Our future depends on that french fry smell, Gas costs force woman to leave Corvallis

Our future depends on that french fry smell
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - Ontario,CA,USA
... children – diesel vehicles and soybeans. The product that may be the savior of the very air we breathe is called biodiesel. It is one of ...
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It’s a murky gray-brown stew of noxious fumes, and every year in May I look up into the sky and dream about moving to a place where the air isn’t so thick that you need a knife to cut through it.

Usually I am looking at the rancid air of San Bernardino County, the county with the worst ozone air pollution in the United States, as I drive down the freeway in my vehicle, which is adding to the problem.

There is hope on our smog-covered horizon, however, and it comes in the form of a marriage between a past enemy of the clean air cause and a current enemy of the palates of children – diesel vehicles and soybeans.

The product that may be the savior of the very air we breathe is called biodiesel. It is one of the cleanest fuels in existence, it is already available, and we don’t have to depend on our neighbors overseas dredging up the liquefied remains of long-dead microorganisms to get it.

Older diesel vehicles are infamous for emitting highly toxic soot particles that have been linked to increased death rates and lung diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. At present, most new diesel cars and light-duty trucks manufactured in and after 2004 do not meet strict California vehicle standards and cannot be sold in California.

Now, diesel vehicles and their fuel sources are getting extreme makeovers. New, cleaner diesel vehicles that will meet California standards are expected to be available well in advance of the 2009 model year, when more stringent standards take effect. A better, cleaner diesel fuel will also be required nationwide by next month, further reducing emissions from diesel vehicles already on the road.

But the future of our respiratory tracts may depend on our use of biodiesel, an exciting fuel alternative for diesel vehicles made from vegetable oils or animal fats. Biodiesel can be used in any diesel vehicle with little or no modification required, can be pumped and stored from the same service station facilities that currently provide gasoline, is biodegradable and nontoxic and, most important, is made completely from renewable resources.

Even better? In addition to reducing net carbon dioxide emissions by 78 percent, as compared to petroleum diesel, biodiesel also comes with the added perk of making your car smell like french fries when it’s running.

Though biodiesel’s current cost is comparable to that of regular diesel, increased supply and demand will undoubtedly lower the price substantially over time.

Biodiesel has already met all the exacting standards of all concerned organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

If California, the world’s fifth-largest economy and home to some 24 million motor vehicles, starts the ball rolling, the rest of America will surely not be far behind.

Should legislators take a firm stand and force the hand of automobile manufacturers and fuel companies – requiring them to offer an increasing quantity of diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel and a decreasing quantity of gasoline and gasoline-fueled vehicles – it won’t be long before we’ll all be able to inhale sweet, clean air.

Perhaps someday, my grandchildren will look at me with dazed curiosity when I tell them of a time when the air was so brown and thick you could not see the mountains less than five miles from my home. Or that there was a time when we were so dependent on foreign oil, our very economy was threatened by our insatiable thirst for it.

And then they will ask me, with all sincerity, how I could have ever once dreamed of leaving a place as beautiful as this.

Michelle Groh-Gordy is a longtime traffic school instructor and the owner of InterActive! Traffic School Online (http://www.trafficinteractive.com) . Send questions to drivetime@dailybulletin.com or write to DriveTime c/o The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, PO Box 4000, Ontario, CA 91761. Some reader questions will be answered in the paper on the last Monday of every month.

 

Gas costs force woman to leave Corvallis
Albany Democrat Herald - Albany,OR,USA
... She’s relocating to an organic farm just a few miles from her job. She’s planning to trade in her truck for a smaller car that runs on biodiesel. ...
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 One hour, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.

That’s how long it took to pedal the 13.5 miles across Albany and to Corvallis for my job at the Gazette-Times on Friday. The commute wasn’t as bad as I expected.

But I saw why a bike path between the two cities would be advantageous.

My route took me onto Riverside Drive and then Highway 34 three miles from Corvallis. Thankfully, no teens made Lance Armstrong jokes as I pedaled past West Albany High School.

Surprisingly, at least to me, riding within Albany seemed the most dangerous, and not just because I had to make a left turn against traffic.

On one stretch, with no bike path and almost no shoulder, truck mirrors whizzed by uncomfortably close. Traffic felt too close sometimes even when there was a bike lane.

Out on more rural roads, motorists can go wide around cyclists.

Of course, it was also nice to be on Riverside Drive for the countryside, barns, horses and cemeteries.

The Highway 34 shoulder was wide and safe, but the noise was overbearing. Lord how I wished for an iPod.

I would have gone to my happy place, but it’s hard to daydream when you keep getting interrupted by industrial trucks.

Corvallis, like Albany, seemed bustling with traffic. You never notice it when you’re driving in a car, but believe me, on a bike, it can be nerve wracking.

On Fourth Street, there was no bike lane, but I took pride that I could match the speed of cars, even at the end of my ride, and even on knobby tires.

The ride to work and then back home was tiring, especially the back-home part. But also, oddly enough, it was somewhat invigorating.

After quitting bicycling in eighth grade, when the activity was no longer cool, I did little biking until about two months ago, when I bought a mountain bike.

From Albany to Corvallis, just one-way, was probably the longest ride I’ve ever done, so I had to resist the urge to brag to co-workers, “You know what? I biked to work today. From Albany.”

But you know what? It really isn’t that far away, even by pedal power.