Biodiesel: A Cleaner, Greener Fuel for the 21st Century

Those of us who drive diesel vehicles or heat our homes and businesses with heating oil enjoy the savings this fuel provides—I’ve driven over 800 miles (1,300 km) on a single tank of diesel fuel in my Volkswagen Passat TDI station wagon—but some of us are not so thrilled about the pollutants emitted by that fuel. Diesel fuel and heating oil emit high levels of sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, particulates, and—like all fossil fuels—carbon dioxide. We’d like to do better.

We can do better—with biodiesel. This article examines biodiesel: what it is, where it comes from, its environmental advantages, and where (and how) to use it. We will focus on three primary applications for biodiesel: (1) as a fuel for personal or company-owned vehicles; (2) as a fuel for off-road commercial construction equipment (bulldozers, compressors, cranes, etc.); and (3) as a substitute for heating oil in homes and commercial buildings. While few EBN readers will have the opportunity to use biodiesel for all three applications, the first two apply, at least indirectly, to virtually all construction.