Biodiesel’s arrival in Boulder, CO plants hope for vegetable power

Fueling station arrives in Boulder amid fanfare

By Ryan Morgan and Kate Larsen, Camera Staff Writers

People who pump diesel fuel into their tanks can now switch to vegetable oil.

Boulder’s first biodiesel fueling station opened Friday morning to hearty cheers from a crowd of about 50 who gathered to celebrate what they say is a clean and renewable alternative to diesel fuel.

"We know that converting to bio-diesel dramatically reduces the lifetime emissions of these vehicles," Boulder Mayor Will Toor said.

As he spoke, a line of diesel vehicles — ranging from a Mercedes to a Toro riding lawnmower — were lined up behind the single pump at Bartkus Oil, 3501 E. Pearl Ave., which will dispense a blend of 80 percent normal diesel fuel and 20 percent vegetable oil. Pure biodiesel will also be available.

The fuel works in any diesel engine.

The Mercedes was plastered with pro-biodiesel bumper stickers, including one that read "Powered by a Vegetable."

Both the city and the University of Colorado will fuel their diesel fleets, including buses, with the new fuel.

Lisa Rigg was one of the first people to fill the tank of her Volkswagen Jetta.

She said she didn’t mind paying about 15 cents more per gallon for the blend.

"It’s worth it," she said. "It makes me feel a lot better about driving a diesel car around."

The biodiesel community continued to celebrate their accomplishment with a rally at the University of Colorado Friday.

Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill and actor Woody Harrelson joined the event. The pair is part of the "We the Planet" festival that stopped in Boulder Friday. The group is traveling the country in buses running on biodiesel fuel.

Hill told the crowd of more than 300 students not to think of themselves as the "leaders of tomorrow."

"We’re the leaders of today," Hill said. "The people who are pretending to be our leaders are leading us in a really bad direction."

She and Harrelson commended CU students for voting to raise student fees to run campus buses on bio-diesel fuel.

"You are an amazing group of people who are making a change in the world," Harrelson said.

CU sophomore Adrianne Bryant said hearing Hill speak was inspiring.

"It’s one thing to have the environmental and student groups talk about this stuff," Bryant said. "It’s another thing to have a person who sat in a tree for over a year to tell you her perspective — it causes you to act."

Contact Ryan Morgan at [email protected] or (303) 473-1333 and Kate Larsen at [email protected] or (303) 473-1361.

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/city_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2422_2256689,00.html

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Bio-fueling a debate

Alternative diesel’s marketability and efficiency at issue

By Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News

Colorado’s first biodiesel gas pump, which opened Friday in Boulder, has sparked a debate between environmental groups and sections of the oil industry.

At issue: Is biodiesel a marketable, clean fuel?

Biodiesel is normally derived by mixing 20 percent vegetable oil with 80 percent petroleum oil. It can be used in diesel-run cars and trucks without any engine modification.

Proponents argue that biodiesel reduces the country’s dependence on foreign oil, revitalizes the farming economy and reduces the emission of harmful ozone-depleting gases.

Opponents, however, argue biodiesel is not really an energy saver, since more energy is used to convert crops into fuel. Also, biodiesel – which costs 20 cents more per barrel than petroleum diesel – could congeal during winter and become harder to pump.

Such fears are unfounded, said Jeff Probst, president and chief executive of Fort Collins-based Blue Sun Biodiesel. His company, founded two years ago, is the supplier of the Boulder gas pump (located at Bartkus Oil Co. at 3501 Pearl St.), which can be used by anyone driving a diesel-powered vehicle.

"Biodiesel is a truly renewable energy source because the energy is coming from oil seeds that can be grown everywhere, including Colorado," Probst said. "And biodiesel has a good energy balance. Only one energy unit is used to produce 3.2 biodiesel energy units."

Probst said he was working with farmers in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado to grow more energy-producing oil seed crops. These crops – which include types of mustard, canola, rapeseed and false flax – can be grown during fallow seasons after the harvest of winter wheat.

Nebraska farmer Scott Easterly, who grew a variety of brown mustard in 40 acres this year, said he has yet to make a profit.

"This year, I learned a lot about how to raise it. It is a lot different from the traditional wheat and corn crops . . . it needs a different type of management. I’ll probably try it again next year," he said.

One problem with the salability of biodiesel is logistics, said Bryant Gimlin, energy risk manager of Gray Oil & Gas, a diesel and gasoline wholesaler.

"It is difficult to store the vegetable oil," he said. "During winter, it might congeal and become difficult to pump. And gas stations may have to use additives to keep it from congealing, which would make it difficult to distribute."

But the most important issue, Gimlin said, is that it takes more energy to manufacture biodiesel than the energy it produces. Moreover, he said, there isn’t a significant market demand for the product.

"Typically, government creates demand by mandating its usage by fleets or through tax breaks," he said. "Right now, we don’t have any of those things."

Despite these concerns, an environmental group sees a bright future for the alternative fuel.

"I am very optimistic about bio-energy in general; there are great opportunities to produce liquid fuel in our own country," said Howard Gellar, executive director of the South West Energy Efficiency Project. "We are dependent on oil from the Persian Gulf. But that is a high-cost, high-security risk option. We can’t go after terrorists in Saudi Arabia because we are too dependent on them for oil."

Gellar said advanced technology could help convert energy crops into fuel with minimum waste.

Besides, bio-energy could have tremendous impact on hard-hit rural economies.

"In my lifetime, I think we will go from a petroleum-based economy to a bio-energy-based one," he said.

[email protected] or 303-892-2976

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/technology/article/0,1299,DRMN_49_2259425,00.html