Biodiesel America: How to Achieve Energy Security, Free America from Middle-east Oil Dependence And Make Money Growing Fuel

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All books in the category Alternative Fuels

by: Josh Tickell

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Huber is Right and Tickell is wrong.

States like Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and Oregon have made Biodiesel feasible through political incentives and mandates. The desired affect of the political mandates has been to artificially raise the prices of soybeans and corn. Minnesota fuel law msandates 2% of the diesel fuel include biodiesel and an additional law favoring corn support requires gasoline too include 10% ethanol. Locally owned and operated, Ethanol production plants produce 400 million gallons of ethanol a year: Fontieer Energy, World Energy, and Pacific Biodiesel. The production of Ethanol boosts the price of corn removing excess inventories and driving up demand for the commodity. Likewise, Illinois, Michigan, and Oregon have similar fuel laws mandating 2% biodiesel portion to the fuel mix. Biodiesel in some parts of the country has become an alternative heat fuel to natural gas.

Cost is the biodiesel barrier. Biodiesel costs 20 cents more than conventional diesel. Tax incentives attempt to temporarily narrow the cost gap. Tax support is linked to environmental advantages. Biodiesel environmental advantages include: Biodiesel emits no sulfur, discharges 78% less CO2, has 50% fewer smog producing components, leads to 48% reduction in carbon monoxide, and has 67% less hydrocarbons.

Biodiesel production volumes are insignificant, 30 million gals/day, in comparison to the 85 million barrels/day of oil. The Energy Information Administration predicts that worldwide oil consumption would increase from 28.4 billion barrels a year in 2002 to 43 billion barrels per year by 2025. Each year the US consumes 125 billion gallons of gasoline and 60 billion gallons of diesel and distillate fuel. Biodiesel would need to reach at least 60 billion gallons a year to replace diesel and endure five to ten years worth of tax burden to compensate for cost differences between the two products. Currently, Biodiesel volumes are too small to be significant. Secondly, there is a water shortage, "Ultimate Resource II" which Tickell ignores in his three scenario plan to reach, 60 billion gallons of biodiesel. Tickell's problem is water and arable land not incentives to grow more soybeans. Tickell becomes desparate and proposes a $308 billion algae oil infrastructure to achieve his 60 billion gallons. This plan would alienate both the farmer and the tax payer and incourage them to seek methods for extracting shale and tar oil.

Biodiesel contains 10% less energy per gallon than diesel fuel but has 7% more combustion efficiency yielding 2-3% decrease in torque, power, and fuel efficiency. Three components are need to produce biodiesel: vegetable oil or animal fat, an alcohol (methanol or ethanol), and a catalyst (sodium hydroxide - NaOH). Vegetable oil + Methyl Alochol->Glycerol + Methyl Ester.

Diesel engines cost more than gas engines, but perform more efficiently. Diesel cars and performance stats: ninety-eight 27 miles/gal, Volkswagon Rabbit 45 miles/gal, Delta 88 and Oldsmobile Tornonado, Ford - prodigy diesel-electric hybrid 70 miles/gal, Dodge Esx4 diesel-electric 72 miles/gal, GM Precept 79.6 miles/gal, Toyota Prius 50 miles/gal, Jeep CRD: tow capacity of 5,000 lbs and 27 miles/gal, Volkswagon Turbo Direct Injection (TDI) for new beetle, golf, Jetta, Passat 50 miles/gal, and A2 80 miles gal.

Tickel is wrong and Peter Huber is right. Future energy will come from Shale and Tar oil as Middle East oil depletes. The US and Canada will become the new "empty quarter". The future of energy will not be biodiesel or hydrogen, but oil and electricity. Biodiesel is a short-term political maneuver to appease special interest groups. Cheap petroleum fuel will force the inevitable conclusion to abandon these alternative fuels as too expensive. Tickel calls the House of Saud a House of cards: 1. The House of Saud with its 30,000 members owns 25% of the worlds oil. 2. The House of Saud is a top-heavy ruling class and putting downward economic pressure on an increasingly large Saudi society. 3. Economic cannibalization of the middle class by the ruling elite has reduced stipends for the average Saudi citizen demonstrated by the plummet in per capita income of $28,600 in 1981 to $6,800 in 2001. 4. The country owes $164 billion equal to the GNP. 5. Country assets drain has become a crisis. Financial follies has drained the country of $120 billion cash assets in 1980 leaving the Saudi treasury holding only about $20 billion. 6. Rapid disintegration of the middle class has driven the popularity of the Islamic fundamentalist. 7. Unemployment rate stands near 25%.

