Future Trends
BioDiesel Now
By Larry Phillips
Feb 27, 2008

Just as peak oil has arguably reached its apex, where production continually falls further behind demand, the opposite is true in the burgeoning field of ‘alternative’ energy services, where productivity is growing rapidly to meet soaring consumer demand.



Solar is back in a big way with tax incentives spurring even faster growth. Solar panel producers are working hard to meet the skyrocketing demand, and investors are clamoring for investment vehicles to take advantage of the growing demand for hardware and related service companies.



Ethanol – arguably a more unwieldy technology, requiring feedstocks that could otherwise feed nations, playing havoc with commodity prices, and requiring almost a completely new delivery system to get the product to the end user. In addition, when it gets to the end user, it delivers a negative energy output, requiring more units of energy to create the fuel than the fuel supplies to the end user.





Then comes biodiesel – not the recipient of big producers tax subsidies like ethanol, biodiesel has nonetheless established a solid foothold in the ‘new energy’ field. (There is a $1.00 per gallon blenders credit that helps biodiesel to compete with petrodiesel.)



Not that plant-based fuel is a new idea – quite the contrary. In fact, Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, specifically intended for the motor to operate on commonly available plant and seed oils.

The petro oil industry took the opportunity to monetize what formally had been a waste by-product of gasoline production. Since then various grades of this waste or diesel oil have been belching out tons of unburned hydrocarbons and greenhouse gases since the ‘industrial revolution’. But thanks to oil embargoes, peak oil, supply disruption, and war for oil, we are finally returning the venerable diesel engine to its rightful place in Americas transportation infrastructure. Farmers can grow crops to be processed locally into clean fuel to meet and exceed farmers energy needs, with less physical exposure to noxious fallout, particularly in organically certified growing and production operations.



New technology in passenger cars makes biodiesel a much sought after fuel as small diesel motors are now better able to give their gasoline fueled counterparts a run for the money. Reports of 50 mpg results from biodiesel use are becoming commonplace, often in the VW TDI motor and similar models..



The missing link to getting biodiesel to the end consumer has been distribution, primarily because consumer applications generally call for a B20 biodiesel blend, which is 20% biodiesel and 80% petrodiesel. This requires the commitment of a distributor to purchase the pure product, provide storage, and blend and distribute the finished product alongside their existing petroleum fuel product.



Phillips BioFuels has been supplying biodiesel to wholesale users in New England since 2004, and has recently established numerous relationships with large biodiesel producers, assuring a continuous supply of product to this area. Phillips BioDiesel is available for wholesale delivery throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York.



Biodiesel blended heating oil is now readily available in many areas of New England, and Phillips BioFuels is actively adding new distributors.



For more information, Phillips BioFuels can be found on the web at www.PhillipsBioFuels.com, and at 802-734-2922 during regular business hours.