Customer Reviews

Biodiesel: Growing A New Energy Economy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Below is my favourable take on Greg Pahl's "Biodiesel":

Diesel-powered vehicles and equipment are everywhere, and are likely to continue to exist for years, if not for generations to come. Buses, trains, trucks, generators, and a growing number of automobiles use diesel fuel. Diesel engines tend to be more fuel-efficient, and last longer, than their gasoline-powered counterparts. Diesel engines get better torque than do gasoline engines, and devote more of their energy to propulsion (what we want), and less to wasted heat (what we don't want). In summary, diesel engines have a lot going for them.

However, the challenge is that diesel, along with its cousin, gasoline, are fossil fuels, whose supplies are, by most reasonable estimates, finite and declining at rates greater than many of us feel comfortable to acknowledge. Diesel fuel, when burned by an inefficient engine, generates a lot of pollution, both real (e.g. particulate matter) and perceived (i.e. billowing clouds of smoke). Diesel has a bad reputation in some circles, and often this is deserved.

Enter biodiesel, a renewable alternative to traditional "petrodiesel". Developed over the past several decades from various plant and animal "feedstocks", biodiesel is a relatively clean-burning fuel that can either supplement or, in some cases, replace the non-renewable petrodiesel. For example, B20 biodiesel, which I use in my 2004 VW Golf, consists of 20% biodiesel and 80% traditional petrodiesel. Overall engine performance is as good as, if not better than, what would be experienced using pure petrodiesel. The greater lubricity of biodiesel prolongs the life of engines that use it; this attribute will grow in importance as diesel suppliers are encouraged or forced to reduce the sulphur content of the fuel... the lower the sulphur, the lower the lubricity.

Other big motivations for using biodiesel are that, as a locally-sourced form of energy, it reduces our reliance on oil from other countries; additionally, there is its tendency to emit fewer toxic substances than an equal volume of petrodiesel. Local farmers, supplying the soybeans or switchgrass that constitute the biodiesel feedstock to nearby refiners, stand to benefit financially. Even used vegetable frying oil from restaurants can be salvaged and, with minimal processing, converted to cleanly burning biodiesel.

Greg Pahl makes the technology of biodiesel production accessible to the layperson; those of us who struggled through high school chemistry can grasp the concepts that Pahl presents so clearly. In a nutshell, many plants that are the beneficiaries of photosynthesis, such as soybeans and canola, hold in their cells energy from the sun, in a similar way that oil in the tar sands holds energy from the sun in the form of plant and animal matter that lived millions of years ago, and has been compressed and preserved.

The future of biodiesel depends on a few factors: education of customers, and governments that offer subsidies to suppliers of "green" energy sources; a steady supply of biodiesel feedstocks, such as soybean oil, canola oil, used vegetable fryer oil, and even animal fat from meat renders; a corresponding steady price for such feedstocks, so that biodiesel production capacity planning can be done with lower risk; a relatively attractive price for biodiesel vis-à-vis petrodiesel prices; cooperation between the large and small biodiesel suppliers; and collaboration between biodiesel suppliers of all shapes and sizes with the traditional petrodiesel vertical infrastructure (from the extraction of raw crude oil, all the way to the retail pumps in your neighbourhood).

Unlike hydrogen technology, biodiesel is a relatively clean, renewable energy source that is in successful, widespread use today: entire school bus fleets in the US run on pure biodiesel, with positive performance results and, happily, lower engine maintenance costs. Politically, it is often a no-brainer for state and local governments to embrace biodiesel use, as it puts money in the pockets of local farmers, and the fuel can be used with no need to convert existing diesel-consuming equipment. However, the traditional petrodiesel industry may well balk at moves to support biodiesel proliferation, since this would dilute, figuratively and literally, the concentration of petrodiesel that its customers necessarily need to buy.

I highly recommend Pahl's book. It provides a balanced view of the benefits and challenges that face biodiesel producers and users. Having said this, Pahl is a cheerleader for biodiesel, and justifiably so. It's hard not to share his enthusiasm.

The author has done a masterful job of building the case for a serious exploration of a bio-based energy economy. The book has a friendly not-too-technical style and it's incredibly well researched, carefully documented and very well organized. As an added bonus, Biodiesel starts off with an insightful forward by celebrated author and environmentalist, Bill McKibben.

After setting the tone for the book by bringing to light the potential crisis of Peak Oil, Pahl begins to delve into part of the solution as he leads the reader on a great story ride through the life (and death!) of Rudolf Diesel, to the early pioneers of biodiesel across the European eco-industrial landscape and back to the present day biodiesel industry currently emerging in the U.S.. The book is full of personal interviews with key players that brings this rapidly evolving world of agriculture, science and alternative energy to life. And Greg Pahl does an excellent job of providing a balanced look at both the possibilities and the social and environmental challenges of drawing increasing amounts of energy from the soil.

I've been pretty involved in sustainable development for years (and biofuels in particular) and I can only say that this latest book by the author is a real gift and a "must read" for anyone interested in or working towards a renewable energy future.

I've learned more about the history of the diesel engine and biodiesel after reading the first chapter of this book than I have in the two years since I started reading about biodiesel. Anyone wanting to know about the complete history of biodiesel should read this book! It's obvious that the author has done his homework.

Green G

Greg does a great job of explaining what biodiesel is, how/where it came about, and why it is a good additive to our current petrodiesel. He also writes about what other countries are doing with and how they are (currently) ahead of the US in utilizing it. He also discusses other forms of alternative/renewable sources of energy. I would recommend this book as good reading, but I would probably recommend 'Biodiesel America' first....as it has a bit more current info than Biodiesel: Growing A New Energy Economy. But good reading nontheless.

