If one burns carbon, one gets CO2, a greenhouse gas. It doesn't matter whether the carbon is grown or pumped from the ground. There are other reasons to use biodiesel, but 1) Is biodiesel better than petro-diesel for global warming? What about PVO (pure vegi oil)? 2) Is biodiesel significantly different than petro-d. for other kinds of air pollution? How does PVO compare? Thanks
I don't think it's any better as far as greenhouse gasses are concerned. I think the main idea is that it's renewable and that it's not in the Middle East. I could be wrong though...
As far as exhaust goes, its similar to diesel exhaust, maybe even a little worse due to small impurities. No matter what, if you burn hydrocarbons, you get co2.
yeah it would be better for gobal warming .....as you grow the oil it absorbs co2 from the atmosphere...you then burn the biodiesel or pvo releasing co2 ...then you grow more oil which absorbs the co2 you released....and the cycle continues.....with petro-d you pump it out of the ground burn it and it enters the atmosphere there is no cycle so you get global warming....the co2 keeps building up pvo and biodiesel does have it draw backs as it will take alot of land to grow enough fuel ....which mean ecosystem destruction .....so you trade destroying the earth by global warming with turning it into large farm tracts...
Yet no one ever seems to suggest restructuring our lives so we need less fuel in the first place. It's either "destroy the ecosystem due to global warming or destroy it by farming over all the wild places." Why not build more compact cities? Why not stop with some of our zoning laws that keep businesses and residences seperate requiring driving to get from one to the other? The costs of our drive-in utopia so greatly outweight the costs of living smaller, sustainable, more local lives that it's not even funny. Think of all the money spend building/repairing roads, or all the traffic cops and other infrastructure, think of the land wasted in parking lots, think of all the lives lost or sickened thanks to car "accidents" and pollution, or wars over oil. Think of all the devestating oil spills, like Exxon Valdez or when New Orleans flooded. The list is long. But no one wants to think about this. They assume that our lifestyle of driving everywhere (even two blocks down to church) is a given, and something must be thought up to continue this madness. It never enters anyone's mind that perhaps this is not the best way of doing things.
biodiesels may not be the solution, but they're definitely a step in the right direction, and like it or not, you gotta walk before you can run. mind you, biodiesels are sometimes mixed with alcohols for better ignition, but alcohols take more energy to make then they create, which makes them very inneffecient. pure oils (ie. hemp, corn, peanut, and other vegetable oils) burn cleanest. mind you, this isn't the limit of the environmental benefits of using biodiesels. for one, it's actually sustainable given we take care of our soil, for another, since oil crops can be farmed pretty much everywhere, alot less fuel is burnt just in the shipping process (not to mention the harvesting/processing processes), and third, because you can filter oils that have been used by the food industry for deep frying, we would merely be recycling oils that would just be thrown out anyhow, preventing the garbage and preventing all the associated time, money, and fuel usage that it would take to harvest and process the oils. this in mind, we could have cars that ran off solar power during the day, and given the price of not only the car, but the price of fuel, would it not be worth the litte extra money it would cost to hook it up for the energy it could save? i imagine a hybrid electric/solar/biodiesel car. if you must drive that is... hahahahahaha really though, nature is neutral, we should never forget where we came from, that is, always have those places to go back to, but that's not to say that we should stop using energy all together, we just have to be very wise about how we do use it. it's not that we use too much, it's that we waste it.
technically, it will produce the same gasses, that will affect the climate the same way.buuuuuuuttttt ... . .. the theory behind the greenhouse effect is that you are taking carbon that is not already in the atmosphere (or the first few feet below it) and re introducing it into the our environment. this carbon (petroleum) used to be in the atmosphere along time ago, when the world was a hotter, wetter place. carbon that comes from plants is already a part of our equation, it is just cycling from the air, into plants, into the air again. where as fossil fuels is "new" carbon wich is introduced, thereby affecting adding to global warming. did i explain that right?
