On Sunday, I met with John McPherson, the director of the LA chapter of Green Depot. Currently based in Santa Monica, the LA Green Depot shares some similar objectives with its San Francisco counterpart, which enjoyed success as the city transitioned to the use of B20 in the municipal fleets, and SF Petroleum was welcomed into the biodiesel community. The San Francisco Green Depot also champions the use of biodiesel as an “environmental justice solution” for residents of areas that are suffering from the effects of diesel pollution (an EnergyRush story on this is forthcoming).

LA’s Green Depot has lofty goals as well, but for John, everything needs to start with a community forum for education about sustainable, renewable fuels. And, as I’m learning most well-educated greenies do, he makes a big distinction between ‘sustainable’ and ‘renewable’ — and he pairs the words carefully. Just because an energy source can be replenished doesn’t mean we can go on using it forever. He cites the possibility of overseas production of vegetable oil intended for biodiesel manufacture in the US. Splitting up the equation like this could be a dangerous game, if the distant crops are not being produced in a manner that is truly sustainable — or if they’re being produced by a country that also utilizes unsustainable forestry methods, for example. As I learned from a blog response, just because the net emissions over the life of a tank’s worth of biodiesel are close to zero, it doesn’t mean that burning the fuel in my engine isn’t causing pollution. It’s important to look at the bigger picture.

John is looking to the City of Santa Monica to help provide a physical location to house the Green Depot: “a community center helps a city make a statement…it’s a civic endorsement.” Like me, John believes that the causes supported by a city council should reflect the desires and needs of the local population (duh). A city-provided space for the Green Depot would serve those needs, but also represent a (local) governmental “tacit endorsement” of greener principles. The city would gain visible credibility as a supporter of green energies, and the citizens get theirs too: access to in-depth knowledge about alternative energy options from the cream of the bio crop, like John. In fact, John was a teacher by trade for several years at my alma mater, Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences — also located in Santa Monica. During his time at “Xrds” (as most survivors affectionately abbreviate it) he banded together with a group of dedicated students, and approached the City Council to address the growing need for a community forum on sustainable, renewable energies. Now, years later, those kids are sophomores or juniors in college — but they still check back with John and with the City of Santa Monica, hoping that their hard work will see a positive outcome.

To be continued…

–Refined gOil

Looks like I might get the perfect opportunity to expand my knowledge about vehicular fuel/energy options…The EnergyRush team is going to try to make it to the EVS-23 , a hands-on event covering hybrid-electrics, fuel cells, battery possibilities, workshops, test-drives, and prestigious speakers and attendees in Anaheim, CA in the beginning of December. Excellent…
–Refined gOil

I know that I’ve focused a lot on biodisel in this blog — that’s probably because it’s my entry point into the world of renewables. Biodiesel is a relatively inexpensive way to start. I’d love to put my Oregon home on solar, but A) the house is a rental, so if I moved, the installation process would have to happen all over again with potential added cost in necessary changes. It would also require landlord approval, and while my landlord is a swell guy, it would be just another worry for him to take on. And B) who am I kidding, I most definitely can’t afford any of that yet anyway. So, while I know a little about solar, I have been encouraged to investigate the wondeful world of methane…it is a burgeoning renewable option, and I found this great page to explain the basics: The Anaerobic Digestion Community. They are UK based, but the site is comprehensive and clear enough for me to understand. The EnergyRush team is looking into more and more methane stories, and I’d like to get on the bandwagon and help provide new info here through links to good sites and stories…And hopefully I’ll get my hands in some cowpie eventually and tape a clip on how it’s done.
–Refined gOil

I just caught the end of a Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe entitled “Biodiesel Man”…it aired first in October 2005! I only saw the last ten minutes, but Mike helps make a test batch of biodiesel, then a full batch…a nice little source for EnergyRush patrons interested in biodiesel. For re-airings, check the link above.
–Refined gOil

I just got a great response from Susan Petty (see the last blog entitled “Latter Day”, with Susan’s comment at the bottom) in which she made me aware of the fact that biodiesel totally does contribute to smog. Here’s an exerpt about B20 from the EPA’s 2002 report entitled “A Comprehensive Analysis of Biodiesel Impacts on Exhaust Emissions”:

“One of the most common blends of biodiesel contains 20 volume percent biodiesel and
80 volume percent conventional diesel. For soybean-based biodiesel at this concentration, the
estimated emission impacts for the current fleet are shown in Table ES-A.

