Diesel dealers provide a pipeline to rare, green cars

(continued from previous page)

Thanks in part to Brooks' eco-evangelism, more glammed-up biodiesel cars are poised to hit Hollywood. She convinced Toyota to supply Prius hybrids to chauffeur A-list celebrities including Harrison Ford and Cameron Diaz to the 2003 Academy Awards. Brooks is in the process of negotiating with more automakers to supply biodiesel limousines to deliver stars to next year's Oscars.

Her timing comes as a new generation of diesel cars could clean up the dirty reputation of their predecessors from three decades ago. Diesel "land yachts" produced by Detroit in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis spewed nitrogen oxides found in smog and acid rain.

"We're going to go through a period of thrashing about in a positive way, seeing what works best...But one way or another, we're going to end up electrified."

--Mike Millikin, editor, Green Car Congress

Yet those states are likely to allow the sale of new diesels within the year. Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen and other car manufacturers will introduce more-efficient diesel models for 2008 just as lower-sulfur diesel fuels reach more gas stations. Passenger diesels comprise only 3.2 percent of the U.S. auto market but will surpass 10 percent by 2015, if predictions by JD Power and Associates hold true.

In the meantime, however, classic used diesel cars continue to attract a cult following. In some cases, Kelley Blue Book values have risen for highly sought-after Volkswagen TDIs and Mercedes 300 and 240 models. Bay Area dealers suggest that prices on Reagan-era Mercedes have shot up by as much as 30 percent in several years. For instance, a 1981 Mercedes 300D in great shape and with less than 200,000 miles of wear may have sold for $3,000 in 2004 but could fetch about $4,000 today. After a vegetable oil conversion, the same car could sell for $6,000. That's bad news for drivers looking for a deal on an old, green car, but good news for those in the business of reselling them.

One drawback to biodiesel is the scarcity of fueling pumps. However, green fuel makers are ramping up production. The National Biodiesel Board counts more than 1,100 biodiesel stations that meet the white-glove standards of the 1990 Clean Air Act; Seattle's Imperium Renewables is building four new biodiesel plants; and Willie Nelson's BioWillie blend is spreading through Texas.

The government gives biofuel producers a 10 cent per gallon tax credit and a refund of 30 percent off the cost of installing a 20 percent biodiesel pumping station. However, those savings don't translate to lower prices for consumers. Biodiesel often costs more than the petroleum-based standard.

Vegetable oil, on the other hand, is less expensive for drivers who arrange to pick it up for free from willing restaurants that would otherwise pay to dispose of it. The green-car dealerships run by Ahl, Wildwind and Brooks don't deal with vegetable-oil cars, but a growing number of car mechanics specialize in converting and reselling older Mercedes to run on french fry grease. Unlike biodiesel, there are no national standards for the quality of vegetable oil. However, its fans argue that it's greener than biodiesel blends that include fossil fuel.

Green Eye Autos in Eugene, Ore., is among the small businesses converting and reselling diesel cars for either vegetable oil or biodiesel. The lot has sold 100 diesel, flex-fuel and electric cars since it opened a year ago. Thirty vehicles currently on sale at the shop include 1980s Mercedes Benz models, newer Volkswagens and even a couple of ZAP electric cars.

"We're trying to make the world a better place," said office manager Toby Gamberoni.

In San Francisco, the two-man VegRev converts old Mercedes Benz to dual-tank systems that can take vegetable oil in addition to biodiesel or regular diesel, and it sells filtered vegetable oil for $1.50 per gallon. VegRev's founders order conversion kits from Greasecar in Massachusetts, which offers online classified ads for many dozens of diesel cars around the country. The Los Angeles-based Lovecraft Biofuels' single-tank vegetable-oil conversion shop is opening branches nationally.

For now, some 10.5 million alternative-fuel cars roll along America's roads--an assortment of gasoline-electric hybrid, flex-fuel and biofuel diesels, according to research firm R.L. Polk. The Department of Energy considers biodiesel the most popular alternative fuel.

