Rants, Raves and Intriguing Topics...

This will be my first parallel posting. I've had a number of ideas for topics to put out on the blog and thought that I'd prefer to leave the Long Island Engel Home to more family topics and events. I’ve created a new blog called Rants, Raves and Intriguing Topics where I’ll discuss events in the news that move me, new technologies or just something that I need to just rant and rave about. Hopefully it will be entertaining and thought provoking. I welcome all comments as I discuss anything and everything.

My first topic will be about BioDiesel and an article / news video clip from CBS News.

I've been doing some research lately on BioDiesel. I mentioned in a previous message about some of the research and my method of getting the information. Since then I've been getting a lot of information on the BioDiesel industry and how it appears to be growing more and more.
To give you a practical view of what BioDiesel is and what it does here’s a good link.

A quick definition of BioDiesel: BioDiesel is derived from nothing less than vegetable oils. It can be pretty much any kind of oil. Extraction from soybeans is the most common, but there are others that tend to have a higher yield per acre that may be making a better option in the near future.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not much of an activist. I’ve never been into the tree hugging thing. Although I like trees in general, I’ve never met one that seemed to need a hug. Every now and then I hear something on the news or on NPR that piques my interest. BioDiesel is one of them. Although I don’t own a Diesel powered vehicle, the concept of BioDiesel makes me consider getting one.

The process of making BioDiesel is fairly simple. So simple in fact that you can make your own in your own garage. Yes, I said your own garage. If you don't have a garage you could make it in a shed if you like it takes up about as much room as a furnace and a hot water heater. Here's a link on how to make your own.

Holly and I were watching 60 Minutes the other night and saw a clip about global warming. This reminded Holly of a clip she had recently seen about a group of high school students who built a BioDiesel vehicle after school in their shop class. You can read and watch it here. There are many companies racing to become the leaders in BioDiesel production. I've found one that I think could be a viable company to invest in. I may discuss this at a later time. What I find enlightening in this news article and video, is that a group of troubled high school students that everyone else had given up on were responsible for building a vehicle that can run completely on fuel derived from vegetable oil. The following excerpt from the article sums it up pretty well:

"We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they (the Automotive Industry) doing it?"

Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.

"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down — to low billions upon billions."

Recently General Motors (GM) has been putting out advertisements that say their vehicles will work with BioDiesel. What’s not so well known is that any Diesel vehicle made after 1992 can run on B100 (100% BioDiesel).

A number of states are requiring that all diesel fuel sold be a mixture of BioDiesel; At least 3%. Many are keeping the amount low where others are making it a B20 20% Biodiesel 80% petrol diesel. Some municipalities are requiring all road crew vehicles, bus lines and school buses to use the “green fuel”, as they like to call it.

Many people are saying that this is a great concept, but (there always has to be a but in there somewhere), there is a belief that there could never be a total switch from petrol diesel to BioDiesel because the production could never meet the need. There just isn’t enough space to grow enough crops.

Even so, reducing our dependence on foreign oil is an attractive reason along with pumping money into our own economy.

I’m continuing to research more about this. If you are curious I can post more information at a later date. Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on this. I welcome the opportunity to chat about it.

Topics like this one will be posted on the new blog (Rants, Raves and Intriguing Topics) Feel free to check it out!