[Biodiesel News] It's Big Green country

It's Big Green country

The Tennessean - Nashville,TN,USA

Students at the Knoxville campus have launched a program to produce biodiesel fuel by using vegetable oil that would have been thrown out from the dining hall. ...

 

University of Tennessee students are proving they care as much about being green as orange, and the state should salute them for it.

 

Students at the Knoxville campus have launched a program to produce biodiesel fuel by using vegetable oil that would have been thrown out from the dining hall. They take the oil and extract biodiesel by using heat, lye and alcohol. The plan is to create about 200 gallons of B-20 biodiesel fuel each week for the school's fleet of 11 diesel trucks, buses, backhoes and front-end loaders. The biodiesel burns cleaner than regular diesel fuel. The process reduces the amount of sulfur, particulates and hydrocarbons, although the amount of nitrogen emissions stays about the same. Engine performance is said to be about the same.

 

The fuel costs about 20 cents more per gallon than conventional diesel fuel. But the project is funded with a $10,000 grant that comes for a "green power" fee. Students adopted that fee in 2003, raising about $450,000 each semester, with most going to buy green power from the Tennessee Valley Authority.

 

The campus is now the largest purchaser of green power in the state.

 

Students involved in the biodiesel project not only want the program up and running but want it to be sustainable for future students. They have seized on a way to help the environment at the same time they set an example for the rest of the state. If there were any doubts about an understanding of the importance of environmental issues among young people, students at UTK are dismissing them.

 

Such projects are sprouting up elsewhere. It would be nice to see even more communities and businesses do the same.

 

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Posted by Vince to Biodiesel News at 9/18/2006 11:08:00 AM