Wayfaring Stranger, You make it sound that carbon effects the atmosphere regarless of which compound it is in. Is that what you are saying? Also, doesn't burning plants in BD rather than letting them rot on the ground, put more carbon in the atmosphere than the natural cycle of decomposition etc. (by the way, thanks for the replies. I like BD, but wanted some facts to counter the "WE ARE SAVED!!" crowd. The first of the four R's is REDUCE.)
Ideally eco-diesel is greenhouse neutral because the CO2 is recently captured and will again be captured by the next crop. Unless PVO was used in all of the equipment used to seed, fertilize, and harvest the crop; and all of the fertilizer (usually made from oil btw), seed, transport etc. was produced with PVO, it isn't neutral though. There is also the issue of where it's planted. I know that farmers in Saskatchewan are breaking new land so they can plant canola to feed a new eco-fuel plant going in there. The land they are breaking has been acting as a carbon sink since the last ice age. Eco-diesel is better than nothing, but it comes with its own set of problems and certainly isn't a final solution.
Sorry and not to be off topic......but why are so so many concerned about the fuel sorce yet we all use tires, brake pads, toxic fluids....ect in our rides.....but its cool to be different.
Tires, brakes, and other, non-oil, fluids aren't going to be impossible to find in another few years, we're looking for a new fuel source.
The idea behind biodiesel is to start reducing our use of oil as an energy source. Biodiesel is mentioned a lot because its always been there. The technology was supposed to use soy oil, I think. Solutions can be found for all the things you mention. They are trying to figure out ways to recycle tires. But energy is the biggest user of oil. So we deal with that first.
Head out to http://biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/CommonlyAsked.PDF. There's a lot of good information out on that site you might find beneficial to your search for answers.
when i use the term atmosphere, im including the first few feet of soil in it. im sure theres another word then atmosphere, but im not that bright to know it. yes green hous gases is a problem . . sort of . . the heart of the problem is reintroducing the carbon from far below the ground into our atmosphere, which will eventually make the planet hotter and wetter. especially since there isnt nearly as much vegetation, mostly old growth, which can put it back into the earth in larger amounts. since the begining of the industrial revolution until the late 80s (the last time i looked into it) the averarge global temperature went from -30 degrees to +30 degrees farenhieght. mainly due to the elimination of old growth forests, rainforests, and the burning of fossile fuels. of course since the late 80s things have gotten a whole lot worse, and the widespread, gluttonous abuse of air conditioning is probably the main cause of warming now, although thats just my theory . .. .
How do biodiesel emissions compare to petroleum diesel? Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act. The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel. In addition, the exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates (major components of acid rain) from biodiesel are essentially eliminated compared to diesel. Of the major exhaust pollutants, both unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are ozone or smog forming precursors. The use of biodiesel results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are either slightly reduced or slightly increased depending on the duty cycle of the engine and testing methods used. Based on engine testing, using the most stringent emissions testing protocols required by EPA for certification of fuels or fuel additives in the U.S., the overall ozone (smog) forming potential of the hydrocarbon exhaust emissions from biodiesel is nearly 50 percent less than that measured for diesel fuel. How do biodiesel emissions compare to petroleum diesel? Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act. The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel. In addition, the exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates (major components of acid rain) from biodiesel are essentially eliminated compared to diesel. Of the major exhaust pollutants, both unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are ozone or smog forming precursors. The use of biodiesel results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are either slightly reduced or slightly increased depending on the duty cycle of the engine and testing methods used. Based on engine testing, using the most stringent emissions testing protocols required by EPA for certification of fuels or fuel additives in the U.S., the overall ozone (smog) forming potential of the hydrocarbon exhaust emissions from biodiesel is nearly 50 percent less than that measured for diesel fuel.
Where did you get your information, because I was under the assumption that biodiesel was just diesel, but from renewable sources.
Wart, The information I cited is located at http://biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuel...mmonlyAsked.PDF. Another good site to get some links from is Woody Harrelson's page www.voiceyourself.com.
