Tour de Biofuels A Collection of Pertinent Blogs

We put up this page so that you can get your fix from the biofuels blogosphere in one place.
In the parlance of blogging this is known as an “aggregator.” We are assuming, that like us,
there is nothing you would rather do than stay current on as many biofuel blogs as possible.

To be honest, the need for this service has been completely replaced by RSS, but apparently folks still use it, and ask us to maintain it.  Go figure.

If you would like to assemble a life outside of biofuels, shed your vehicle, quit your job,
and move to a community where you can meet all of your needs on foot. At Piedmont Biofuels, we
understand that doing such could take awhile, so we are providing this aggregator for your use in
the meantime.

We’ve thrown in some wind, and some off-grid tales just to keep it lively,
and we try to show them according to activity and interest level.
From time to time we will prune the dead branches to make way for new growth.

Biofuels.coop

  1. Farm City Friday, July 30
    Today I finished devouring Novella Carpenter’s Farm City.  Frankie sent it to me.  Frankie is the former publisher of biodieselSMARTER, and in his hand typed letter that accompanied the book he felt that I must have known Novella from my travels in the grassroots biodiesel community. Nope. From her cover shot, I couldn’t tell if I had [...]
  2. CSA Week 10 Tuesday, July 27
    This week we are harvesting: tomatoes, lots. eggplant, just a few. green beans cucumbers and a few more squash basil coming out of our ears, let me know if you want a larger quantity for pesto chard, lambs-quarters, and amaranth potatoes, onions, and garlic from storage
  3. Tomato Time – Let’s Do Gazpacho Monday, July 26
    After all the talk of the history of tomatoes last week, let’s talk what to do with them this week.  The are is bounty of tomatoes on our doorstep this week and with the continuing heat, here is some cold Gazpacho soup inspiration to keep you and your kitchen cool yet satisfied. Gazpacho is a cold, [...]

Fueled for Thought

  1. What people need to be shouting from the rooftops: Friday, July 23
    This is a quote from the latest BioCycle Magazine article that we are in (download pdf file of full article here):A recent EPA study found biodiesel produced from waste grease resulted in an 86 percent reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional diesel, says Olof Hansen, environmental protection specialist at the EPA. In comparison, soybean-based biodiesel resulted in 54 percent less lifecycle greenhouse gasses. (These analyses look at all the greenhouse ga. […]
  2. Beautiful Cover, Great Article in Biodiesel Magazine! Friday, July 23
    (click picture to read article)When I first heard that Biodiesel Magazine was doing this cover story, I exclaimed "It's about f***ing time!"To be fair though, Ron Kotrba did a great job, and it profiles our friends Black Gold Biofuels and Piedmont Biofuels, in addition to Yokayo.
  3. We need to sell fuel so... Friday, July 23

Arctic Vegwerks

  1. Alaska Waste opens Biodiesel Plant in Anchorage! Friday, June 18
    The Anchorage Daily News reports that “Alaska Waste unveiled its new $3 million biodiesel plant in South Anchorage on Thursday. The company is collecting waste fryer oil from 240 local restaurants, groceries, hotels and hospitals from Girdwood to Wasilla. Last week, the plant churned out its first batches of biodiesel.” Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/06/17/1329094/alaska-waste-opens-biodiesel-plant.html You can [...]
  2. Diesel VW Vanagon T3 Coolant Hoses – Part Three – Heater Hoses Tuesday, March 9
    All Vanagons, diesel or gas, use the same heater core. But once again, the ’82 hoses are different, as the heater shutoff valve is located under the dash, behind the glove box close to the heater core. ’83 and later Vanagons put the shutoff valve under the floor. See Part One – Diesel VW Vanagon [...]
  3. Diesel VW Vanagon T3 Coolant Hoses – Part Two – Radiator Hoses Tuesday, March 9
    Not surprisingly, the 1982 Diesel Vanagons have a unique radiator, as 1982 gas Vanagons were still aircooled.  Starting in 1983, a new style radiator was used for both gas and diesel models. The ’82s and ’83s share the smaller (1.25”) diameter metal coolant pipes, while later gas Vanagons moved to larger (1.5”) diameter plastic coolant [...]