I found this to be a very interesting book to read. I have known for sometime that diesel fuel could be made from hemp seed oil but this book breaks down the walls to ignorance and fills the void with useful examples of what could be happening and what is happening around the world. I strongly recommend this book as part of well balanced diet of alternative energy readings. My only real critisicm of this work is that there is nothing said about the potential of Hemp. The author writes an entire section about the oil to weight ratios of various seed stocks that could be used for fuel. Most noticably missing is the Hemp seed which grows in every client and produces a more abundent amount of oil by weight than all the others! Maybe the author did not know that the first diesel fuel was made from vegatable oils. Henry Ford found that Hemp seed oil was the best for making diesel fuel. I wonder, could this be a hang up caused by the current "Drug War"? It is a shame that a useful plant such as Hemp would be omitted from a work on Bio-Diesel.
Otherwise, this is a must read. As most of us are begining to realize, crude oil is going to run out. So the question of what to use for fuel next is not a matter of "IF" but "When" and we as a society need to find alternatives. Bio-Deisel has great potential.
The book is a smooth read. It is engaging and full of detail which is carefully sourced but not dry or boring. I enjoyed it very much.

Interest in alternative motor fuels has been rising even faster than the cost of gasoline. Biodiesel, a drop-in replacement for diesel fuel, is widely seen as one of the best renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, there is a good deal of misinformation and just plain nonsense out there. As a former big-oil-company research chemist with some experience in alternative fuels, I am often asked where good, reliable information can be found. I use and recommend Pahl's book as a source for trustworthy information written for the non-technical reader. In addition, his information about Rudolph Diesel is a very interesting introduction.
Readers should know (and Pahl in fact tells them)that his book is not neutral: he is an unabashed biodiesel proponent. That's not a problem; there is a lot to be excited about when discussing biodiesel. Another warning: if you want to make your own biodiesel (easy to do, actually), go to the Internet, as Pahl concentrates on larger-scale operations. The book's biggest drawback is that the field is changing so rapidly that some of the information (particularly relating to political and commercial developments) is already out of date, even though it was published in 2005.
Nevertheless, Pahl has written what I consider to be the best primer on biodiesel available. Anyone interested in learning about biodiesel should own or have access to a copy.

This book really has two messages. One is that biodiesel, that is diesel produced all or in part from vegtable oils is a practical fuel, or at least an extension to fuel. The other part is an evangelical sermon saying that the Government should support biofuels better.

I agree with him on the first point. He says that bio fuels will never completely replace petro fuels. And in spite of the claims of some of the true believers, the US is not going to be able to produce enough fuel for it to continue using as much energy as it does now.

On his second point of getting the Government to solve the problem, I don't think so. My experience is that the Government tends to screw up more than it fixes.

Our Government responds to what they think the people want. And a poll published just the other day says that 73% of the people believe that the reason for high gasoline prices is price goughing by the big oil companies. The people completely ignore the fact that China and India have increased their imports by 30%.

Today I read two things in the morning paper that give me hope for bio fuels. One was that the price of oil on the world market hit a new high. The second was that there are huge sales on SUV's particularily the bigger ones. I don't see the news shows putting these two points together, but that's another matter.

Oil is going to continue to go up, not always, but the trend line is up. When people go to the gas station and petro fuel is $5 a gallon and bio-augmented fuels, either biodiesel or gasohol is $4.75 a gallon the problem will be solved.

Greg's book is a fine introduction to the concept of diesel biofuels and deserves its fivestar rating. As someone who has actually refined and used biodiesel on a daily basis, as opposed to a bio-d critic just pontificating about the subject in general, his viewpoint is very welcome. I found 'Biodiesel' well written and a good introduction to the interesting world of biodiesel fuels, its raw material sourcing, and the growing industry of biofuel production. While obviously written from a pro-biodiesel viewpoint, it is an experienced and well-grounded one. Pahl obviously believes that the advantages of cleaner emissions and potential for OPEC import reductions outweigh biodiesel's disadvantages. Pahl may be dismissed by some as a Vermont treehugger, but you don't have to take his word for it. Long-haul truckers are already flocking to biodiesel for its clean burn, longer engine component life, and greater fuel economy - and those guys don't waste money on impractical solutions!

I wouldn't pay too much attention to unemployed agronomists in Brazil or otherwise, with patently obvious agendas against biodiesel as book critics. Ethanol is a great biofuel, but its advantages are oversold as a cure-all. It won't solve our energy problems in the US by itself, and biodiesel fuels are also needed, which Pahl notes come from a constantly expanding variety of byproduct oils from many plant and animal sources. Brazil still has to import petrodiesel to run its trucking industry, and here in the U.S. we have a 'few' large trucks that wouldn't work too well on E85!

As to the book critics, most of them don't like biodiesel, and mistake bio-d criticism for book criticism. The two are completely different. Have they even read the book? I also note that most bio-d critics have never even tried the fuel anyway - just how does can anyone know something doesn't work on either the national or local level if they haven't either tried the fuel in the field or worked in quantity bio-d research and production? At least Mr. Pahl has user experience. Agree or disagree, but at least write a review based on the book, not on your own prejudices.

This book was needed for my 7th graders science report. We were unable to find any books of this kind in are public library (checked 6 counties) or our school library. My 7th grader actually ordered this book from some other seller but after 1 1/2 weeks and no ship I had to find a seller who could get it here quick at a decent price and Tri-City came thru. Thank you so much. We will be sure to order from them again. We also will be donating the book to the school library when done. Thanks again

The author does a great job explaining what biodiesel is and how it compares to petroleum based diesel fuel. A major portion of this book reviews the biodiesel production / outlook in other countries which I was less interested in. Unfortunately, this book is not very technical and and only briefly goes through the process of making biodiesel...mainly referring to another book for that information. All in all, a great book that someone with no technical background could pick up and learn alot about the subject.