However, critics charge that a massive adoption of biofuels would make cooking oil and food more expensive, while spoiling millions of acres of delicate farmland. Potential alternatives to soy- and corn-based biofuels include sustainable crops like switchgrass or kenaf, algae and even garbage.

No matter how many more cleaner diesel cars hit the road in the near term, many green car enthusiasts agree that the use of biofuel is just a temporary development on the path to a petroleum-free future for transportation.

Nevertheless, Mike Millikin, editor of online magazine Green Car Congress, finds the passion for biodiesel cars favorable.

"We're going to go through a period of thrashing about in a positive way, seeing what works best," he said. "But one way or another, we're going to end up electrified. The thing that people need to understand and apply is that it isn't just the fuel economy of your car, it's what goes into making the fuel, what's shipping the fuel. We're at a point when the whole lifecycle or system view is critical to our long-term prosperity and survival."

[bobbydi]

Not Clean Air For Everybody

Those that are around the crops that are used for the "Green Fuels" have to put up with the smell and the heat caused by the plants being grown for the "Green Fuels". Everybody has to live, and maybe die, with the global warming of the planet caused by the living and then decaying of the plants being used for the "green Fuels. The oil under the ground decayed to the point that they can be used for fuels. Now the "Green Fuel" people are subjecting everybody to the effects of their bio-fuels that are decaying so they can be processed into fuels. Every living anything will suffer because of these bio-fuel businesses.

[RompStar_420]

whatever dude

it takes millions of years for oil to form, takes only one season or
less to grow the plants to product the fuel and do it again

you don't know what you are talking about

[gregsfc]

Heat from growing plants???

The original comment must be explained further to me in order to understand the validity of such a position.

Heat is released from growing crops used for fuel?

What heat?

Plants take up CO2 and release oxygen while growing; the CO2 is released when burned as fuel which is a closed carbon system.

Petroleum cannot be regrown to retake up the CO2 that is output when burned and is an open-carbon system.

I'm not sure I understand the original poster's position about the heat that we all must put up with.

[baldguy61]

smell and heat of plants?

This appears to be a comment by someone who has to be negative about everything. Go buy a bicycle and for Heaven's sake, don't fart while pedalling!

[gregsfc]

What modifications to use biodiesel?

I drive a 2006 Jetta TDI (diesel). I have exclusively used B20, biodiesel in the tank after the first month of purchasing the vehicle new. I have driven the vehicle for eighteen months exclusively on B20.

No modifications are necessary, even if I were running B100.

If one were to modify, what modifications could be done to help, since all diesels will run on any blend of biodiesel with no modifications?

The only feasible modification that I can think of would be to install a suplimental fuel filter, along side the factory-installed filter to further ensure that algae, fungi, or water doesn't accumulate in the fuel sytem and get into the fuel pump and/or injectors of a diesel auto. It may also be possible to install something in the fuel tank to help keep water and the like out of that system as well, since biodiesel creates an environment that is more condusive to water accumulation.

The supplimental fuel filter is required by GM and Daimler Chrysler for their fleets who choose to use B20 for warranty purposes. Other than that, there is nothing more one can do, since biodiesel is perfectly suitable for all diesel engines to start with.

[elsa.wenzel]

true, with some caveats

True, you don't have to modify a diesel car to pour in biodiesel and start driving. But you *should* change the fuel filter, which can become clogged after running biodiesel if you've already been using regular diesel first for a while, or if you switch between the two fuel types. And most older cars, such as Mercedes from the 1980s, will also need some new hoses because the older ones will degrade and leak over time when subjected to biodiesel regularly. It's also wise to avoid spilling biodiesel on the body of the car, as it can mess up the paint job.

[wildchild_plasma_gyro]

Are these cars really green

what about the use of land to grow the crops to make the fuel.

[gregsfc]

Yes there are down falls, but--hey--it's not petroleum

Sure it takes land to grow crops for biofuels and this means that it is not "the" solution, but there is no "the" solution to immediately reduce CO2 emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, however, using all our available land for vegetation (as is the case with crops), and then using that extra land to uptake CO2 to release as fuel is a closed-carbon cycle, is one of the solutions used in conjunction with other methods.