Wind Blog

  1. Shipping Nuclear Waste on the Great Lakes Wednesday, July 21
    Bruce Power has announced plans to ship 16 old generators from the Bruce Plant to Sweden for recycling. The 100 tonne generators will be loaded onto a ship in the Port of Owen Sound for their passage through the Great Lakes, then on to Sweden. 90% of the material in the generators will [...]
  2. On Electricity Pricing Friday, July 16
    Our electricity generating plants are old. The coal and nuclear plants were built between the late 60’s and the 1980’s. Some of them need replacing, as the cost to keep them operating is becoming too high. So, what are our options to replace old plants? The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) provides [...]
  3. Change in Ground Mount MicroFIT Program Tuesday, July 13
    The Ontario Power Authority has proposed a major change to the MicroFIT program, and it has people hopping mad. The MicroFIT program is part of the Province’s Feed In Tariff program that allows people to generate power and sell it back to the grid. The OPA has proposed to reduce the tariff for [...]

CapeFearBioBlog

  1. Vote for Ben and Stacia!!! Tuesday, August 25
    The time has come to lay the PUP to rest.......http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/one-song-and-dance/1148747/
  2. Mission Accomplished! Tuesday, June 30
    Wow! It has been a crazy 2009! Even in the midst of a deep recession we have been able to re-open our B100 pump and sales have increased dramatically!A big thanks to Eco-collections Systems....check out this great video of our reopening at 3121 N. Kerr Ave. in Wilmington.http://vimeo.com/4864469For a map of our new location click hereThis event marks a major milestone for CFB as we are now providing truly renewable biodiesel, made from locally collected waste oil to our membership. As with many. […]
  3. www.savebiodiesel.org Tuesday, April 21
    Please visit www.savebiodiesel.org to learn more about the issues surrounding new diesel emissions laws and high blend biodiesel. This petition is designed to force manufacturers to plan for biodiesel use throughout the market place.Please take a moment to educate yourself about this issue!Thanks.

BrevardBioDiesel Blog

  1. NYTimes explores Algae as Fuel Tuesday, July 27
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/business/energy-environment/26algae.html Algae are attracting attention because the strains can potentially produce 10 or more times more fuel per acre than the corn used to make ethanol or the soybeans used to make biodiesel. Moreover, algae might be grown on arid land and brackish water, so that fuel production would not compete with food production. And algae are voracious consumers of carbon dioxide, potentially helping to keep some of this greenhouse gas fr. […]
  2. Cloud point calculator Monday, March 15
    I ran into this cloud point data recently. As most of the commercial biodiesel recently available in this area is produced from an animal fat feedstock, this can help you determine a safe blending ratio based on expected low temperatures: This is from the "SBA Good Book of Biodiesel" produced by the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance.
  3. Native American philosophy applied to Energy - Biodiesel from Algae Monday, August 17
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/business/energy-environment/17algae.html The NYTimes reports on the Southern Ute's decision to invest in biodiesel from algae. Besides the potential profit, the group uses a longer philosphical viewpoint: “It’s a marriage of an older way of thinking into a modern time,” said the tribe’s chairman, Matthew J. Box, referring to the interplay of environmental consciousness and investment opportunity around algae. ... “It reminded people. […]

Diary of a Mad Scientist

  1. Holy Moley Thursday, December 24
    I'm climbing out of yet another round of 'thought I was better and then things went wrong'. But they're definitely better. More soon. and... I finally found the password to my long-lost blog.
  2. Diving Back In Monday, March 30
    My West Coast 'season' is just about up. I'm heading to the Collegiate Biodiesel Conference in PA this weekend and speaking about acid-catalyzed esterification and ethanol-based biodiesel, then starting research for Blue Ridge Biofuels, also on acid-catalyzed esterification and other techniques for dealing with high-FFA oil, after that. I have ...
  3. Drowning a bit Friday, February 13
    I owe the world a giant update (though my twitter.com/girlmark posts are sort of a long rolling update)- here's the short version: -I'm still in San Francisco area -things are going slowly here due to serious complexity, the economy slowing down me selling off my crap, and me still being somewhat sick ...

