BioDiesel is made of people!
As most of you know, I am no longer the proud owner of a Prius. I loved everything about that car – except for the monthly payment! I decided to downgrade to a slightly less fancy, slightly more used, slightly better for the environment car...introducing my new bug: 
Yep, it’s official – I’m a hippie. I have long(er than most engineers) hair, am fiercely liberal and now I drive a Beetle! Of course, one of my friends astutely pointed out that I can never be a hippie given that I “work for the man” (in reference to the fact that I am a civil servant). My response was to point out that what I do rarely actually requires an engineering degree, so I am sticking it to the man by being over paid.
The reason I am so excited about driving this Beetle in particular is that it is a diesel Beetle, which means I can now fill up from this very special station (the only one of its type in Houston). Houston BioDiesel creates its fuels from plants – which has its pros and cons on the environmental side [1].
On the plus side, plants derive their carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is returned to the atmosphere upon combustion in an engine. This makes the recycling period of carbon in a biodiesel cycle on the order of a few years. Carbon derived from fossil fuels has to be absorbed by plants, eaten by animals and converted into fossils over the course of millions of years. The earth is well equipped to handle the recycling of carbon in its atmosphere at steady-state...it’s the introduction of carbon from within its bowels into the atmosphere which raises the carbon dioxide level.
However, a complete switch to biodiesel would have plenty of negative environmental impacts. We wouldn’t eat less produce as we transitioned to biodiesel, thereby necessitating the clearing of more forest to make room for growing the necessary crops. In fact, U.S. heating and transportation needs alone would require 2/3 the U.S. land area to be devoted to rapeseed production [2]! Can someone please hurry up and perfect controlled fusion so we can switch to an entirely electric society with no pollution to speak of!
Actually, my favorite part of biodiesel is its smell – or rather lack thereof. It smells like canola oil (which I learned today is a shortened form of the abbreviation "Can.O., L-A." for Canadian Oilseed, Low-Acid) [3].
P.S. Neil and I just finished another segment of our Christianity Interview – click here or the link on the right to see it.
Yep, it’s official – I’m a hippie. I have long(er than most engineers) hair, am fiercely liberal and now I drive a Beetle! Of course, one of my friends astutely pointed out that I can never be a hippie given that I “work for the man” (in reference to the fact that I am a civil servant). My response was to point out that what I do rarely actually requires an engineering degree, so I am sticking it to the man by being over paid.The reason I am so excited about driving this Beetle in particular is that it is a diesel Beetle, which means I can now fill up from this very special station (the only one of its type in Houston). Houston BioDiesel creates its fuels from plants – which has its pros and cons on the environmental side [1].
On the plus side, plants derive their carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is returned to the atmosphere upon combustion in an engine. This makes the recycling period of carbon in a biodiesel cycle on the order of a few years. Carbon derived from fossil fuels has to be absorbed by plants, eaten by animals and converted into fossils over the course of millions of years. The earth is well equipped to handle the recycling of carbon in its atmosphere at steady-state...it’s the introduction of carbon from within its bowels into the atmosphere which raises the carbon dioxide level.
However, a complete switch to biodiesel would have plenty of negative environmental impacts. We wouldn’t eat less produce as we transitioned to biodiesel, thereby necessitating the clearing of more forest to make room for growing the necessary crops. In fact, U.S. heating and transportation needs alone would require 2/3 the U.S. land area to be devoted to rapeseed production [2]! Can someone please hurry up and perfect controlled fusion so we can switch to an entirely electric society with no pollution to speak of!
Actually, my favorite part of biodiesel is its smell – or rather lack thereof. It smells like canola oil (which I learned today is a shortened form of the abbreviation "Can.O., L-A." for Canadian Oilseed, Low-Acid) [3].
P.S. Neil and I just finished another segment of our Christianity Interview – click here or the link on the right to see it.
posted by Nicholas at 4:47 PM
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