In the summer, I like to collect the fryer oil in the morning, especially on a day with more triple-digits in the forecast. So I did my round this morning and “liberated” about 50 gallons – 20 from Alivia’s, 20 from Piazza Italia and 10 from El Rodeo. My new system at Piazza Italia works [...]

The BIG list was abuzz today with interpretations of the new biodiesel tax situation in North Carolina. There were some questions about how these recent changes, like how the tax exemption for homebrew biodiesel will be applied to SVO use. Matt Rudolph, the ED of Piedmont Biofuels explained that under NC law, veggie oil as [...]

The North Carolina General Assembly has adjourned for this session, and last Thursday the legislators passed S1272: Motor Fuels Tax Exemption for Biodiesel, which removes the requirement to pay road tax on homebrew biodiesel. That’s awesome – a great incentive for homebrewers. Also, legislators changed the tax law to remove the $2000 bond for fuel [...]

If this story about these three guys from Wales is true, and their “greenbox” is real, and if it works … then it might well be the holy grail in the struggle to prevent a climate catastrophe. They claim that their invention can capture emissions from IC engines and store it. The waste from the [...]

There is so much interesting and important stuff going on: A new film documents the ongoing genocide perpetrated on the Acholi people in Uganda (HT to Vicky), perpetuated by, among other things, US military aid (war-on-terror-dollars) The US Congress is debating about subsidies for a road fuel that releases twice as much pollution as gasoline: [...]

Yesterday was the Durham Earth Day Celebration and it was a gorgeous, sunny and very busy day. We had a Piedmont Biofiuels/BullCity Biodiesel booth at the event and Chris brought his brand-new, jet-black 2006 Jetta TDI over for show-and-tell. Interest in biodiesel and alternative fuels in general was really strong, and our volunteers Jeff, Gary, [...]

Between the news of the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech (we’re all Hokies this week!), a slightly hectic, double trip to the beach and another offer on a new house, we’ve had a busy, weird time lately. Last week the kids were off from school, so on Thursday we drove to Atlantic Beach, to join [...]

Coming up for air a bit … we have some big projects going on, like getting our house ready to put on the market (to sell it) and looking for a new place to live. We’re planning to stay here in Durham, we just need a third bedroom, and a change in scenery. Anyway – [...]

The other day Marc posted a message to the BIG list with a link to an article that is quite critical of the biofuels industry, and a good example of some of the one-sided thinking of the critics of biofuels. THE REAL SCOOP ON BIOFUELS “Green Energy” Panacea or Just the Latest Hype? by Brian [...]

Lots of stuff is brewing. I started a Mr Brew keg – 2 gallons of Märzen – I am very curious how that’s going to turn out. I also have 50 gallons of biodiesel settling in the basement. I am running low on methanol – need to make a run to the Roxboro Dragway for [...]

Our local paper, the News & Observer, ran a story today about the status of alternative fuels in the Triangle area and yours truly is mentioned as one of the local “biodiesel nuts” :) … I wish Bull City Biodiesel got a bit more credit for providing 1000 gallons of biodiesel a month to Durham. [...]

Last night it was freeeezing – the low was 10.9 °F / -11.7 °C. Big OOOPS! I did not add more petro diesel to the blend in the fuel tank in my car and the dam juice gelled up. I was worried about it, but when the car started I thought I was good … [...]

Heat mining apparently has much greater potential in the US as previously thought. The idea of exploiting geothermal energy by drilling deep holes into hot rocks deep underground is not confined to Iceland and Yellowstone. According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this awesome, abundant source of energy (the hot core [...]

Today, on the way home from work, the Jetta passed its 65,000 miles marker (and the airbag light came on). That means, it’s been running on mostly biodiesel for over 27,000 miles. :) Yippee!!

Last year had a couple of surprises for us, although most of these have yet to be completely realized: we found a new house, but we have yet to move there; we began planning our trip to Togo (and Ghana) for the upcoming July; and the Democrats won back the U.S. Congress. One of the [...]

Tom Philpott (Grist) questions entomologist and biofuels skeptic extraordinaire David Pimentel (Cornell) about why crop-based energy won’t work. Interesting interview, but Pimentel does need to get out a bit more. And I wish Philpott had been a bit more probing on some of Pimentel’s assertions – like this one: Pimentel: Conserve! One word. And no [...]

CSU announced a partnership with Solix Biofuels to get serious about commercializing technology that can produce huge amounts of very oily types of algae for biofuels production. “Algae are the fastest growing organisms on the planet, and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than conventional soil-tilled crops that are now being grown for [...]

Today I got my Wash Pro Stainless Steel Washer & Dryer from Utah Biodiesel Supply and I installed it on one of my wash tanks, where I had been bubble washing my latest batch for about a week. The washwater was still a bit soapy, but it looked like it was pretty well done. I [...]

My latest batch of biodiesel is looking pretty good. I washed it all week. I even built another washtank (left). Maybe tomorrow I’ll start drying part of the batch. There is no hurry – I still have about 30 gallons in stock. Yesterday, after I built the new washtank, I filled it up with 25 [...]

How many types of computer networks do you know? There is the most common TCP/IP networking, across copper, fiber or wireless (very likely that is what you are using to read this page). IPv6 is the new kid on the block, and some may remember the old stuff, like Tokenring and IPX, and when all [...]