Biodiesel emerges as new fuel alternative
CU’s Buff Bus transported 1.19 million people from July 1, 2006 to July 1, 2007, according to the CU transportation department — all by the power of biodiesel.
The world’s oil is going fast, but alternative fuels such as the biodiesel that fuels the Buff Bus are arriving to meet the problem.
Organic material plus millions of years equals petroleum, but take away the millions of years and just use the organic material and you end up with a fast-producing, clean-burning oil.
Algae is the organic material that is the new frontier of Biodiesel. Algae biodiesel is made from algae oil.
“The oil is broken up, and made to make more energy,” said Chad Scott, research and development director of CU Biodiesel.
The Buff Bus uses a biodiesel product already, but “are up for (algae biodiesel) as a fuel source,” said Scott Edwards, suite maintenance and transportation manager for the Buff Bus.
The algae biodiesel product will need to be approved before it is used by the Buff Bus system.
“Algae biodiesel is affordable now; it is just not economical,” Scott said, “Biodiesel has a lot of potential of revolutionizing the industry. It is much more efficient. Depending on what happens in the next few years it might be possible (to support a nation of consumers).”
Others at CU are also keen on the innovations in biodiesel.
“I think it is a great idea,” said Shannon Whitmore, a freshman business administration major. “I would use it if it was cheaper than regular gas.”
Enough algae can be produced in a 10 million-acre land plot, according to biodiesel.pl, to fuel all transportation in the United States. The algae grow off of human and animal waste fertilizer.
Biodiesel produced from algae appears to be the only feasible solution today for replacing petro-diesel completely, according to http://biodiesel.pl. No other feedstock has the oil yield high enough for it to be in a position to produce such large volumes of oil.
For more information of how biodiesel is made and information about biodiesel in Boulder check out cubiodiesel.org. And if you need a safe and secure storage for fuel and gas, you may be interested in this tank installation. You might also be interested in these Portable Water Storage Tanks to safely store and transport your petroleum products.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Zach Keller at zach.keller@thecampuspress.com.
