Biodiesel
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel produced from soybeans, sunflowers, canola and other crops. It can be used in place of - or blended with - petroleum-based diesel ("petrodiesel") in vehicles and farm equipment. It is estimated that biodiesel can replace about 10% of current diesel use.
Compared to petrodiesel, biodiesel provides significant benefits:
- Improved air quality
- - Significant reductions in particulate matter, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and sulfate emissions
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
- - Up to an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
- Increased economic strength for farmers and rural communities
- Reduced health and safety risk (non-toxic and biodegradable)
- Increased energy security
Sustainable Conservation is working to develop a biodiesel industry in California that is environmentally beneficial, economically viable and logistically feasible. Currently the organization is leading two projects.
Cleaner Air
As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Clean Diesel Campaign, Sustainable Conservation and its partners are testing a new fuel additive to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) - a precursor to ozone, or smog - resulting from biodiesel use. This is crucial because current formulations of biodiesel produce slightly more NOx than does petrodiesel, and this has slowed market acceptance of biodiesel even though it emits far fewer air pollutants and greenhouse gases overall. If verified as effective in meeting California Air Resources Board standards for NOx emissions, the new biodiesel formulation can significantly expand the use of biodiesel in California and other regions.
Sustainable Conservation's partners in this project include Extengine Transport Systems and California State University, Fresno.
Stronger Economy
While biodiesel is often associated with used cooking oil from places like donut shops, Sustainable Conservation is working to source biodiesel directly from locally grown crops such as canola, safflowers and sunflowers. This will give local farmers a reliable market for their crops and strengthen California's economy, while providing a sustainable supply of biodiesel to vehicle owners. Sustainable Conservation's goal is to structure a self-sustaining, closed-loop system for growing seed crops, extracting seed oils and producing biodiesel within California farming communities. The biodiesel can be used locally and/or transported to centralized fueling stations for wider use.
Sustainable Conservation's partners in this effort include U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Practical Challenges
Given the strong environmental, economic and security benefits available through using biofuels, it is critical to address the remaining challenges. These include building productive partnerships with business, agricultural and government leaders to overcome key technical, market and regulatory hurdles.
Biodiesel holds particular promise for California's San Joaquin Valley which has both fertile land to grow biodiesel crops and the dirtiest air in the country - which contributes to dramatically high asthma rates.