I took this picture with my FIVE megapixel camera phone at a stop light today in Lake Forest, California. Biodiesel in Southern California ??? Really??? I thought biodiesel was just in the Midwest where farm fields are abundant. (I envision a future when we all drive EVs with backup generators that run on biofuels - generators that we rarely use) *for those that over-analyze the color of the stop light, it had JUST turned green.
Biodiesel can be anywhere there is a fast food chain. It costs money to haul the oil away and dispose of it, many fast food chains are happy to give it away. Did the truck smell like french fries when it drove off? (Serious question, that is generally how you can tell!) Some call it "greasoline".
They closed down the last biodiesel station where I live in Jan of 2009. The nearest E85 station is 75 miles away .
California is the largest agricultural producer of the United States: "California remained the No. 1 state in cash farm receipts in 2008, with its $36.2 billion in revenue, representing 11.2 percent of the U.S. total. The state accounted for 14 percent of national receipts for crops and 7.5 percent of the U.S. revenue for livestock and livestock products." CDFA > Statistics
I know exactly what you mean. The truck, which I was right behind, was emitting no scent at all. No diesel smell, no food smell. Nothing. It sounded like a diesel (I drove up beside it because I wanted to hear it), but emitted fumes that could not be detected by the noses of occupants driving behin the truck. We produce mostly fruit and vegetables and less corn though. The Midwest is the major corn producer. Corn is the most common source for biofuels. To run a biofuel vehicle in So.Cal, the fuel has to be imported.
I just saw a story on the news, Disneyland is reusing the fry oil to make fuel for their Locomotive! WooooWoooo... Freennnnch Fryyyy
I'm glad biodiesel is making it to California. Corn is actually a bad feedstock for biofuels. Only congressional subsidies and mandates make it profitable for ethanol. Texas is the number one producer of biodiesel, and with willy nelson advocating it, we have plenty of biodiesel cars and trucks in Austin. There are many crops suitable for biodiesel grown in california. The map in the link below shows some plants in california. I'm not sure what there feedstock is. Algae seems to be one of the most promising crops for future production. Biodiesel Fuel
I'll bet you they add flavor chemicals to the fuel so that when it burns it makes the park visitors hungry so they buy more food.
We have a bio diesel plant right here, in Grays Harbor. Nation's Largest Biodiesel plant opens in Aberdeen
Would be nice if they could do the same for Autopia, or even better, convert those things to electric. Those things Stink with a capital S. Of course, they'd have to change sponsors from Chevron to something else...