Are there disadvantages to using land for fuel? Sure there are, but there are advantages as well. Ask any farmer what they think about an extra market for their products. If corn or soy oil costs us fifty cents more per unit, that won't break us, but if it doubles a farmer's income, that's a good energy strategy.

If the entire U.S. had a biodiesel blend of just 5% added to our diesel fuel supply, we could cut petroleum use by the same amount that we import from Iraq (our number two importee of petroleum from the Middle East).

Moreover, if one-third of our autos were diesel powered we could cut petroleum consumption by 1.4 million barrels per day, which is what we import from Saudi Arabia (our number one importee of petroleum from the Middle East).

If any one objectively looks at the prospect of diesel cars plus biodiesel, as compared to gas cars plus ethanol, or hybrids that do not yet command a large production output; diesel technologies have to look pretty promising. Over 50% of new car registrations in Europe are diesel. That means that all automakers make them in large quantities in all classes, and that means they could easily be brought to us with the added advantage of all diesels being alternative fuel ready w/o modification and another advantage in that the alternative fuel is 1 1/2 times as energy dense as alternative fuel for gas cars.

Palm oil does not increase CO2. If rainforest are cut down to make way for palm to use in the production of biodiesel, then there may be a case to be made, however, only one instance of this phenomenon was ever known to have happened.

[gregsfc]

Well "green" is relative, but

Biodiesel has the highest net energy balance of any liquid fuel. According to the DoE, for every energy unit input of energy taken to produce biodiesel, it creates 3.2 units of energy output. Compare that against any other fuel, and you'll see biodiesel makes sense.

According to the National Biodiesel Board, B20 and B100 reduce emissions by the following percentages from vehicle tailpipes as compared to regular diesel fuel

Percent reduction or increase B20/B100

Unburned hydrocarbons -20%/-67%
Carbon monoxide -12%/-48%
Particulates of matter -12%/-47%
Nitrogen oxides + or - 2%/ +10%

CO2 - 78% reduction on a lifecycle basis (DoE/EPA) comprehensive study. Using this figure, B20 would reduce CO2 output an average of 15.6% per vehicle using that fuel.

Biodiesel is non-toxic, non-hazardous, 1/2 as combustible as regular diesel fuel, and remember, it's made from vege oil, so how bad can it be.

[greyflcn]

Well, the car is green. But not neccisarily the fuel

Diesels are great, in that a Diesel Jetta burns 41% less oil, and puts up 33% less CO2.

Issue comes down to the fuel.

BioDiesel can be marginally beneficial, but in general it costs you and taxpayers a lot of money per gallon.

And if that BioDiesel comes from sources like Palm Oil, like what Imperium Renewables is doing. It can easily be 10x worse in CO2 emmisions than normal diesel.

So bad that if countries like Brazil, Indonesia, or Malaysia ramp up their Palm Oil production, by slashing rainforrests and exposing the soil, that'd put them on par with China in CO2 emmisions.

http://greyfalcon.net/biofuels

[klemons22]

best vehicle to cut greenhouse gas

In my personal opinion the best vehicle for the future is a diesel plug-in hybrid vehicle. Combining the best parts of current technology engineered to use B100 gets best results for a combustion engine in MPG (80-100+), CO2 reduction, PM reduction. If you have solar panels on your roof you are fueling your car from the sun. A start to make this technology to happen is for consumers to demand that the auto builders make. The CAFE MPG standards must be raised and the US automakers are funding an all out marketing campaign to influence the house and senate bills in process. Do not be duped, US jobs are being lost because of their refusal to increase their fuel efficiency to that of toyota and honda. The green washing of ford and GM continues

Diesel electric hybrid technology is already used in trains, municipal buses, and GM showed a concept car in 2006 the VOLT. This technology can be used on all sized vehicles. The good thing about biodiesel is that it does not have to be made from food crops. Waste streams of oils, grease, and the crop of the future is oil bearing algae. Algal biodiesel is at the test bench stage. The nations total fuel supply could be supplied by 100 square miles of desert growing algae. Companies and universities are working on it.