Table ES-A
Emission impacts of 20 vol% biodiesel for soybean-based
biodiesel added to an average base fuel

Percent change in emissions
NOx +2.0%
PM -10.1%
HC -21.1%
CO -11.0%

Biodiesel is also predicted to reduce fuel economy by 1-2 percent for a 20 volume percent
biodiesel blend. Aggregate toxics are predicted to be reduced, but the impacts differ from one toxic compound to another. We were not able to identify an unambiguous difference in exhaust CO2 emissions between biodiesel and conventional diesel. However, it should be noted that the CO2 benefits commonly attributed to biodiesel are the result of the renewability of the biodiesel itself, not the comparative exhaust CO2 emissions. An investigation into the renewability of biodiesel was beyond the scope of this report.”

For a complete copy of the report, and other studies, please see EPA’s Biodiesel Emissions Analysis Program. And check out the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Vehicles page for a comprehensive discussion of Biodiesel and even greener fuel/energy solutions.

And Susan, in answer to your question: because I was uninformed and sloppy! Thank you for keeping it honest.

–Refined gOil

I know that it’s completely self-involved, but I get such great pleasure from driving around this city with my biodiesel bumper stickers, knowing that I’m not contributing to that smog monster. Today I had to get to a meeting in Sherman Oaks, and as usual, the freeways were jammed. I called my roommate (who lived in LA for 30 years before moving up to Oregon) when I was passing the big Church of Latter Day Saints on Westwood and Santa Monica (the one with the golden trumpeter atop the tall spire) to moan about the traffic, and he reminded me of the mass transportation that exists in Los Angeles — people do take the bus and subway to work here, and city officials are doing their best to encourage more people to utilize these. Of course, I then started imagining monorails and sky-trams, — like the old ones that used to go through the Matterhorn at Disneyland — solar-powered hovercrafts conducted by magnetically suspended traffic lights 40 feet up in the air (okay, maybe the magnet traffic light idea isn’t so well-thought-out). Which made the drive go a lot faster. In a couple of EnergyRush interviews I’ve conducted, I asked the subject: “What do you see in the Best Possible Future?” most of the answers involved mass-transit systems or simply living close enough to work that you can walk. Okay, I’ll just throw the glove down: I will personally give $100 to the first person who invents a no-emissions teleportation machine with a 500-mile range. Please note that that offer is exactly 1,000 times the dime-prize we got as kids for being the first person to spot the Matterhorn and its sky-trams from the Freeway.
–Refined gOil

Today I am going to try, FINALLY, to get Horace’s fuel filter changed. He’s been sputtering a little when he starts up, and I think it’s just time. There will be no EnergyRush-ing if Horace is out of commission. The bummer is that Biofuel Oasis offers a quick class to teach you how to do this yourself — but they’re about 350 miles north of me right now, and I didn’t have time to take the class there last week, so I think that I will just have to rely on a mechanic until I can find someone to teach me. Maybe that LA Biodiesel Cooperative offers a class…hmmm (booting up Google)…
–Refined gOil

