Potential Negative Impacts of Biodiesel

[Anonymous]

This is not directly related to any technical info, but just wanted to mention some relevent info to those using biodiesel regarding some potentially negative impacts related to the growing biodiesel industry, mainly the destruciton of large amounts of rainforest to grow palm tree plantations, since palm trees have a very high yield of oil.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/120605EA.shtml

As biodiesel demand increases in North America, it may be prudent to be an informed consumer and choose when you can where your biodiesel comes from.

Personally, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but as always we must be aware and mediate when possible the negative spin-offs of our choices.

[v8volvo]

We just need to expand the industry RESPONSIBLY. If Big Oil, ADM, or other similar corporations are in charge of the expansion, they'll do it in whatever way makes them the most money the fastest, and damn the social and environmental consequences. That's totally unproductive. You're absolutely right, we must be informed consumers and demand that our clean fuel is not made in dirty, environmentally-damaging ways.

Of course, it is true that to really replace all our diesel needs we would have to use way too much farmland for oil production, which would mess with food supply and prices and cause potentially great environmental harm. That's why the real answer is conservation, along with sustainable, carbon-neutral fueling...I like the statement a biodiesel-fueled Hummer or Powerstroke makes, but we need to combine sustainability with conservation or else we're going nowhere. That's what our 50-mpg VW diesels are all about.

Thanks for posting this!

[Homer T. Coyote]

You have to be careful w/ the enviromental wackos. They are ruled by emotion and what makes them feel good. This statement is a clue.
"The last time I drew attention to the hazards of making diesel fuel from vegetable oils, I received as much abuse as I have ever been sent for my stance on the Iraq war."
I have never heard of using palm oil for fuel but harvesting the palm oil does not kill the tree. According to Wikipedia there have been platations of palm oil trees around for awhile.

Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders, the oil being used as industrial lubricant for the machines of Britain's ongoing Industrial Revolution, as well as forming the basis for different brands of soap such as Palmolive. By c.1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria. By the 1880s, cocoa had become more highly sought-after, leading to the decline of the palm oil industry and trade within these countries.