The Rabid Biodiesel Nut

  1. Customer Pictures & Stories... Saturday, January 2
    We here at Utah Biodiesel Supply think we have some of the greatest customers around.Over the last year, we've heard several great success stories from several of our customers & figured we'd share a few with you.Thornridge High School Dolton, IllinoisThis group of students worked with an instructor, Brian Sievers, after school to create a really cool Biodiesel project. They decided they wanted to do something that would allow them to learn about science, be able to serve the community, and make. […]
  2. We've Caught The Soap Bug! Wednesday, December 30
    For those of you that have been in Biodiesel for a while, you know that you can use the glycerin by product to product soap with that can be used for all sorts of different things.When we first got into Biodiesel, we toyed with the idea and even made some pretty cool soap bars with the Glycerin. But didn't do much else.A few years later we were contacted by a Biodiesel glycerin soap maker associated with Piedmont Biofuels out of Pittsboro, North Carolina and started carrying a line of soap produ. […]
  3. Visit From Drive To Sustain Thursday, December 24
    Quite often we have some incredible visitors stop by on their way through Utah doing amazing things with Biodiesel and Biofuels in general.On the 3rd of December we had one such visit from a group called Drive To Sustain.This group is amazing! Traveling all across the United States and into Canada, this groups goal is to hit every state in the US and every province in Canada.As they travel, they're hooking up with educators to teach students all about the benefits of using Biofuels. They track a. […]

All Things Biodiesel

  1. California UST Issue Resolution Friday, May 22
    After much work, the California Biodiesel Alliance (CBA) is nearing the goal line on the variance program it has worked to create with the California Water Board to resume the storage of biodiesel in underground storage tanks (USTs).CBA has created a new web page on its website to house the UST information.A big thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen.This should pave the way for California to resume its role in leading the nation with innovative biodiesel programs.Eric
  2. savebiodiesel.org Wednesday, April 15
    An important new campaign lead by our friends Robin and Michele at Dogpatch Biofuels. Please take a moment to check out the website and sign the petition. This issue has the potential to spin out of control and cause great damage to the emerging biodiesel industry. Please act now!****Hello everyone,Please check out a new campaign website: savebiodiesel.org !We sent out an e-mail about a month ago regarding the compatibility issues arising with biodiesel and new diesel vehicles. To quickly re-cap. […]
  3. Forbes Biodiesel Article - Good, but missing a key peice of the story Monday, April 13
    A recent article in Forbes about Imperium's struggles generated a lot of discussion on one of the regional biofuel email lists that I am on. It prompted me to post a comment on the forbes.com website about the need for waste feedstock biodiesel and regionally appropriate biodiesel plants. The biodiesel industry needs to focus on its future if it is to be successful and that future is waste feedstock biodiesel . . . . leading eventually to non-food crop biodiesel from crops like Jatropha and alga. […]

leaving the grid

  1. I am in rare form this evening Tuesday, April 27
    Does anyone remember the eulogy given by billy graham on the national funeral for the 9/11 victims? Keep that in mind as I pose this question: What would you say if someone said "you know, a good lot of those killed in the WTC deserve to burn in hell, and are doing so". Would you be pissed and start looking for the secret service phone number? Maybe turn in a commie, or worse a terrorist? Now
  2. 5 years Tuesday, April 27
    just realized it was earthday 2005 that I left the power grid. 5 years. Neat.
  3. snakes Sunday, August 17
    Check it. Went to water batteries the other day and this snake, the same who I always see eating chicken eggs out in the hen house was hanging out in my house on my batteries. Which are kept clean btw so there should not be any concern about the snake getting acid on it's belly. I kept trying to pick it up and get it outside and it kept slithying out of my hands back onto or behind the battery