GlobalEnviroBlog

The use of Biofuels to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is being deliberately stalled and blocked by special interest groups. Exxon-Mobil, Texaco, the Western States Petroleum Association, the Engine Manufacturers Association, and the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers have petitioned effectively to ban the sale of B100 (pure biodiesel) American automobile manufacturers have agreed to void the warrantees on any diesel vehicle that is run on biodiesel.

Let’s take a closer look at biodiesel as a fuel. Biodiesel has been shown to have the following properties:

1.       Biodiesel is not toxic. In fact biodiesel is less toxic than table salt. Petroleum diesel is mildly toxic.

2.       Biodiesel is biodegradable. Biodiesel is broken down and metabolized by soil bacteria faster than sugar. Petroleum diesel is extremely slow to biodegrade. A spill of petroleum diesel takes weeks to decades to break down.

3.       Biodiesel has more energy per gallon than petroleum diesel.

4.       Biodiesel produces forty percent less atmospheric carbon per gallon than petroleum diesel.

5.       Biodiesel lubricates the parts of a diesel engine better than petroleum diesel.

6.       Biodiesel can be made from any vegetable oil or animal fat. Petroleum diesel is made from petroleum, seventy-five percent of which comes from other countries.

7.       Biodiesel has a higher flashpoint than petroleum diesel, making it less explosive.

8.       Biodiesel is significantly cheaper than Petroleum diesel.

With the safety and environmental benefits of biodiesel, why are the above special interest groups trying to block it? The answer to this question is clear when you look at who opposes biodiesel. The widespread use of biodiesel will cut into the record profits of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington, D.C., big oil. Throughout Europe, biodiesel is produced and sold. Automotive manufacturers in Europe have no reservations about the use of biodiesel in their engines.

If you don’t like paying ever higher prices at the pump, or facing the specters of fuel rationing and a vicious and corrupt black market, call or write your Senators, Congressional Representatives and other government officials Federal, State and Local. Demand that biofuels be given a chance to ease the crisis. Big oil should not control the biofuels industry. Biofuels should be emergent from small business, creating new American jobs and restoring energy independence from foreign oil.

Richard Moolick

http://www.Call4Action.info

by
Richard T. Moolick, Jr.

Cities across America have been told that they have to improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions. So far, the solutions in the news ignore a quick and highly achievable method of reducing the emissions.

Whether you think global warming is a human-influenced disaster in the making or that it’s just a natural cycle, it makes sense that we should reduce our carbon footprint. Nobody wants to breathe filthy air or live in a world-wide garbage dump. And nobody wants to face the prospect of having the cost of energy wipe out all economic advances.

A dramatic reduction can be achieved almost overnight and very low cost with the first step in the plan for reducing carbon emissions. A practical plan for reducing carbon emissions is listed below:

Step 1:

Many of the workers in many American cities are involved in jobs that do not deal with the public on a face-to-face basis. These jobs include call centers, data centers and other jobs that deal almost exclusively with computers and /or telephones.
 
The vast majority of these jobs can be done from home using virtual private network technologies. The benefits of performing these jobs by telecommuting are as follows:

1. The number of cars on the road is reduced by a significant amount, reducing traffic congestion, carbon emission and road wear-and tear.

2. The employee saves money by not having to spend the fuel to commute to and from work. The reduced commute saves the employee an average of 170 hours per year and about 280 gallons of gasoline per year or about $840.00 per year.

3. The reduced congestion on the highways saves other commuters significant time and money due to reduced commute times.

4. Companies will realize greater productivities from the vast majority of the teleworkers as well as reduced absenteeism and lower energy costs due to reduced office footprints.

5. Governments will realize a significant reduction in highway maintenance expenses and a significant reduction in carbon emissions. (One has only to look at the air on a Wednesday and compare it to the air on a Saturday to see the difference.

6. The VPN technologies exist today and only a minimal investment in expanded bandwidth will be needed to take a large number of cars off the road.

 Step 2:

Provide incentive grants to homeowners and businesses to increase the use of alternative energy. These grants would serve to make the installation of solar, wind or other alternative energy technologies more affordable to the homeowners. By reducing the carbon footprint of the American home, the grant program would pay for itself in reduced reliance on foreign energy and reduced carbon emissions.

Step 3:

Develop business incubators to encourage innovation and business development in alternatives to foreign petroleum. The incubators should concentrate aid for small innovative businesses.

Step 4:

Issue a mandate that requires all automobiles to move toward renewable energy immediately. This should include pressure for auto makers to produce electric and hydrogen-powered cars. Additional development of hydrogen-on-demand systems such as those being developed by Ecotality, AlGalCo LLC. and other innovators should be funded and nurtured.

Step 5:

Require all new construction to use green technologies to reduce the energy footprint. A side-benefit of these requirements will have the benefit of increasing usage and thus reducing costs of solar and other alternate energy technologies.

Step 6:

Aggressively pursue a cradle-to-grave environmental policy on all levels. Wherever possible, all new items (grocery bags to cars to building materials) must be made of materials that are recyclable, renewable and environmentally friendly.

If the above plan is pursued on a local, state and national level, the air over our cities will become much cleaner and our dependence on foreign energy will be substantially reduced without adversely impacting our standard of living.