2-20-99: getting back to basics with biodiesel

“2-20-99″ sounds like a date* but it’s really a direction —  not the latitude/longitude kind, but an old way to talk about biodiesel that ought to make a comeback.

It refers to B2-B20-B99.

In the consumer world, few can articulate a reason to use biodiesel. Now, there’s an important difference between having a reason, and being able to articulate one.

If asked to give an answer, people in farming communities speak about green jobs, and those who closely follow national security may speak of energy security, but most of the population will refer to climate change if they think of anything at all. With food-vs-fuel and indirect land use change, a confused public has given up on deciding whether biodiesel helps or hurts on climate, and has generally moved on to other concerns.

The Sundance award-winning film Fields of Fuel was renamed Fuel, over concerns that food-vs-fuel arguments would keep audiences away. John Plaza of Imperium mused recently, “many of the early biodiesel supporters have melted away,” citing high prices and food vs fuel publicity.

Meanwhile, every reason to use biodiesel exists now, as it did a few years ago — excepting cost savings vs. conventional diesel that have gone away at the moment in the wake of the oil price crash.

What has changed is the way we talk about biodiesel, and looking back at the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, perhaps we can find some answers in the framing of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The Standard mandates the use of renewable fuel and measures it in gallons. But it does not articulate clear reasons, and it does not make a connection between actions and results. 500 million gallons of biodiesel in such-and-such a year.

Sounds like a lot – an awful lot, but 500 million gallons wouldn’t get the United States through its fuel needs for today. The impact on climate change and energy security seems too small, to too many people, for too many reasons to be worth all the fuss. When biodiesel became marginally more expensive, the US market collapsed.

But we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all fuels are not created equal, that some have inherent advantages, and that for those the case has yet to be made. Can we state a less sophisticated, more simple, more direct case?

B2. When ultra low sulphur diesel was imposed in the US a while back, it took lubricity out of the fuel. According to a Miami-based mechanic, “using ULSD is like putting sand in your engine”. As an additive, B2 biodiesel replaces lubricity. The gain? Longer engine life, less wear and tear, lower operating costs, and no impact on mileage. B2 should be a standard in the United States — as it is in Oregon and Minnesota (where the standard is B5), on the basis of saving money for hard-pressed truck and fleet owners by improving engine life and performance.

B20. Every school bus in the world should use B20 biodiesel because clean air for kids is a good idea. Diesel exhaust contains 40 hazardous air pollutants and the state of California concluded in 1990 that “diesel exhaust is known to cause cancer”. 600,000 school buses transport 24 million students to school every day. According to fleet superintendent Wayne Hettler in St. Johns, Michigan, “We are a school bus fleet. We have 32 buses, and we have used about 80,000 gallons of B20 in the last year. We decided to make the switch to biodiesel because we were worried about the health of our students, staff and the public from breathing diesel exhaust. Everyone in our school district now breathes easier now that we are running B20.”

B99. Every soy and corn farmer should use B99 biodiesel in their farming operations, because “eating one’s own dog food” inspires confidence in the product and demonstrates it is a viable alternative to diesel. If farmers don’t use biodiesel, why should anyone else? According to an Iowa State study, it takes 6.85 gallons of diesel to grow an acre of corn and 6.5 gallons to grow and acre of soy.  For those 160 million US acres, that represents 1.08 billion gallons, or more than three times current US biodiesel production.

The National Biodiesel Board is urging the EPA to publish regulations mandating 500 million gallons of biodiesel this year, rising to 1 billion gallons in 2012.

But there’s another way to go.

1. There’s nothing stopping farmers from using B99 biodiesel — if warranties are not honored by manufacturers, self-insure. Set the example. Inspire others by using biodiesel grown in a farmers own fields or “victory gardens”.

2. Give farmers the option to pay taxes in dollars, or crops that can be processed into biodiesel that can be turned into B20 biodiesel for schools. It’s a good tithe for farmers and a great leap forward for kids. The reduction in short-term asthma care and long-term lung care might well offset the cost of the program. Make scientists who care about clean air and parents who care about kids into warriors for cleaner fuel.

3. Make the case iron-clad that B2 biodiesel pays for itself in the form of longer engine life and lower costs for auto owners, and then take that case to consumer groups, and consumers.

In every case, make sure that the benefits are real and enduring, and go to the public then with a solid case based on benefits people can relate to in their daily lives.

B99 for farmers — to set an example of the usefulness of biodiesel. B20 for school buses — for clean air for kids. B2 for all — to save money and engine wear. These are not new ideas, but a focus on them would be a change for the better.

In short, marry policies to outcomes, features to benefits — don’t just change the fuel, change people’s lives. And talk about it in those terms.

That just might be change you can believe in.

*The more things change, the more they remain the same. On 2/20/99, delegates at the American Soybean Association meeting voted to support implementation of rules by the Department of Energy that maximize displacement of imported oil by biodiesel blends under the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The resolution supports use of biodiesel blends by 50 percent of the diesel-powered vehicles at the Department of Agriculture by 2002, and by 50 percent of vehicles in other federal agencies by 2004.

Jim Lane is editor & publisher of Biofuels Digest

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