Last week I wrote about how Honduras’s Bay Islands are suffering from exorbitant electricity prices despite the conspicuous potential for wind and solar technology. Today I would like to talk about the potential role of biofuels in offsetting or eliminating diesel usage as part of a renewable energy ’solution’.

Let me return to the Bay Islands and add a third and final player to the renewable energy triad: biodiesel.

As you know from my biodiesel mythbuster, biodiesel is a liquid, bio-based fuel that can be used in any diesel engine. This has important implications for tropical locales in general, but especially the Bay Islands, where 99.9% of electricity 99.9% of transportation needs are met by diesel engines. Even rapid and widespread implementation of wind and solar won’t change the transportation requirements for diesel. But biodiesel - if available in sufficient quantity on the islands - could offset the lion’s share of dirty-diesel fuel usage.

Yes, that’s a big “if,” supply being biofuels’ endemic problem. On the other hand, tropical environments are well-suited to biodiesel, with warm climates and productive feedstocks. It just so happens that mainland Honduras is already producing biodiesel. With Honduras still shouldering the highest gasoline prices in Central America, it could be time to consider a more ecologically and economically friendly alternative: Palm oil.

The price of diesel in Honduras continues to rise. The national average for March was $2.60, up fifteen percent from last year’s average. . .Of course, with no facilities for processing crude oil internally, all of Honduras’ gasoline is imported - around ten million barrels per year - with prices largely dependent on other countries’ export rates as well as the tax levied by the Honduran government. But there is an alternative. Once converted through a simple process known as transesterification, the oil of the African palm - one of Honduras’ major existing natural resources - can make an efficient biofuel to run diesel engines without the need for any modifications.”

We’re all familiar with the dangers of palm oil plantations, granted, but even without expansion the industry could easily meet the meager fuel needs of the Bay Islands. Biodiesel production would also create an entirely new industry and keep some of that oil money at home. Could palm oil production be sustainable? That’s a great question, and biodiesel production on mainland Honduras and greater Central America certainly warrants further investigation.

Back to the Bay Islands: Every morning, while subdued boats gently tug at the dock and the ‘clink…clink’ of scuba-tanks can be heard in the distance, diesel engines across the harbor sputter to life. Dive boats are the life-blood of the industry. Most shops have groups out in the morning, afternoon, and sometimes evening, with some trips lasting an hour each way. Before departing, boats typically idle at the dock for 20 minutes while they inject diesel exhaust directly into the water, nearly asphyxiating passengers when they finally push off. The smoke trail rising from the stern is just part of the experience - at least it always has been.

If you’ve ever been on any kind of diesel-powered marine vessel, you may fondly remember the noxious aroma of sooty diesel exhaust floating over the water. One thing I failed to mention in my last post was the dramatic difference biodiesel makes in visible smoke emitted by diesel engines. Using even a small blend of biodiesel cuts that considerably, even eliminating it (other factors, like cold weather contribute to smoke). Instead of dirty-diesel exhaust, how about the faint odor of french fries? Anyone?

Crude palm oil, of which around 250 million kilos will be produced in Honduras this year, is thick and dark red. When it is refined the biodiesel produced is pale yellow, has no odor, smells like frying potatoes when it burns and creates very little smoke. And even more importantly for a country crippled by the price of its gasoline, it could prove up to ten percent cheaper than its non-renewable counterpart.. . .Honduras currently imports just over 1.1 million tons of diesel fuel every year. Dinant Corporation statistics show that were all the palm oil from the 70,000 hectares in Honduras used to produce biodiesel, it would satisfy just over twenty percent of this national demand.”

Besides cutting the emission of most combustion products by 50% or more (in higher blends), biodiesel is also better for the environment when spilled. And yes, some amount of diesel fuel is going to end up in the water no matter how hard everyone tries. In an area dependent on the aquatic ecosystem for basic services (fishing) and the economy (tourism), it makes sense to avoid damaging the resource. Biodiesel is particularly suitable for environmentally sensitive areas like parklands and marine environments considering that it’s ‘non-toxic’ (comparable to table salt) and biodegrades as fast as sugar.

For an excellent introduction to biodiesel in marine applications, take a look at The Technical Handbook for Marine Biodiesel In Recreational Boats.

