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Books : Biodiesel: Growing A New Energy EconomyIn association with Amazon.comRating:  - Not if but When...I found this to be a very interesting book to read. I have known for sometime that diesel fuel could be made from hemp seed oil but this book breaks down the walls to ignorance and fills the void with useful examples of what could be happening and what is happening around the world. I strongly recommend this book as part of well balanced diet of alternative energy readings. My only real critisicm of this work is that there is nothing said about the potential of Hemp. The author writes an entire section about the oil to weight ratios of various seed stocks that could be used for fuel. Most noticably missing is the Hemp seed which grows in every client and produces a more abundent amount of oil by weight than all the others! Maybe the author did not know that the first diesel fuel was made from vegatable oils. Henry Ford found that Hemp seed oil was the best for making diesel fuel. I wonder, could this be a hang up caused by the current "Drug War"? It is a shame that a useful plant such as Hemp would be omitted from a work on Bio-Diesel. Otherwise, this is a must read. As most of us are begining to realize, crude oil is going to run out. So the question of what to use for fuel next is not a matter of "IF" but "When" and we as a society need to find alternatives. Bio-Deisel has great potential. The book is a smooth read. It is engaging and full of detail which is carefully sourced but not dry or boring. I enjoyed it very much. Rating:  - Great Book on an Intrguing TopicBelow is my favourable take on Greg Pahl's "Biodiesel": Diesel-powered vehicles and equipment are everywhere, and are likely to continue to exist for years, if not for generations to come. Buses, trains, trucks, generators, and a growing number of automobiles use diesel fuel. Diesel engines tend to be more fuel-efficient, and last longer, than their gasoline-powered counterparts. Diesel engines get better torque than do gasoline engines, and devote more of their energy to propulsion (what we want), and less to wasted heat (what we don't want). In summary, diesel engines have a lot going for them. However, the challenge is that diesel, along with its cousin, gasoline, are fossil fuels, whose supplies are, by most reasonable estimates, finite and declining at rates greater than many of us feel comfortable to acknowledge. Diesel fuel, when burned by an inefficient engine, generates a lot of pollution, both real (e.g. particulate matter) and perceived (i.e. billowing clouds of smoke). Diesel has a bad reputation in some circles, and often this is deserved. Enter biodiesel, a renewable alternative to traditional "petrodiesel". Developed over the past several decades from various plant and animal "feedstocks", biodiesel is a relatively clean-burning fuel that can either supplement or, in some cases, replace the non-renewable petrodiesel. For example, B20 biodiesel, which I use in my 2004 VW Golf, consists of 20% biodiesel and 80% traditional petrodiesel. Overall engine performance is as good as, if not better than, what would be experienced using pure petrodiesel. The greater lubricity of biodiesel prolongs the life of engines that use it; this attribute will grow in importance as diesel suppliers are encouraged or forced to reduce the sulphur content of the fuel... the lower the sulphur, the lower the lubricity. Other big motivations for using biodiesel are that, as a locally-sourced form of energy, it reduces our reliance on oil from other countries; additionally, there is its tendency to emit fewer toxic substances than an equal volume of petrodiesel. Local farmers, supplying the soybeans or switchgrass that constitute the biodiesel feedstock to nearby refiners, stand to benefit financially. Even used vegetable frying oil from restaurants can be salvaged and, with minimal processing, converted to cleanly burning biodiesel. Greg Pahl makes the technology of biodiesel production accessible to the layperson; those of us who struggled through high school chemistry can grasp the concepts that Pahl presents so clearly. In a nutshell, many plants that are the beneficiaries of photosynthesis, such as soybeans and canola, hold in their cells energy from the sun, in a similar way that oil in the tar sands holds energy from the sun in the form of plant and animal matter that lived millions of years ago, and has been compressed and preserved. The future of biodiesel depends on a few factors: education of customers, and governments that offer subsidies to suppliers of "green" energy sources; a steady supply of biodiesel feedstocks, such as soybean oil, canola oil, used vegetable fryer oil, and even animal fat from meat renders; a corresponding steady price for such feedstocks, so