[Brother Jonathan]

Different groups push according to their interest level. Here in northeastern Vermont, there is considerable opposition to setting up large wind turbines locally to generate energy, as most of the electricity generated by them would not be used locally. (Fears of scarred ridgelines and fragmented wildlife habitat also resonate.)<br /> <br /> Any diesel vehicle can run on filtered biodiesel. However, doing so might void the warranties on vehicles within warranty. In the States, diesel-powered cars are relatively rare, and so only a minority of service stations offer petroleum-based diesel fuel, let alone biodiesel. Biodiesel is still more expensive than petrodiesel, and its distribution network is embryonic at best.<br /> <br /> Money is still being invested in oil because the industry is still profitable. I wouldn’t say that we’re running out of oil, but we could well be approaching the peak of <i>cheap</i> oil. (For example, as the price per barrel continues to rise, business cases can be made for greater expansion into Siberian fields.)

[FootPrints]

Aha! I was thinking peak oil meant we were running out, but we are just running out of the cheap oil. <img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/smile.gif' alt='Smile'> Ok, just dripping with sarcasm...<br /> <br /> Thanks, Brother Jonathan. Why are biofuels so expensive? Is it just because everyone hasn't jumped on the bandwagon? It seems like everyone is doing their best to hamper anything to do with alternative choices in fuel and energy. <br /> <br /> It makes me laugh about the opposition to wind turbines. Even in the small town where I live, the town counsil voted against a farmer wanting to put one up on his own property because then more people would want to do so, and it might become an issue for those wanting one in town as opposed to a rural setting. Yet they are allowing the use of paper sludge on our farm land.<br /> <br /> People will scoff at a windmill but allow sub-division to be built on the Oak Ridges Moraine.<br /> <a href="http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/moraine/">Oak Ridges Moraine</a><br /> <br /> But I guess things will never change unless, like you said, we speak up for our interests just like the lobby groups. It works for them, so why shouldn't it work for us?<br /> <br />

[Brother Jonathan]

The petrocorporations do what they do extremely well (no pun intended), including financing, exploration, extraction, transportation, refining, distribution, marketing, lobbying, &c. There are no equivalent bioörganisations within orders of capitalised magnitude! Significantly increasing production of biodiesel would bring economies of scale to lower its cost, but a business case has to be made for the bio- industry to allow it to acquire sufficient capital to be able to effectively compete. Last winter I could have bought biodiesel to feed my furnace, but I simply couldn’t afford the 40% premium in price over #2 heating oil (AKA dyed petrodiesel). As petro- costs rise, bio- could well become more competitive by default — unless some petro- component of producing bio- also rises accordingly…<br /> <br /> I know of only one station that sells biodiesel for on-road use — it’s about 50 km south of my home. Bio- availability must be as ubiquitous as petro- availability for it to compete — which in turn requires people to drive more diesel vehicles, which requires people to want to drive diesel vehicles, &c. The entire supply chain, from farmer to tailpipe, needs to be in place — and we (at least down here) aren’t there yet. I think that diesel vehicles are more popular in Canada than down here, so you might have a better shot at making a viable biodiesel market, at least in the short-to-medium term.<br /> <br /> Lobbying works for the corpoes because they can send full-time representatives to have words with our folks in the legislature. Us, we’re lucky if we receive a form letter in response to our concerns. Most of us don’t have the luxury of choosing not to work so that we can go have a face-to-face visit with our person in the capital.<br />