Biodiesel runs just as well in diesel generators as it does in boat engines, with the same reduction tangible benefits. While wind and solar technology are better long-term options for electricity generation, biodiesel could start offsetting diesel usage today, with no change in infrastructure. In case you aren’t familiar with them, yesterday I stumbled across an excellent description of life with diesel generators:

Chronic power shortages in Myanmar are leaving cities in the former Burma shrouded in almost permanent blackout, driving its citizens to despair and crippling an economy reeling from decades of military misrule…Small businesses such as photo-processing shops or Internet cafes need portable generators to get by and have to hike prices to reflect the high cost of diesel, nearly all of which is imported…But the use of generators comes with hidden costs for the wider population, mainly in the form of noise and air pollution. “With all the blackouts, generator noise, diesel fumes and flash floods in the rainy season due to the choked drains, life here has become horrible,” said Ba Tin, a retired civil servant. “My whole family has developed a sort of migraine. We often get headaches and nausea, especially when the big diesel generators in the restaurants next door are running,” he said. Doctors and psychiatrists say they are having to treat an increased number of respiratory ailments and stress-related conditions, which they attribute to the noise and fumes.”

This problem is clearly non-unique to Honduras, although diesel generators are much less conspicuous in the Bay Islands. Biodiesel can help alleviate these problems wherever it’s used.

To summarize things, over the course of these two posts I’ve learned that eliminating the economic and environmental problems associated with dirty-diesel fuel usage in the Bay Islands is feasible and extremely preferable. The technology is already available, it’s just a matter of connecting the dots…

Myanmar Learns To Live with the Lights Out
Oiling the Wheels of Change
The Technical Handbook for Marine Biodiesel In Recreational Boats

Photo Credits: Clayton B. Cornell

Not ready for renewable energy yet? Let me tell you a story about some folks who are.

>> See also: Bay Islands Primed for Renewable Energy, Part II.

In late February, I joyfully skipped out of work for a 2-week long hiatus to Honduras. The plan was to do a bit of scuba diving, get some sun (rare in Oregon), and basically do as little as possible. But under the veneer of ‘vacation’, the trip held a deeper sense of significance for me. When I was 11, I spent 5 months living in Cayos Cochinos (think of the movie The Mosquito Coast), which consists of two main (small) islands surrounded by a collection of cays and reefs. As you may know, the last 14 years have heavily stressed reefs all over the world, and in Honduras, Hurricane Mitch, increasing ocean temperatures, and heavy recreational and fishing use have all left their mark. I was anxious to see how much of the local reef was still intact, and to evaluate the current level of human impact.

The islands have one immediately obvious problem, however, stemming from general population growth and increasingly ubiquitous electrical devices: residents of the Bay Islands have some of the highest electricity prices in the world. The island of Utila claims its electricity prices are second only to Denmark. Several dive shops there told me their greatest single expense was electricity (hundreds of dollars), and locals said it easily doubled the price of rent.

Why is it so expensive? Because diesel generators produce all the electricity on the islands.

My first impression was ‘what a terrible idea’, and that was quickly confirmed. Diesel isn’t cheap these days, and shipping it 18 miles by boat adds a pretty premium. On the big island of Roatan, the situation is compounded by a completely inadequate distribution system, which is so inefficient that electricity production is constantly interrupted. I was told the only consistency in the system was its tendency to short out. The power goes out every day for hours at a time. Obviously, this is a major problem for anyone trying to do business on the island - imagine trying to run an dive shop or even an ice-cream parlor (and yet they exist!).

After spending some time on the islands, I have one simple fact to report: they are primed and ready for renewable energy.

Let me describe to you an average day in the Caribbean (in case you don’t know):

Sunny, with a steady wind developing in the afternoon.”

Now when I say sun I mean SUN. Not the half-assed sunlight in the Pacific NW, but the type of sunlight that makes even the most diehard sunbather look for shade midday. And when I say wind, I mean it blows steadily at 15 mph or more every afternoon (although I must admit I’m not an expert at estimating wind speed).

When I inquired about the dearth of solar technology on the island, the most common answer was: “One guy on the island tried that, but in this environment they fall apart in a couple years. It’s just too expensive to buy a new system every year.”

Wait a minute. Are you telling me that in 2007 we still don’t have a solar system that can stand up to a little humidity and maybe some salt spray? Or has it just not been introduced there?

As far as wind is concerned, it seems that wind generators for small-scale use are just becoming feasible [see this GO post]. Considering current electricity prices, any system or combination of systems would pay off relatively quickly.