that biodiesel production capacity planning can be done with lower risk; a relatively attractive price for biodiesel vis-à-vis petrodiesel prices; cooperation between the large and small biodiesel suppliers; and collaboration between biodiesel suppliers of all shapes and sizes with the traditional petrodiesel vertical infrastructure (from the extraction of raw crude oil, all the way to the retail pumps in your neighbourhood). Unlike hydrogen technology, biodiesel is a relatively clean, renewable energy source that is in successful, widespread use today: entire school bus fleets in the US run on pure biodiesel, with positive performance results and, happily, lower engine maintenance costs. Politically, it is often a no-brainer for state and local governments to embrace biodiesel use, as it puts money in the pockets of local farmers, and the fuel can be used with no need to convert existing diesel-consuming equipment. However, the traditional petrodiesel industry may well balk at moves to support biodiesel proliferation, since this would dilute, figuratively and literally, the concentration of petrodiesel that its customers necessarily need to buy. I highly recommend Pahl's book. It provides a balanced view of the benefits and challenges that face biodiesel producers and users. Having said this, Pahl is a cheerleader for biodiesel, and justifiably so. It's hard not to share his enthusiasm. Rating: - Good Summary of the BioDiesel SituationThis book really has two messages. One is that biodiesel, that is diesel produced all or in part from vegtable oils is a practical fuel, or at least an extension to fuel. The other part is an evangelical sermon saying that the Government should support biofuels better. I agree with him on the first point. He says that bio fuels will never completely replace petro fuels. And in spite of the claims of some of the true believers, the US is not going to be able to produce enough fuel for it to continue using as much energy as it does now. On his second point of getting the Government to solve the problem, I don't think so. My experience is that the Government tends to screw up more than it fixes. Our Government responds to what they think the people want. And a poll published just the other day says that 73% of the people believe that the reason for high gasoline prices is price goughing by the big oil companies. The people completely ignore the fact that China and India have increased their imports by 30%. Today I read two things in the morning paper that give me hope for bio fuels. One was that the price of oil on the world market hit a new high. The second was that there are huge sales on SUV's particularily the bigger ones. I don't see the news shows putting these two points together, but that's another matter. Oil is going to continue to go up, not always, but the trend line is up. When people go to the gas station and petro fuel is $5 a gallon and bio-augmented fuels, either biodiesel or gasohol is $4.75 a gallon the problem will be solved. Rating: - Well researched and very readable.The author has done a masterful job of building the case for a serious exploration of a bio-based energy economy. The book has a friendly not-too-technical style and it's incredibly well researched, carefully documented and very well organized. As an added bonus, Biodiesel starts off with an insightful forward by celebrated author and environmentalist, Bill McKibben. After setting the tone for the book by bringing to light the potential crisis of Peak Oil, Pahl begins to delve into part of the solution as he leads the reader on a great story ride through the life (and death!) of Rudolf Diesel, to the early pioneers of biodiesel across the European eco-industrial landscape and back to the present day biodiesel industry currently emerging in the U.S.. The book is full of personal interviews with key players that brings this rapidly evolving world of agriculture, science and alternative energy to life. And Greg Pahl does an excellent job of providing a balanced look at both the possibilities and the social and environmental challenges of drawing increasing amounts of energy from the soil. I've been pretty involved in sustainable development for years (and biofuels in particular) and I can only say that this latest book by the author is a real gift and a "must read" for anyone interested in or working towards a renewable energy future. Rating: - Must read for Biodiesel AND Diesel enthusiasts alikeI've learned more about the history of the diesel engine and biodiesel after reading the first chapter of this book than I have in the two years since I started reading about biodiesel. Anyone wanting to know about the complete history of biodiesel should read this book! It's obvious that the author has done his homework. Green G |
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