Wednesday

In Houston, two vegetable-oil strategies for biodiesel


A pair of Houston men are taking different approaches to utilizing used vegetable oil to create biodiesel, according to a story in the Houston Business Journal.

The main difference is how to use the oil — whether you alter a traditional diesel engine to run on vegetable oil or whether you convert the oil to biodiesel.


First there is Nick Moser, who operates a roofing company that specializes in green roofs. He converted an old school bus that ran on “traditional” diesel, or petrodiesel, to run on used vegetable oil.

Then there is Dane Stewart, a captain with the Houston Fire Department. He built a unit in his garage that converts oil into biodiesel for use in his diesel-powered truck.

Stewart said that the catalyst for his decision was when petrodiesel prices hit a point such that it cost more than $100 to fill up his truck.

Both men have stated that with the buzz surrounding vegetable oil’s use in biodiesel, the real challenge is just finding restaurants that have not already contracted with a company for the disposal of the used oil.

Moser says that oil-to-biodiesel might not be the end-all solution to the problem of dependence on petroleum, but, at least it’s a starting point: “This isn’t a solution to gasoline, but it gets people thinking about alternatives. People see vehicles running off grease, and they think, ‘What else can we run our cars off of?’ They starting thinking about things like hydrogen fuel cells.”

via* bizjournals: Gas-grease connection still fairly novel for most

cradle-to-cradle ::.

CRADLE-TO-CRADLE
A phrase invented by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970s and popularized by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book of the same name. This framework seeks to create production techniques that are not just efficient but are essentially waste free. In cradle-to-cradle production all material inputs and outputs are seen either as technical or biological nutrients. Technical nutrients can be recycled or reused with no loss of quality and biological nutrients composted or consumed. By contrast cradle to grave refers to a company taking responsibility for the disposal of goods it has produced, but not necessarily putting products’ constituent components back into service.


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