Combining wind and solar seems almost too obvious (to a green blogger), but is clearly hindered by lack of capital and unproven technology. I must admit, I don’t know the answer - so I’m asking for your help. What technology is currently available to meet this need? Who makes the products? If you are a producer or a user and think you might have answer, please send me a note. Let me open the phone lines, so to speak.

Next week I’ll cover something I actually know about, the last third of the ’solution’: biodiesel and straight vegetable oil for generators and dive boats. Read it here: Bay Islands Primed for Renewable Energy, Part II.

Photo Credits: Clayton B. Cornell

Anyone familiar with biodiesel understands one inherent limitation: it hates cold weather. This weekend I had my first experience with the ‘cold-flow properties’ of this alternative fuel. Here’s what happened:

I was speeding along through Idaho on my way to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. As you may know, the plains of southern Idaho are bloody COLD, and the ambient air temperature hovered in the low teens. Fortunately for me, I own a hybrid vehicle–actually, it’s a pentbrid: It can run on diesel, kerosene mixtures (aka diesel No. 1), biodiesel, straight vegetable oil (SVO), and automatic transmission fluid (ATF), although the last one is kind of disgusting (but you have to love the integrity of old diesel engines). Nevermind all of that; the important point for this discussion is I have a heated fuel system (tank, fuel lines, filter, etc.) running in parallel with the regular diesel fuel system. This setup allows me to drive around on plain old vegetable oil (for more background on this, please see this website) in normal to extremely cold temps.

It’s amazing how a short sequence of seemingly insignificant but nevertheless important mistakes can bring about catastrophic failure. This is an important principle for surviving in the wilderness, operating a nuclear power plant, and, also, driving around on an ‘alternative fuel’.

I drove for 700 miles on hot vegetable oil and had no trouble. Unfortunately for my travel budget and subsequently my ETA, I ran out of vegetable oil and had to switch back to running on the regular diesel system (I can easily toggle between these two systems with the flip of a switch)–but the stock diesel system is NOT heated. After a few minutes, I noticed a significant power loss that dropped my speed to 50 mph. By stomping on the gas pedal, I could get back up to 55 before the vehicle stumbled and slowed down again–a common symptom of a partially-clogged fuel filter. Small wax crystals can begin to form in regular diesel fuel below 10 degrees F (this is called “clouding up”), and at cold enough temperatures, the fuel will completely freeze or ‘gel up’. Certain additives can prevent this, and regular diesel can be mixed with kerosene (a thinner liquid) to create “winterized diesel”. Biodiesel itself starts to cloud up at much higher temperatures than diesel, depending on the feedstock (virgin soybean oil, waste cooking oil, etc.), and mixing biodiesel with diesel greatly affects the fuel’s cold weather properties.

Sequential Biodiesel of Oregon recommends a 50% biodiesel / 50% diesel mix (called B50) for temperatures between 20-40 degrees F. A mixture of 20% biodiesel / 80% diesel (B20) is recommended for temperatures below 20 degrees F.

My big mistake was neglecting to top off the B50 mixture in my fuel tank with more diesel before leaving temperate Corvallis, Oregon. When I switched back to this biodiesel-rich mixture in Idaho, the ambient air temperature was around 8 Degrees F, with a wind chill at 55 mph of God knows how cold. Within 10 minutes my fuel filter clogged and my engine seized up on completely frozen fuel. I coasted to the side of the freeway where the engine refused to turn-over–it was a cold, dark silence.

This is not a fun way to finish off a 15 hour drive.

After an $85 after-hours tow off the freeway to a truck stop, I had a very long winter night to reflect on the whole situation. By early afternoon of the next day I was able to get a jump start, but it took a good 35 minutes of cranking to get that engine running properly. I had to add an anti-gelling additive to the fuel, make sure the tank was topped off with more diesel, and burn out all the clogged fuel still in the engine.

The moral of the story? Well, plan ahead when using biodiesel in cold weather. Living green at the edge of the mainstream can be full of surprises, and it often requires a novel and thoughtful approach to routine tasks. You make mistakes, learn from them, and move on with a greater appreciation and commitment to your ideals. That’s what it’s all about.

DOE’s Biodiesel Handling and Use Guidelines/Cold-Flow properties: http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/npbf/pdfs/40555.pdf

Sequential Biodiesel’s recommendations for cold weather biodiesel blending: http://www.sqbiofuels.com/winter_use.htm