We're expanding the use of hybrid and clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel.
One innovative company, Grease Lightning, based in New York City, has been purchasing used cooking oil from local restaurants to convert into biodiesel fuel since 2011.
The fuel, known as Biodiesel B20, is made from 20% algae and 80% petroleum.
The Volt's gasoline generator is mechanically independent of the wheels--easily swapped in the future for ethanol, biodiesel or fuel cell generators.
We also are looking at diesels, which have an improvement of 30 percent in fuel economy, and biodiesel mix, which again is a homegrown solution for this nation.
The National Biodiesel Board says that less than 1 percent of the 60 billion gallons of diesel fuel used each year comes from biodiesel, most of it produced from soybeans, animal fats and recycled oil.
And it remains so to this day when compared to biodiesel, a fuel made from oils of plants and animal fat.
FORBES: Veggie Oil Smells Better Than Diesel, But It's No Slam Dunk
An aerial photo on the web site of U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp. shows a plant in Natchez, Miss. where the company says it will soon begin producing 1.5 million gallons a day of biodiesel-like fuel from soybeans.
Also in Germany, there are aerobic digesters which are fed by maize (corn) rather than waste and so the same argument would arise over growing crops for fuel or for food as applies to biodiesel production and must ring an eventual death-knell for both biodiesel and biogas, if the latter is made from food too.
FORBES: U.K. Joins Europe On Biogas 'Waste Into Energy' Strategy
By the same token, if rapeseed is grown using lots of fertiliser made from natural gas, then the resulting biodiesel brings relatively little reduction in emissions or fuel imports.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the use of soybean B100, which is 100 percent biodiesel, in urban transit buses reduces net carbon dioxide emissions by 78 percent and reduces lifecycle petroleum consumption by 95 percent, which takes into account fuel required to cultivate crops, refine and transport the biodiesel.
FORBES: Veggie Oil Smells Better Than Diesel, But It's No Slam Dunk
Ending or relaxing the biodiesel mandate will end the food-for-fuel boondoggle.
FORBES: The Federal Government's Biodiesel Mandate Ensures Higher Prices All Around
While some tax incentives do exist (for ethanol and wind energy), there are no federal energy mandates besides a meager Renewable Fuel Standard passed last year by Congress to boost production of ethanol and biodiesel.
That F350, running on 5% soy-based biodiesel (any more would void the vehicle's warranty), burns 840 gallons of fossil fuel a year doing 15, 000 miles, not including the petroleum used up to make the soy diesel.
应用推荐