Getting turned on to biodiesel

<p>As many as two dozen individuals and at least two good-sized businesses in Petaluma have turned to using biodiesel, a processed form of vegetable oil, to power their vehicles. Those using the fuel locally say they favor the fuel because it is a non-petroleum-based, renewable resource that creates fewer carbon dioxide emissions and does not have to be imported from overseas. Much of it, in fact, comes from the Midwest.</p><p>Biodiesel is one of several alternative vehicle propulsion methods being used today. Its system is not related to hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius, which run on a combination of regular gas and electric battery power, or electric cars, which run on batteries alone. It’s also not the same as compressed natural gas, which powers some buses, cars and trucks, or ethanol, which is mixed with standard gasoline in a number of states.</p><p>As local biodiesel drivers will tell you, just about any diesel vehicle can use some form of biodiesel instead of standard diesel.</p><p>One local biodiesel evangelist is Daria Pavliger, who pours B100, or 100 percent biodiesel, into the tank of her 2004 Volkswagen Beetle TDI.</p><p>“I’m this one-woman militia, converting people to biodiesel,” said the co-owner of a photography services business. She feels that while hybrids do use less gas, the eventual disposal of the sizable hybrid batteries into landfills outweighs the positive benefits.</p><p>But the difficulty in finding places to fill up takes much more effort than for hybrids, which can go to any gas station. Petaluma has no biodiesel provider, although drivers can fill up on regular diesel in a pinch. Pavliger drives to Pacific Pride in Santa Rosa to fill up.</p><p>She said that her production company has a 38-foot motor coach that runs on regular fuel with poor gas mileage, so she decided to convert to the low-CO2 emission biodiesel in her personal car to lessen her impact on the environment. In addition, she wants to lessen our nation’s dependency on imported oil from the Middle East.</p><p>“I have children and I want there to be an Earth left for them,” Pavliger said. “And I have a 24-year-old son and I don’t want him to go to Iraq.”</p><p>Those interviewed said their vehicles got the same mileage whether they used diesel or biodiesel, but almost all said they were using the alternative fuel in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions rather than to save money. In fact, the biodiesel can cost a more — as much as four dollars per gallon, while diesel now hovers around three dollars — although the biodiesel prices don’t tend to fluctuate like gas prices.</p><p>Architect Claudia Cleaver gets fuel for her Volkswagen Golf TDI from Sonoma County Biodiesel Coop in Santa Rosa. She runs B100, but in the winter she puts in half a tank of regular diesel to lessen the risk of biodiesel coagulation, which can reduce the temperature and sometimes harm the fuel pump. The biodiesel fuel’s properties can also sometimes act as a solvent, cleansing diesel deposits from the fuel tank that can also harm the fuel pump.</p><p>That’s what happened to Wally Parker, a mortgage broker who has just moved back to Petaluma. Parker runs his main vehicle, a 2003 Ford F-250, on B100. But he blew two $1,100 fuel pumps on his 2005 Mercedes E320 CDI, which he bought specifically to run on 100 percent biodiesel. Mercedes wouldn’t pay for the second pump, so now he runs B33.</p><p>Paul Mackey, a Cal Fire fire apparatus engineer who runs two biodiesel vehicles of his own, said the fuel is non-toxic and biodegradable.</p><p>“There’s some confusion over it because it is used as a fuel source,” he said. </p><p>Local businesses are experimenting with the fuel as well. Petaluma-based North Bay Construction has been using B20 to fuel more than a dozen of its bulldozers, excavators, backhoes, pavers and rollers since last year.</p><p>The company has seen no problems caused by using the fuel, and hopes to run the entire operation on a B40 blend in the next three to five years, according to company president Steve Geney.</p><p>And since last year, Petaluma-based Clover Stornetta Farms has been running about 100 bobtail trucks, tractor-trailers and refrigerated vans on biodiesel using a B10 blend. They may move to a B20 blend if they find that their manufacturers will still honor warranties for vehicles using the blend.</p><p>“I hope that will be in our future and I expect it will be,” said Mkulima Britt, the company’s vice president of finance.</p><p>(Contact Dane Golden at dane.golden@arguscourier.com)</p>