Biofuels & Energy Independence

[Miulang]

Of course, this is a good thing as the State tries to wean itself off costly petroleum within the next 20 years, but this hui (ML&P, Grove Farms and Kamehameha Schools) also is interesting because the 2 commercial companies involved both are owned (or are influenced significantly) by Steve Case's money. The other concern is that if they encroach on ag lands that are required for food production, the State will be cutting off its nose to spite its face. As long as they only intend to raise sugar cane or whatever they need to produce the ethanol on land that's zoned ag and is fallow, that should be OK, and at least it will prevent more land from being developed into condos and strip malls.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

In the neverending quest to locate alternative sources of fuel, American ingenuity has struck again: there is a guy in Missouri who is buying chicken fat from the poultry producers and refining it into biodiesel fuel. Even Tyson's, Perdue and Smithfield Farms plan to hop on the bandwagon. All kinds of animal fat can be rendered to make fuel. Currently, most of it goes into soap and cosmetics.

With the rising demand for soybeans and soybean oil, the cost to use the oil has increased, so turning to another abundant source of fat may prove to be a goldmine for those companies who are first to market.

On the surface, it seems like a great idea: there will always be a demand for meat (from chickens, pigs and cattle especially), so there will always be byproducts like fat that are left over. Using the fat to power cars could be less expensive than using regular gasoline or even biofuel made from agricultural products like soybeans, cotton, corn or sugarcane, which all are pretty water-intensive crops. And, to take it just one gruesome step farther, it might be a way to help curb this nation's obesity problem if we offered free liposuctions to people and used the fat that was extracted as biofuel too! Hawai'i could take one more step toward fuel self sufficiency if we used some of our ag lands to develop large chicken farms. The farms could sell the chicken meat to residents and export some of it and use the chicken fat to create biofuel to power Hawai'i's cars.

The shift to animal fat as a fuel stock could be key to making the budding biodiesel industry a reliable fuel source for U.S. trucking fleets, said Vernon Eidman, a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota who has studied the biofuels industry extensively.

Eidman estimates that within five years the United States will produce 1 billion gallons of biodiesel and that half of it will be made from animal fat. By that time, soybean-based biodiesel will account for about 20 percent of the total, he said.

For fuel refiners like Bagby, the allure of animal fat is clear. Soybean oil costs 33 cents a pound, while chicken fat costs 19 cents. He plans to include soybean oil in his blend only because it adds necessary lubrication for engine parts.

"Soybean oil is more expensive than other products, so we just use enough of it to make the system run clean," Bagby said, gesturing toward a row of pipes and vats being installed in his new refinery.

Miulang

P.S. I can envision a time when instead of smelling noxious petrochemical exhausts, your senses would be tweaked by the smell of french fries and fried chicken! I just thought of a great advertising slogan, too: "Be the first on your block to have a car powered by schmaltz!"

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

I saw that. Interesting. Things are gaining momentum. But not likely to happen here. Huli-huli chicken shut down their breeding operations. I think the chickens are all imported now.

[Hellbent]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

I read about that awhile ago. There are kits where you can make your own biodiesel, given that you have your own diesel car.
Isnt there an outfit on Maui that makes biodiesel and cannot make enough?

[i-hungry]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

The vegans will never go for the chicken fat fuel.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

Ol' fut flashback time --- remember when the Eisenhower administration launched a school program to encourage children to exercise?

Here's your two-part trivia question; see if you can answer it WITHOUT an internet search:

> What was the song that they used to promote the program? (Hint: it does relate to this thread.)

> Who was the song's composer, and what was that individual's musical claim to fame (other than this song?)

[Pomai]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

Overweight America might also be able to contribute to the gas tank via Liposuction...

11,500 liters of human fat a week from liposuction operations [--] is enough to produce about 10,000 liters of bio-diesel.

At the outset, that looks like a pretty good Return on Investment (ROI) ratio, save for a couple of surgical scars on each "donor".

"Wow Jim, you look great! How did you do it?" Jim replies, "See that car going by? All me. That's all me."

[Hellbent]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

thats pretty nasty... i wonder what biodiesel made of human fat would smell like? bacon?

[Miulang]

HECO to build biofuel plant on Maui

Hawaiian Electric Co., in partnership with BlueEarth Biofuels LLC, is planning to build a $61 million biofuel plant to be sited across the road from the current Central Maui landfill. Its initial customer will be Maui Electric Co.

