Both the individuals whose messages are below, were heavily involved in the campaign to get us the NAFT Gas B100 pump.
Mark > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Eric Lyons wrote: > Mark: > > Thanks for your analysis. I think the important > "take home" > points are > something like: > > 1. Commercial fuel suppliers screwed us, and > ultimately themselves. > 2. NAFT failed to realize what they were selling > and who their customers were. > 3. Price matters (even if we know it's going to be > high), and price instability -- especially when quality is an issue > -- aggravates like > hell. > > I've got a bit of other info, fwiw. NAFT were > selling on the order of > 250g/day in the earliest months of their > introduction; as you say, more > than they expected to sell in dino. From the > opinion of the one> employee to whom I would often talk at the station, the rate > dropped radically when they switched to the second supplier (World [Energy], or > someone selling "World's" virgin soy stuff) at $2.99. He > couldn't well > explain > how the relationship fell apart at Yokayo (I played > dumb to my > knowledge that bounced checks tend not to enhance > relationships), but, > as you point out, they did seem to believe that it > was going to go > back > down somehow, and this never materialized. > > I think that the whole problem with local commercial > fuel stations > selling BD is that we're not customers who are *in > any sense* > like the > customers they've had for the past few decades. We > are much > more > informed, understand our product much better than > they do, and > really > care about its sources. Many companies manufacture > dog food, > so dog > owners then have the opportunity to care about which > food they > give to > their dogs, even though it's unlikely any of it will > kill your dog. So > too with us -- except that some of our suppliers > appear to have > been > selling some deadly dog food. > > [I might add that our collective desire to not have > BD mfg and > distribution any more regulated than it needs to be > can have the > side > effect of eating crud sometimes. Our recourse > should be to hold > manufacturers accountable -- companies like Yokayo > get stuck > with way > too much of the burden if they can't hold > manufacturers to their > standards or get compensated for their screwups.] > > I haven't talked to Farook about what he feels > happened, but I'm > sure > your analysis pretty much covers it. I was lucky > not to have been > caught with a sputtering, brand new (1yr old last > week) TDI that > choked > on the batch (or two?) of bad juice. I have a > bottle of that brown > goo > in a vodka bottle on my bar; maybe I can use it as > evidence in a > civil > suit (yeah, like *that* would help our cause). Some > hard, > smokey > starts, but no clogged filter (yet). > > I think I'm over this little disaster, and I'm > looking forward to my > first visit at the Oasis in Berkeley soon. I do the > jerry can thing a > lot anyway so a little more isn't going to kill me. > > I think the IJ needs to do a followup -- Marin still > needs a co-op, > and > we need to find some copasetic land owner with a > workable > location (the > general problem) who can help us out. I was bummed > when the > Sausalito > outlet's landlord came down on them as well, as that > location > was the > most convenient for me. > > The *good* part of the NAFT lesson is that we now > have some > idea of how > big our actual market is. Although it's a drop in > the bucket > compared > to gasoline usage, 250g/day surprised me. I don't > know how > sustainable > that number is, but it seemed to me that with the > right publicity > and > location, it could go up. > > Anyway, my .02; thanks again, Mark. > > Eric. > > ****************** > > > > --- Christo Scantland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks Mark for taking the time and the thought to > produce > your > > analysis and recent > > history of commercial biodiesel in Marin. This is > a good time > to > > look at what happened > > and see what can be learned. > > > <snip> > > > > I am very disappointed that this particular > attempt to introduce > > biodiesel into the > > greater market seems to have failed rather > miserably. The > failure > > seems to have been due > > to factors largly beyond our (the biodiesel > community's) control. > I > > don't think this > > failure means we shouldn't encourage similar > ventures by > other > > independent gas stations > > in the future. > > > > I do think that one lesson of the Naft saga is > that, for such > efforts > > to have a better > > chance of success, there needs to be much more > communication and > > partnership between the > > seller and the biodiesel using community from the > get-go. > > Communication and partnership > > would be very helpful in navigating the particular > pitfalls that > > biodiesel can bring, > > such as clogged fuel filters, uneven fuel quality, > intermittant > > supply, rotten hoses and > > increased cold weather problems. This does > suggest to me > that > > consumer's co-ops are > > probably one good way to go. > > > > It is looking like we need something like a > consumers' co-op > here in > > Marin again soon. > > Personally, I'm not going to make special trips to > Berkeley just > for > > fuel. I'm also not > > very interested in dealing with carboys and jerry > cans; I've fully > > been there and done > > that. I am willing to put some time and money > into helping a > co-op > > resume or reform here > > in Marin. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Christo > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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