http://beaconnews.ca/blog/2013/11/biodiesel-cruise-ships-to-tour-bus-gas-tanks/
[If you go to the on-line article from a Canadian IP address (my
suspicion), near the end of the piece you will likely get to see a
survey from the increasingly desperate Canadian Association of Petroleum
Producers trying to gauge the effectiveness of their current multi-media
brainwashing campaign. I encourage you to fill it out.
On a happier note, this story. Multiple images in on-line article.]
Biodiesel: From cruise ships to tour bus gas tanks
Kharl Prado | November 27, 2013
By David Dodge and Duncan Kinney
With 17 micro-breweries the 750,000 people who call Vancouver Island
home are well served by beer makers. But it’s a different kind of
Vancouver Island micro-brew that caught our attention, it’s a plucky
little biodiesel cooperative at a farmer’s market selling between
150,000 to 200,000 litres a year.
As you walk into the Cowichan Biodiesel Cooperative’s processing
facility in Duncan B.C., it really does look like a microbrewery. Tanks,
pumps, hoses and other assorted machinery are all reminiscent of the
brew master’s trade. But unlike the yeasty, worty smell that you get at
a brewery the biodiesel processing facility has the faint hint of French
fries.
And when you ask a long-time customer about why they spend the
extra-money for their home-made diesel she’s got a quick answer.
“I got involved because I wanted to get off fossil fuels,” says Lynn
Wytenbroek, a founding member.
And like any microbrewery or small, grassroots organization you need
dedicated customers.
“But personally, I prefer to be on 100 per cent as much as possible.
I’ve even driven out to Alberta with the trunk of the car full of
biodiesel so I didn’t have to fill up at a gas station.”
When Wytenbroek says 100 per cent she means B100, the designation that
refers to a fuel comprised of 100 per cent biodiesel. B20 by comparison,
is a mixture of 20 per cent biodiesel and 80 per cent petro-diesel.
Biodiesel is a safe, clean, ready-to-use alternative transportation fuel
that in this case is made with used vegetable oil. It can be put into
almost any diesel engine and when used, produces far less pollution,
specifically the nasty black smoke and particulates you see coming out
of far too many vehicles. Compared to regular petro-diesel, biodiesel
produces far less polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a known carcinogen.
Biodiesel also produces far less greenhouse gas emissions as well. A
study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a lab of the US
Department of Energy, found in a life cycle study that buses using 100
per cent biodiesel (B100) produced 78 per cent less carbon dioxide
emissions.
Scaling up biodiesel: Of buses and cruise ships
While customers like Wytenbroek help you get off the ground, it’s
customers like Cruise Victoria Services (CVS) which help you scale up.
CVS is a sightseeing and tour operation that’s run out of Victoria, BC
and they have a fleet of 19 buses.
They switched to B20, or 20 per cent biodiesel in 2007.
“For the first six months we didn’t even tell our driving staff that
they were running biofuel. Ultimately when we did announce it everybody
was quite surprised because there was zero impact in terms of the
overall operation with the exception of lower overall emissions,” says
Gary Gale, managing director with CVS.
They gradually ramped up to B100 and they are, as far as we know the
only company in North America running a major fleet of buses on
biodiesel fuel.
“Customers love it. The side of the bus has actually has B100 biodiesel
right on the side of it and customers, mainly U.S. customers, are really
thrilled by the fact that, you know, that somebody’s taken measures that
we have in order to adapt to the B100 system,” says Gale.
Here’s where the story gets a little serendipitous. As CVS ramped up
their demand for biodiesel fuel the Cowichan Biodiesel Cooperative was
able to tap into the waste vegetable oil from the 220 cruise ships that
dock at Ogden Point in Victoria every year. The cruise ships come in on
one side of the pier and the bus line is based in the same building.
“And that’s a great sustainable closed-loop system, recycling the waste
product from the cruise ships and turning it into a value-added biofuel
that is then used to take those tourists around Victoria,” Brian
Roberts, the president of the Cowichan Biodiesel Cooperative.
Half of their feedstock now comes from those cruise ships with the other
half coming from restaurants. Even regular folks can even come and drop
off their used vegetable oil at a little drop-off station at the local
landfill. It’s not a lot, but it is a way for average people to
contribute and learn about their transportation fuel options. The local
county folks don’t mind it either as it keeps the waste cooking oil out
of the sewer system where it clogs pipes and costs them big money.
The biodiesel price: Farmer’s market vs. Superstore
We can’t dance around it, the biodiesel from the Cowichan Biodiesel
Cooperative costs more than your typical litre of petro-diesel. There is
about a $0.40 to $0.50 cent premium – petro-diesel was $1.29 and the
biodiesel was $1.78. Much to the frustration of coop members, over $0.40
of this cost is tax which includes a provincial carbon tax on this
carbon neutral fuel.
Biodiesel is a premium product that Roberts compares to organic foods.
Biodiesel, like organic food produced by a nearby farmer is not only
better for your health it’s better for the local economy as well.
Customer Lynn Wytenbroek agrees: “My $1.78 per liter goes into this
community. It stays in this community and that helps the local economy.
That’s very important; it’s like buying local food, which I also do
precisely for that reason.”
The local angle even applies when it comes to suppliers. The coop has a
sticker they give to restaurants that supply them with vegetable oil
that identifies to locals that their used vegetable oil gets turned into
biodiesel.
The Cowichan Bio-Diesel Co-operative is now in the process of installing
a second biodiesel pump that will provide B100 and various mixtures of
bio/petro-diesel fuel to the vehicles of its members which now includes
project partner the Cowichan Valley Regional District.
Biodiesel will never replace petro-diesel by itself, but getting not
just people to eat locally but cars as well means less of a dependence
on a volatile, unhealthy commodity.
--
Darryl McMahon
Failure is not an option;
it comes standard.
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