The announcement is in keeping with Maui County's and the State's commitment to reduce reliance on petroleum based fuel in the coming years.

While MECO President Ed Reinhardt said the goal is to get all of the company’s Maalaea generators off petroleum, Mayor Charmaine Tavares noted her call at her inauguration to diversify the county’s economy.

The development of a plant-based alternative energy source would support her vision of a sustainable Maui economy, she said.

The BlueEarth plan calls for burning imported palm oil, but HECO will contribute all of its half of the profits to a nonprofit public trust that will encourage the growth of local fuel crops. Candidate crops include palm oil, jatropha, kukui or coconut.

...Eventually, by phase three, the Waena refinery could produce 120 million gallons in 2011, and there are plans to use it at Hawaiian Electric plants on Oahu and Hawaiian Electric Light plants on the Big Island.

...The refinery is expected to require about 100 construction workers to build and about 40 workers to operate.

Reinhardt said the refinery lease, fuel agreement and generators at Waena will require approval of the state Public Utilities Commission. He said he expects the applications for the developments will be filed “soon” for start of the facility by 2009.

It will require “minimal” amounts of water and among its residual products will be ethylene. Ethylene is inflammable, and although it could not be used in diesel generators, Reinhardt said there might be enough to run a small generator.

The refining will require alcohol as an ingredient, and the hope is that local producers can supply that.

...the plant will seek to hire on Maui, with the initial facility expected to require 40 workers and an expanded plant to require up to 100 permanent positions.

“We want Maui people to work at the plant,” he said.

Miulang

[tikiyaki]

Re: Biofuels & Energy Independence

I, for one, am 1000% in favor of this kind of thinking. Here in LA, there is a place that does conversion on turbo deisel late 70's mercedes so that they can run on pure vegetable oil.

You can go to you local Chinese restaurant, ask them for their used oil (which they have to pay to have taken away) take it home filter it, with a filter they sell at the shop....voila, free fuel.

The chicken fat deal sounds even better, with the crop expenses mentioned.

I promised myself that my next car would be one of these. Plus, those 70's mercedes look cool and are cheap ($2-5000) and they're built like trucks so with proper care and maintanence they run well over 200k miles, and keep working.

I say bring it on....

ANYTHING to keep our young Americans OUT of the OIL countries, losing life and limb, so our "president" can keep his oil business buddies rich.

With technology being what it is today, there's NO WAY we should still be burning fossil fuel to run engines. There HAS TO be another way....

Hats off to the chicken fat guy !!!!


EDIT...Just read that article on Blue Earth moving into Maui. I think it's great. Very exciting stuff.....

[joshuatree]

Re: Biofuels & Energy Independence

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17401466/

Should we have some of these?

[Hellbent]

Re: Biofuels & Energy Independence

looks kind of ugly, does it come in pink?

[joshuatree]

Re: Biofuels & Energy Independence

looks kind of ugly, does it come in pink?

I hope it's loud too, lol.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Put some chickenfat in your gas tank

Ol' fut flashback time --- remember when the Eisenhower administration launched a school program to encourage children to exercise?

Here's your two-part trivia question; see if you can answer it WITHOUT an internet search:

> What was the song that they used to promote the program? (Hint: it does relate to this thread.)

> Who was the song's composer, and what was that individual's musical claim to fame (other than this song?)

That was the infamous song we all exercised to every morning during Summer Fun called CHICKEN FAT by Robert Preston!!!! And he did Music Man as his claim to fame.

GO YOU CHICKEN FAT GO AWAY!

ALL RIGHT ARE YOU READY...ON YOUR BACK, FEET IN THE AIR...IT'S THE BICYCLE RIDE!!!

Oh man I got that 45-RPM record somewhere. The record company was Capital Records too.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Biofuels & Energy Independence

Maybe biofuels aren't so great, after all.

Biofuels emissions may be 'worse than petrol'

Biofuels, once seen as a useful way of combating climate change, could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, say two major new studies. And it may take tens or hundreds of years to pay back the "carbon debt" accrued by growing biofuels in the first place, say researchers. The calculations join a growing list of studies questioning whether switching to biofuels really will help combat climate change.

(Source: New Scientist)