In a grocery store in Oregon about a month ago, I almost got into an altercation with a checker who insisted my solitary bottle of wine be bagged. I’m not usually so pissy, but this guy claimed that it was state law to put my wine in a plastic bag. I was so infuriated, I gave him a real stink-eye and left making some ill-thought-out crack. Bill Maher did a hilarious bit on Real Time where he mentioned how wine or liquor is often bagged separately, and then stuck into a bigger bag full of groceries, as if Ham and Egg’s delicate sensibilites might be offended by the presence of alcohol in the shopping bag. Anyway, because Bill said it a lot funnier than I just did, it sort of stuck with me, always reminding me to skip the plastic bag… jumping on checkers, anticipating, refusing the bag and trying not to look too disdainful (I don’t really want to come off as a nose-in-the-air greenie). Anyway, I was shopping for a gift with my grandmother Mim today. The salesclerk placed my item in the plastic, and I casually told her “Oh, that’s okay, I don’t need a bag” (which is my modus operandi after the reminiscent shame I felt for shooting daggers out of my eyes at the wine bagger back in Oregon). Then Mim spoke up. She said something like “My granddaughter is one of those people who cares about the environment. She’s good and never uses a bag. I know I should bring my own bag too, but it’s just so convenient, so I take the bag y’all give me. It’s just so convenient.”
First of all, I was proud that SHE was proud that I’m a re-user. Secondly, I was reminded of the fact that the way we live now, the conveniences of our lives which have ended up hurting the planet, were probably never intended to be detrimental. The genesis of the plastic grocery bag was probably far from how I originally thought of it — a careless and lazy concoction. Mim has lived through the Depression, World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War, just to name the historic trials. She remembers boiling clothing in a tub and ringing it out in a ringer. She remembers the advent of frozen foods; traveling miles to a large frozen storage unit and donning canvas coats the company provided to wear while you ‘shopped.’ My point is, for Mim, the plastic bag is a marvel of convenience sprung from a world that was difficult for much of her life. My point, I guess, is that whoever invented the damn thing probably meant well. Most of us do.
–Refined gOil

I have sort of a harebrained scheme.

I’m trying to convince my younger stepbrother to sell his Mazda and convert to biodiesel with an old Mercedes. His commute to work is short anyway, and he rarely uses the car for long-distance driving, so an older vehicle would be ideal. Plus, the Mazda is pretty new — I’m guessing that he could actually make a profit when all was said and done. Okay okay, I need to let people exercise their own free will, but I mentioned it to him two nights ago, and he’s been asking me questions since, which I take to mean he’s interested (I wish we could have a camera on these discussions, because he’s asking all the questions that I asked when I was just starting my biodiesel exploration — all the questions that I assume any uninitiated would ask…) The cool thing about this — if it happened — would be that we could shoot it all as an EnergyRush story…talk to him about why he’s making the change, track him selling his current car and purchasing a diesel vehicle, and then have a dialogue with a mechanic about changing fuel lines or the filter, etc. The story could maybe serve as the biodiesel primer that I was moaning about a few blogs ago.
SNAP OUT OF IT, leave fantasy-land behind, and knock wood three times. Let’s just hope he considers it further — I think it could be a really fun story to do. Nobody tell my stepbrother I’m blogging about him behind his back…
–Refined gOil
P.S. I totally messed up the date for Green Drinks in Culver City — it’s the first Thursday of every month, not the first Monday =( I’ll catch ‘em in December…

Ahhhhh. A few days of rest and being fed copious amounts of delicious food by my grandmother…time to get back to blogging.
On Friday afternoon I spoke with Tor of the Solar Schoolhouse in Martinez…which was pretty fascinating (they educate teachers about solar, plus they offer school room ‘kits’ including pv panels, motors, etc. for kids to experiment with solar, among many things). The Solar Schoolhouse is an offshoot of Tor’s original non-profit creation, the Rahus Institute. I had no idea what Rahus meant, and sort of neglected asking him during the interview (I felt a little bit stupid), but finally he brought it up; ‘Ra’ — as in Ra the Egyptian Sun God + ‘hus’ which means ‘house’ in the Nordic spoken language of Tor’s heritage. Pretty cool name.
Today I will set off to Conserv Fuel in Brentwood (which I found on NearBio), seller of B99, to inquire about where they get their bio, who makes it, and to fill out any paperwork if I decide to fill up there. I’m trying to live according to the maxim that Eric Smith (who will be blogging for EnergyRush soon, he’s awesome) laid out for me when I was in SF: “Only buy biodiesel from people you know.” Not because it’s like a secret club…but because since anyone can make it, I think it’s important to trust where it’s coming from — and I don’t know anyone who mixes it up it here in LA. Hopefully the day will arrive where you can reliably pull into any pump and feel good about what you’re putting in your tank (Eric told me about some well-intentioned forays into biodiesel usage in Berkeley that ended up costing the city and some residents a pretty penny; the fuel they used as not quite up to standards. Luckily we have ASTM standards governing biodiesel sold at pump, but even so…just want to be safe). So I guess I’ll be making new friends. Also, I think GreenDrinks might be happening tonight in Culver City — so I should have some cool stuff to report on in the next couple of days.
–Refined gOil