Tickel is a doomdayer and from the doomsday ashes he preaches his vision of a biodiesel powered economy. Peter Huber, "The Bottomless well" is a more accurate vision of abundant and infinite energy. Wealth is the country that produces and consumes the most energy. Bottom line, the country with the maximum consumption of energy will become the wealthiest country. India and China are rapidly consumption energy and their wealth is increasing. India enjoys a 8% growth rate and experience rapid wealth creation buying BMW, Mercedes, Rolls-Royce, expensive watches, and large real-estate abodes. Private banks and hedge funds surge into India seeking to stabilize and profit from the surge in wealth creation in the country. Wealthy investors vote with their dollars encouraging rapid growth to be sustained. Everything looks better during a boom. The expression of this new found wealth is a result of cheap energy.

What happens when energy consumption increases another 4 fold? Computers, robots, electronics, and logic created devices will proliferate as diverse means of service and production as companies seek to market and sell this expert logic. Energy takes on a higher quality form and produces higher quality results. Machine and computer moves closer to the consumer and provide value chains of service. Exclusive and expensive devices will become more accessible: health devices, music devices, media devices, and transportation devices; more manual labor becomes mechanical labor; more intellectual processes become digital; and more energy transform from combustible energy to electrical energy.

Huber believes in the potential of fusion energy telling readers that 10 trillion quads of energy exist in our oceans. The problem with fusion energy is cost. Therefore, oil and nuclear energy will remain the most feasible source of energy in the near future. However, as cars become more computerized and robotic the need for combustible engine locomotion will diminish.

Tickel at best should be arguing for short-term relief of energy supplies. During the 1970s, oil production increased locally to 50 percent as oil in Texas, Alaska, and Mexico warded off production shortages in the Middle East. Huber predicts that Shale and Tar oil will ward off any shortages in the near future to peak oil, a false and misleading concept. The world is not running out of energy. We are just beginning to tap the endless boundary of infinite energy.

Reviews:

Read this book if you want to understand how to stop buying gas.
Global warming * the Middle East * Dwindling oil supplies * High gas prices * Economic suicide paying foreigners for our energy. How many reasons do we need to stop burning fossil fuels? This book gives an excellent intro to the history and current state of the biodiesel industry. Although many say it's not a "silver bullet" to solve our energy situation, it's got the potential to be a major player. Now we need to work on building the potential rapid demand for biodiesel. That means having more diesel cars. Unfortunately, US manufactures/consumers have dropped the ball compared to those in Europe. If cars were made using carbon fiber rather than steel, biodiesel powered cars might actually be a "silver bullet" solution. That's another book.

Josh did a great job in writing about, not only Biodiesel, but also other sources of energy besides finite fuels. He does a great job of explaining how biodiesel is not the silver bullet to end our dependency on fossil fuels, but rather one of a number of other sources of energy (including ethanol, wind, solar, hydro-electric, hydrogen, etc). He also does a good job of giving ideas that we all could easily reduce the amount of energy we consume that will not alter our current lifestyles. I highly recommend this book to those just learning about Biodiesel and Ethanol, as well as those who understand it, but would like more information about it.

A Must Read
Biodiesel America is a great book. Unlike Dolton Rocha I did read the book and found out what Mr. Dalton Rocha did not. One is the old saying, "Do not judge a book by its cover", holds true. I found out that Biodiesel is not the singular solution for our energy crisis. Mr. Tickell puts everything into perspective showing how we will have a multiple solution to breaking dependence on foreign oil of which Biodiesel, Ethanol and other biomass and renewable fuels will all be part of the total solution. Biodiesel America points out that there are many sources other than soybean oil for feedstock for biodiesel production. Soybeans are only a small portion of the crops that can be used to produce biodiesel and is not necessarily the best. Biodiesel America is a must read for every true American. We need to all pull together to rise out of this crisis and break our dependence on oil and fuel from external sources. I just hope many people read this book and learn about all of the possible solutions that are available to America. Biodiesel America teaches us that we cannot be narrow-minded in what will lead us to the final solution of independence. Finally, this book is a must read for every politician in the country no matter the party orientation.