The Good Times had an article about bio-diesel in its latest edition. The article featured SCCG member and general contractor Ray Newkirk. Apparently bio-diesel consumption is not growing as quickly as hoped. That makes me wonder. With all the government rules and regulations there must be a market for restoring old pre-smog certification trucks rebuilt with new diesel engines fueled by bio-diesel. What about a line of rebuilt trucks running on bio-diesel. I’d be in the market for one of those. What would that cost? That could turn into a real viable local business, especially if teamed up with the Green Station. What do you think?
MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Daniel Shermis Construction
Congratulations to Daniel Shermis as our February 2012 Member of the Month. Not only is Daniel the only member to have built a brewery, he also helped to rebuild the damaged sign of the downtown Boys & Girls Club.
Welcome
Mike Hartrich
Yeah MIke. I like the idea of retrofitting new diesel engines but that can be pretty costly. There are plenty of nice diesel trucks already out there that run GREAT on biodiesel. Everything from Dodge Rams with Cummins diesels to Ford, Chevy, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Iveco flatbeds and box trucks. We have a number of contractors from electricians, generals (including me whose been burning bio for over 10 years) landscapers and a moving truck. Saturday a big food truck (roach coach) came through. They do catering for big events and corporate gigs with sustainable seafood and organic produce. Nice rig, Grumman as I recall. The only reason to NOT use bio is if you’re still under warranty, dealers are always looking for a way to get out of doing warranty work and biodiesel is a convenient scapegoat. In their eyes if your windshield wipers don’t work it’s biodiesel’s fault.
In almost every case, no conversion is required. Some older vehicles you may have to replace some short pieces of old rubber fuel line but that’s it. Conversions are only necessary to run straight vegetable oil because it’s thicker and you need to heat and extensively filter it. Our biodiesel is all recycled restaurant fryer oil that has been processed to ASTM fuel specs to remove the glycerin. This makes it thinner, more stable and more reliable. It also has far greater lubricity than petro-diesel which will make your engine last longer. The other thing that will extend engine life is that it burns cleaner and is a good solvent that will clean existing carbon and other deposits in your engine and fuel system This may clog a filter or 2 at first but once the petro-gunk is out of your system, you’re golden. Biodiesel also makes great non-toxic form oil for foundations, drilling/cutting oil, penetrating oil. degreaser, chain lube (bicycles, not chainsaws) and more. And talk about thinking local first! Not a drop of this fuel comes from the Middle East, Nigeria, Mexico, or anywhere else. It’s all made in Northern CA.