Cary, NC converts 169 vehicles to B20 biodiesel

In North Carolina, the town of Cary has converted its 169 diesel vehicles to B20 biodiesel.

The conversion adds to a steady record of conversions in recent weeks.

In North Carolina, Chapel Hill has converted 60 percent of its vehicles to alternative fuels with a goal of 100 percent conversion by 2012. The town most recently converted biodiesel trucks and E85-ready police cars. Recently, Burlington, NC converted to B10 biodiesel for its city vehicles after concluding a successful test of B5 which began in July. Burlington hopes to convert eventually to B20, but cited the need for a slow transition due to the cleaning effect of biodiesel which can clog fuel filters. The city saw fuel cost increases of 20 cents per gallon when the pilot program commenced, but prices have subsequently dropped and now provide a one-cent savings.

In Oregon, the city of Cottage Grove is converting its city vehicle fleet to biodiesel, while earlier in the month five Pennsylvania school districts announced a switch to B20 biodiesel. The announcement followed from an switch to B20 by New York’s Oneonta Public Transit buses for all five of its bus routes, and the conversion by Fresh Direct of its fleet of 150 delivery trucks to B5 in February 2008.

Recently, Montclair. NJ switched its 70-plus diesel-powered fleet and off-road equipment to B20 biodiesel. In New Hampshire, Cranmore Mountain Resort has reported that its fleet of trucks, which operate on B20, have experienced no problems relating to the effect of cold on biodiesel, at temperatures as low as minus 20 Fahrenheit. Cranmore is one of two New Hampshire ski resports that have converted to biodiessel. The other is Mount Sunapee Resort, which converted its snow grooming and snow removal equipment to B20 biodiesel, and converted its hearing systems to B5. In Maryland, state highway officials said that they would convert snowplows to a B5 blend this season, and expect to convert their equipment to B20 in 2008-09.

Despite notable biofuel conversions and North Carolina’s desire to take a leadership role in the biofuels movement, five new ethanol plants have struggled to find financing. E85 cancelled a planned ethanol plant in Fayetteville, and a plant near Aurora has been postponed for more than a year to date, despite $3 million in state incentive financing. Two small plants in Hoke and Robeson counties are still possible, based on a planned conversion to cellulosic ethanol when the technology becomes commercially viable. A cellulosic ethanol plant in Spring Hope is still in the planning stages and not yet cancelled. The owners, Xethanol, plan to develop a $20 million biofuels facility for biodiesel as well as ethanol.

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