Not sexy, but it works! Biofuel in action.

The event’s title caught my attention: Biofuels 2.0 from Garage to Gargantuan.
“Wow”, I thought, as I scanned the details of the event hosted by The MIT/Stanford Venture Lab (VLAB), “This is exactly what I am doing: helping to usher in the next generation of biofuels.”

My boss and I represented Sirona Fuels at the event. We met people in all facets of renewable fuels from research and development to marketers to end-users, though during the entire meet-and-greet session, neither my boss nor I spoke with anyone else who is currently producing fuel.

As we filed into the auditorium, I was already formulating the questions I wanted to ask the panelists. All of my questions had to do with the state of biofuels, specifically sustainable biodiesel made from used cooking oil. Early into the presentations I realized that if this event was about biofuels 2.0, my company is stuck in biofuels 0.4.

All the panelists and presenters  were discussing huge ventures worth hundreds of millions of dollars,  focused around technologies that were still at least a few years away from even being close to cost effective. One panelist, an executive at an algae-to-fuel start-up, answered, “I don’t know,” to the question of how long it would take to get the fuel to market. I wanted to stand up and let everyone there know that we have renewable fuel, in tanks, in Oakland, and it’s available NOW.  But I didn’t. I felt left behind, as if I had hitched my cart to the wrong horse because biodiesel made from used cooking oil is “so 2005.”

It wasn’t until the next day that I came to terms with how my company fits into the new era of biofuels.  While we are waiting for the most cutting edge research to bear fruit, small, independent biodiesel producers will be producing fuel from used cooking oil, and providing millions of gallons of clean burning fuel to consumers while eliminating millions of pounds of harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Undoubtedly, harvesting new strains of robust and resilient high-lipid content algae is much sexier than sucking oil out of the kitchen of a greasy burger joint.  There is a place for sexy when it comes to renewable energy, as scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers strive for innovation.  And at the same time, there is a place for the same old biodiesel, just as it has been made for the past 150 years.  I see biodiesel made from used cooking oil as a stepping stone to the future of biofuels, and although it was disheartening to see that the VLAB does not consider what I do ‘2.0,’ at least we are making a clean burning fuel for sale to diesel users everyday.

Our mission and the mission of many other sustainable biodiesel manufacturers is to create a product from locally acquired inputs and sell it locally so that the communities involved can feel the benefits of biodiesel usage.  Green collar jobs are created, harmful emissions are reduced, and a “waste” product is repurposed into an alternative fuel.

After all, today’s sustainable biodiesel is the cutting-edge green fuel that was developed over 100 years ago.

Photo Courtesy Blue Sky Bio-fuels

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