Biofuels Point of View Editoral

POINT OF VIEW EDITORIAL
Click on LINK for link to N&O

Published Raleigh News & Observer: Sep 14, 2005


Shifting into biofuels gear

By ANNE TAZEWELL

RALEIGH -- If anything good can come from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and those $3 a gallon pump prices, I hope it's that North Carolina really wakes up to the foolishness of putting all our eggs in one basket and begins to get serious about diversifying our fuel supplies.

Our state spends over $5 billion annually on fuel imported from other states and countries, many of them hostile to U.S. interests. The U.S. transportation sector (cars, trucks and buses) is 97 percent reliant on petroleum, a dwindling resource that's largely responsible for our urban air quality problems as well as more far-reaching concerns such as global climate change. We can better serve our economy, environment and our health if we devote just a fraction of this money to developing renewable fuels -- such as biodiesel and ethanol.

North Carolina has been called the "Saudi Arabia of biomass." We can make our own fuel rather than send so many of our energy dollars out of state.

Biodiesel, a diesel replacement fuel, can be made from agricultural products such as soybean oil, animal renderings and waste vegetable oil. Ethanol, a gasoline replacement, is an alcohol fuel that's now primarily made from corn. Novozymes North America, based in Franklinton, is leading the way to enzymatic processes that will provide for the commercial production of ethanol from agricultural waste products such as corn stalks.



We've got to get on the train with them and others like the Grain Growers Cooperative, Blue Ridge Biofuels, Filter Specialty and our own Piedmont Biofuels that are working to build the state's first biodiesel processing plants. In addition to actively supporting these and other researchers and producers of biofuels with grants and production incentives, we need to encourage the use of these cleaner burning fuels in our vehicles.

E10 (10 percent ethanol) is a high octane fuel that can operate in any gasoline vehicle. The Crown stations in Raleigh (owned by United Energy, Inc) are offering E10. Support them and know that at least 10 percent of the money is helping to ensure the future of a Midwest farmer, not a Middle Eastern sheik.

E85 (85 percent ethanol/15 percent gasoline) can operate in many makes and models of flexible fuel vehicles( FFVs) on the road today. FFVs are available to the purchaser at no extra cost because, ironically, auto manufactures earn credits by producing them to offset their poor average fleet fuel economy ratings. There are over 4 million E85 FFVs in the country, but only one service station in North Carolina offering E85 to the motoring public -- the Gasland No. 3 in Shelby. We can change that by asking our neighborhood service stations to start offering these fuels.

Biodiesel is having the most success to date in finding its way into the public's tanks. There are cooperatives making their own fuel and there are pumps offering B99 (99 percent biodiesel/1 percent diesel) to members and municipal governments like Carrboro. In addition, three service stations in Garner, Durham and Cary are selling B20 (20 percent biodiesel/80 percent petroleum diesel), with a few others scattered across the state. The most recent addition is an independently owned truck stop just off Exit 146 near Statesville. Homer's has six B20 pumps, with E85 and E10 pumps on the way. We need more!

Biodiesel reduces harmful emissions such as particulate matter, which is being linked to increases in respiratory and heart diseases. Biodiesel also greatly reduces toxic emissions such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a probable carcinogen. Ethanol also emits fewer dangerous chemicals such as benzene and carbon monoxide. Both biofuels will help curb our emissions of carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas and source of global warming. A full life cycle analysis by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture concluded that biodiesel can reduce carbon dioxide emissions 78 percent as compared to diesel fuel. It also has the greatest energy balance ratio of any fuel -- every unit of fossil fuel energy that goes into producing biodiesel yields 3.2 units of energy output.

Biofuels help the four E's -- our energy supply, economy, emissions and environment. Whereas catastrophic hurricanes and spiraling fuel prices are surprisingly linked through global climate change and our fossil fuel dependence, biofuels and other transportation alternatives can serve as a fulcrum to lift our state and nation to a more sustainable future.

(Anne Tazewell is Alternative Fuels Program manager at the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University. On Sept. 21 a Refueling America workshop and luncheon will be held at N.C. State's McKimmon Center in Raleigh, part of a week-long Energy Independence Days series sponsored by the Solar Center and 20 other organizations. Registration and information are at www.trianglecleancities.org)