If your in the SF Bay Area and want a diesel go to Green Means Go, this auto broker is a friend of mine.

Soy Biodiesel has a 3-2 energy balance and it is assumed that the off road vehicles were using petro diesel. Alot of farmers growing soy for biodiesel are using the biodiesel in their tractors now so that energy balance is higher now. Waste grease energy balance is alot better at 7-1. Organic farmers taking out the petro fertilizers have a better energy balance also, anything that can take the petro out of the farming equation helps the balance.

Kari Lemons
Greenstock Consulting
http://www. greenstockconsulting.com

[baldguy61]

42 MPG Prius

I'm not sure who it is that only gets 42 MPG in their Prius, but my '04 gets an average of 62+. Maybe Al Gore III? Whoever it is should try driving below Mach 1.

[dieselparts]

Moker

Tel:[phone]
Fax:[phone]
ADD:67#,industrial road,
Putian,Fujian province,
China(351111)
http:www.china-lutong.com
Email:[e-mail]
[e-mail]
MSN: [e-mail]
Yahoo:[e-mail]
Skype:xiejtong

Plunger H&R Cam Plate Supply Pump
8N7005 096400-0143 1 466 110 374 096140-0020
PS7100 2 418 455 325 096400-0230 1 466 110 426 096140-0030
PS7100 1 418 415 065 096400-0232 1 466 110 432 146100-0020
PS7100 1 418 415 114 096400-0240 1 466 110 600 146600-0120
PS7100 134130-8820 096400-0242 1 466 110 603 146100-0220
PS7100 2 418 455 356 096400-0262 1 466 110 604 146100-0320
PS7100 2 418 455 122 096400-0371 1 468 110 338 146100-0420
PS7100 2 418 455 129 1 468 334 874 2 466 110 015 1 467 030 309
PS7100 2 418 455 134 1 468 334 899 2 466 110 110 9 461 610 088
PS7100 2 418 455 146 1 468 334 900 2 466 110 214 9 461 610 089
PS7100 2 418 455 202 1 468 334 925 1 466 111 361 9 461 611 363
PS7100 2 418 455 309 1 468 334 946 1 466 111 411 9 461 614 348
PS7100 2 418 455 333 1 468 335 345 1 466 111 502
PS7100 2 418 455 342 1 468 336 335 1 466 111 616
PS7100 2 418 455 348 1 468 336 352
PS7100 2 418 455 356 146404-2200 Drive Shaft
PS7100 2 418 455 369 146405-0620 1 466 100 405
PN 090150-4661 146405-1920 1 466 100 305
PN 090150-4972 146405-2620 1 466 100 325
PN 090150-5681 146405-7920 1 466 100 401
MW 1 418 415 066 146406-0620
MW 1 418 415 082 146662-2520
PS7100 2 418 455 714
PS7100 2 418 455 181
P8500 2 418 455 338
P8500 2 418 455 518
P8500 2 418 455 542
P8500 2 418 455 548
P8500 2 418 455 992

[dieselparts]

Moker

Tel:[phone]
Fax:[phone]
ADD:67#,industrial road,
Putian,Fujian province,
China(351111)
http:www.china-lutong.com
Email:[e-mail]
[e-mail]
MSN: [e-mail]
Yahoo:[e-mail]
Skype:xiejtong

We're a special manufacturer (China Lutong Parts Plant)
dealing with the diesel enginer spare parts for about 25 years.
We sincerely hope to build up business relationships with you
in the future.

Our main products ,such as Head Rotor,Plunger,Feed pump,
Cam disk,Nozzle,Delivery valve,Magnet valve and so on,are
also with low price and high quality,which of course would brings
greater competitiveness even higher profits.And our clinents
are from all over the world,including the U.S market.We sincerely
hope that all of our customers will expand their market because
of our competitive products.

To know more details of us and our products,please refer to our
website:www.china-lutong.com

If we can be of further help,please feel free to let us know.Meanwhile,
we'd like to say that any questions, even inquires from you all
always meet with our careful attention.