, visit the GoBiodiesel Cooperative web site and learn more about what we're doing.

If you're in the Portland, OR area and are interested in making, distributing and using biodiesel then you're welcome to join the GoBiodiesel Cooperative. You can get more info at the website, GoBiodiesel.org. We're about 6 weeks from having a processor that will be capable of producing up to several hundred gallons of biodiesel per week.

Since we're a cooperative and a new one at that, there are opportunities in all aspects of biodiesel: sales/marketing, engineering/processor design, oil collection, administrative stuff, etc. Whatever floats your boat (or drives your car).