greenstork’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  some sustainble biofuels

  Contrary to the assertions here, there are some sustainably produced domestic biofuels. Not all biofuels come from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brazilian rainforest land.  

  Do domestic biofuels compete with food crops? Yes.
  Do they significantly reduce CO2 emissions? Yes.On Biofuel rating system may be premature posted 2 years, 5 months ago 24 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Not quite the east coast's finest but...

  Nothing personal David, but you're obviously not from the East Coast ;)

  That said, three cheers for local businesses making any effort to be sustainable, Pagliacci's on my speed dial.  On Gristmill shameless product placement: Pagliacci Pizza posted 3 years, 3 months ago 7 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  My mistake...

  In this case, I think I misread your original post, I honestly thought you were talking about NOx emissions so any strawman arguments were certainly not intentional.  I did not see that you said "when it cleans your engine", I simply read that biodiesel emissions are full of toxic sludge, my mistake.  I assumed by toxic that you were talking about NOx emissions as you've done on more than one occasion in the past.  I apologize for insinuating otherwise, that was certainly not my intent.  

  You did fail to mention that a car running on biodiesel from day one wouldn't have any toxic sludge because biodiesel is non-toxic.  It was a little misleading.  

  And I'm having trouble accepting your 50% less CO2 argument based on your back of the napkin calculations.  I'd hardly be trotting that out there as fact when your calculations haven't been vetted at all by the scientific community.  

  This explanation is just ironic:

  In the following sentence you are seem to be saying that the lack of diesel engine emission controls is the fault of the manufacturers. In reality, it is the corrosive aspect of the "present" levels of sulfur in the petro diesel fuel that has prevented manufacturers from putting controls on diesel engines.

  I and a couple of other readers actually explained this very point to you in a previous thread. For the record, I'm not insinuating that you didn't discover this on your own, but the thread I cited was the first mention of sulfur and diesel emissions controls on Grist.  

  HC is the term used to represent the general class of gaseous organic compounds called VOCs or TOCs, just as NOx is used to refer to all nitrogen/oxygen compounds.

  Hydrocarbons are essentially anything that burns and then some.  HC's as they relate emissions discussions are typically unburned hydrocarbons, containing formaldehyde and and other nasty carcinogens. So while many types of harmful emissions are indeed hydrocarbons, the measurement of HC in emissions testing pertains to unburned hydrocarbons.

  Volatile organic compounds is a much broader category of gaseous organic compounds, as noted by bioD.  My point mentioning them is that many harmful VOCs like benzene are prevalent in gasoline emissions and absent in biodiesel.

  By the way, the 90% reduction in hydrocarbons you quoted above over petro diesel is at the tailpipe. According to this article by the Union of Concerned Scientists (that was otherwise very positive about biodiesel), the life cycle hydrocarbon emissions of biodiesel (made from soy) are 35% higher than petro diesel...

  I didn't make any assertions about unburned hydrocarbons, I was talking about unregulated (HCs are regulated by the way) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).  I think we can only assume that the UCS article is talking about unburned hydrocabons or what are commonly referred to as HCs.

  One important footnote.  I'm having trouble accepting the UCS article as undisputed fact.  The EPA study I cited wasn't just one study, done by one government entity.  It was a combined life-cycle analysis combining 80 independent scientific research studies on biodiesel emissions.  For the record, I'm a donor to the UCS and I respect their work but it's just one scientific assessment and should be treated that way.  

  If it all comes down to biodiversity, as you state in your signature line, how can we not invest in technology and conservation measures to begin to address global climate change, that is after all, one of the biggest threats to the world's biodiversity. Before you chime in about how minute the positive benefits of biofuels are today, let me say that I know that biofuels aren't going to single-handedly stave off climate change, but it's a paradigm shift.  It's the first one percent. It's the build-out of an infrastructure, a collective change in the way we think about fuel, transportation, and carbon emissions.  The advent of cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel derived from algae will make the real impact. And we agree that import biofuels aren't the sustainable solution.On Good idea posted 3 years, 3 months ago 10 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Spreading more FUD about biodiesel...

  Hooray for communities recycling waste vegetable oil, who could quibble with that excellent environmental initiative.  

  However, you're spreading some false assertions about biodiesel emissions.  

  By "It", we can only assume that the biodiesel refiner is referring to the recycled waste vegetable oil which is indeed good for the environment.  Not only is the CO2 impact 78% less than petroleum (more than the half you stated), it making use of recycled materials that already served the purpose of cooking foods and were destined to be discarded.  

  Biodiesel is an extremely clean-burning fuel, far from emitting "toxic sludge" as you so inaccurately portrayed it.  According to the 2002 EPA study of biodiesel emissions, compared to petroleum diesel, Carbon monoxide is reduced by 50%, particulate matter by 50%, CO2 by 78%, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nPAH) by 90%.  Biodiesel is guilty of emitting  slightly more NOx than petroleum, which is a component of smog, but this is only because the US mandate for low sulfur diesel does not take effect until model year 2007.  If we had been running biodiesel for the past decade nationwide, diesel emissions technologies would be far more advanced.  Sulfur present in petroleum diesel (not present in biodiesel) has prevented widespread emissions reductions until 2007. What I am saying is that it's not the fault of the fuel but of the emissions controls on diesel vehicles put in place by automakers.

  Gasoline, on the other hand, on average emits far more carcinogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC) and carbon monoxide - depending of course on the make or model of vehicle.  VOCs are as much responsible for smog as NOx, they in fact combine to produce smog.  While smog is carcinogenic, it would be hyperbole to call it toxic sludge.  

  What does the future hold for biodiesel emissions?

  In model year 2007 all diesel vehicles will have to meet fleet standard emissions requirements.  Depending on where you live, cars will have to adhere to EPA Tier II bin 5 emissions or California Air Resources Board Low Emissions Vehicles (LEV II) standards, both of which require significantly cleaner emissions than 95% of the cars on the road today, a monumental improvement.  More info here:

  http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/01/daimlerchrysler.h...

  Diesel cars hold a lot of promise for our transportation future, don't believe the FUD in this article.  Pointing the finger at biodiesel as the culprit for NOx emissions is like blaming the waiter for bad tasting food.  Calling biodiesel emissions toxic sludge is maliciously false, even by today's standards.On Good idea posted 3 years, 3 months ago 10 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  just the facts...

  Kudos BioD for reporting the facts on biofuels without any sweeping statements and pontification, this is the type of reporting that I rely on and respect Grist for publishing.  On Poof ... posted 3 years, 3 months ago 3 Responses