EPA and why it should be cancelled..
11/13/07
EPA and why it should be cancelled..
Ok so it's time for ole bman to buy a new truck. I've been doing some research over the past few months and decided to buy a new Ford F-250 Diesel. Why? Well, I haul a ton of things around including trailers AND this new 2008 diesel has the 3 diesel exhaust scrubbers! Yes, you can start it up and go around to the tailpipe and there is absolutely no smell whatsoever - much less than a passenger car from what Im told and what I researched. Ford says that this new exhaust system is cleaner than any other passenger car gasoline engine on the market and the EPA mandated a fuel change for all diesel last year. New diesel cannot contain more than 15ppm of sulfur for anything refined after 2007 - regular gasoline has sulphur equivalent of 550ppm. Wow.. my new truck is really green - Ok so this is cool! I can have the truck I need and help keep the planet greener by having the latest greatest state of the art in exhaust emissions reduction PLUS I can run biodiesel which is made from either used fryer waste oil or corn.
So I'm ready for my 2nd tank of fuel and I head on over the local biodiesel supplier. Hey this biodiesel is only $2.79/gallon! Wow, regular cruddy ole petroleum based diesel is now $3.25/gallon. Im gonna save a ton of money. Just as I start to put some in the tank the attendant stops me and says:
You'll ruin that state of the art EPA regulated exhaust emission system by running this very very clean and green biodiesel."
"What? What do you mean? I'm doing my part by buying this super clean fuel.." I said to him.
He told me to look again and read my owners manual on the engine. So I did. Apparently the oils contained in the new biodiesel are not able to be collected and broken down by my state of the art exhaust system. Ford says that I can use no more than a 5% mix of biodiesel and regular petroleum based diesel. According to Ford, The EPA specs mandated for all trucks as of 2008, very very specific things to scrub petroleum based fuels but will clog with the use of any other fuel - including biodiesel mixtures over 5%.
Any bets that the petroleum refiners had any lobbying interest in this law?
So in short, the EPA has caused all diesel truck owners as of 2008 to be forced to only run mixtures of 5% biodiesel in their vehicles. IF memory serves me right the president, congress and a variety of other 'green' speakers including Al Gore all advised us all to run as much biodiesel and biofuels as possible to reduce our dependence upon petroleum based oils.
Well, now everyone will just remove all the exhaust scrubbers and head over to the biodiesel depot and fill up. They're not paying $3.25/gallon for fuel. Besides, biodiesel without the scrubbers is still cleaner than the petroleum based fuels with the scrubbers.... until the demand for biodiesel goes up forcing the price to be over the price of the petroleum based fuels in which case I'll go back to those.. but wait.. it wont be clean anymore.. oh well, who cares.
So I guess the system is once again fighting itself.. go figure.
Comments, Pingbacks:
I'm having a hard time finding fuel efficiency numbers on the diesel F-250, but biodieselsource.com says it's about 18 mpg. That's terrible. No matter what kind of fuel your truck takes, you're using far too much of it. Maybe you should evaluate whether you really need a huge pickup for everyday driving; you could use half that much fuel in a smaller car.
Permalink
11/13/07 @ 16:51 Corn biodiesel is indeed better for the environment, 88% less volatile emissions than its petroleum counterpart - not sure where you got your numbers, but most new gasoline based cars and trucks offer an option to run on ethanol (corn) or gasoline - its called FLEX fuel compliance as also mandated by the EPA.
In the diesel world we have lost that ability. I have now found out the the federal excise tax on diesel is 7 cents a gallon more than on gasoline. This explains why the EPA created such a a product that doesnt allow us to use bio fuels in our diesels.
My point is the typical double-talking politicians pocketing money for oil have once again created a double standard in fuel regulations and at the same time giving the ole stab in the back to our farmers. I remember just a few short years ago the Government was begging farmers to start growing corn and soybeans for the new and upcoming bio fuels. Now they've shit on the farmers once again since no diesels can use their fuels due to this stupid EPA bullshit.
We really really need a business person in the white house and in congress. Im tired of lame-ass people who are clueless in the business world running this place.
Permalink
11/14/07 @ 10:02 Burning ethanol or biodiesel is carbon-neutral. Producing it is not. The process of farming the corn or soybeans uses significant amounts of energy and water. Then it has to be processed into the fuel product, which takes more energy and probably causes more CO2 emissions. And you're left with a fuel that produces far less energy when burned than gas does. Production of corn or soy-based fuel also drives up food prices. It's a waste of energy and of good farmland, but it's a great giveaway to industrial agriculture companies.
The EPA does not have jurisdiction over CO2 emissions. You can thank the Bush administration for that. (You can also thank them for letting the petroleum industry influence EPA regulations.) In fact, they won't even allow CO2 emission standards to exist; California is suing for the right to set standards. So the EPA standards are based around other pollutants, such as sulfur.
Wasn't Bush supposed to be the CEO president who'd run this country like a business? How did that work out?
Permalink
11/14/07 @ 13:31 A diesel engine can burn veggie oil, and in fact Otto Diesel's original engine used veggie oil. Frequently the other parts of the vehicle might not like it - like emission control crap. Why? The by-products of combustion of veggie oil and petroleum are very different. That is simply scientific fact.
There are many arguments about how green veggie based fuels really are because it take energy to grow and harvest the corn (or what ever feedstock) and more energy to turn it into a bio-fuel. The original bio-fuels that made everyone think they were all "green" were the people using McDonald's old fryer grease to run their cars. Way to go for recycling!
Another thing to consider - not all fuels are created equal. The price per gallon of the bio-fuels may be less then petroleum based diesel. The BTU rating is lower for plant based vs. petroleum based fuel. Therefore, your price per mile may wind up being the same, or more, if you use bio-fuels. So, if you remove your pollution control equipment, go over and fill 'er up with bio-fuel you'll be back at the pump soon than if you had just used the regular diesel.
Permalink
11/14/07 @ 15:07 Leave a comment:
bman
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | > >> | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
Search
Categories
Archives
- May 2008 (2)
- November 2007 (2)
- September 2007 (2)
- May 2007 (4)
- April 2007 (1)
- March 2007 (1)
- February 2007 (3)
- December 2006 (1)
- October 2006 (1)
- September 2006 (2)
- July 2006 (3)
- June 2006 (4)
- More...
Misc
XML Feeds
What is RSS?
Who's Online?
- Guest Users: 113
