August 2005    

Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy Author: Pahl, Greg Publisher: Chelsea Green $18.00 Paper (281 p.) ISBN: 1931498652 B&T         YBP Reviewed by David White, Customer Service Bibliographer The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that oil production will peak in 2037 - but theirs is one of the most optimistic assessments. Many experts are looking for production to peak by 2010, and one says it already peaked in 2004. With dwindling resources, and a rapidly growing demand fueled by increasing US consumption and the exploding economy of China, fuel oil and gasoline prices are heading for radical price hikes unlike anything we have seen before. With so much of the world's economy tied inexorably to energy costs, the resultant impacts could prove catastrophic. Biodiesel is both hopeful and alarming. Pahl does a great job providing a background to the Biodiesel story and its chances of addressing the looming energy crunch. He offers a ray of hope, while tempering his optimism with a real assessment of how much help a biodiesel component to the economy can actually provide. Pahl states: "Total global output of biodiesel is approaching 2 million metric tons (570 million gallons) annually…By comparison, the United States alone consumes approximately 58 billion gallons of middle-distillate fuels annually…" (Middle-distillate fuels include diesel fuel, heating oil, kerosene, jet fuels, and gas turbine engine fuels.) So how much help can biodiesel be? The book is divided into four sections - "Biodiesel Basics", "Biodiesel around the World", "Biodiesel in the United States", and "Biodiesel in the Future". "Biodiesel Basics" covers the invention of the diesel engine and the different fuels used historically throughout the world. Initial fuels used in the diesel engine were often biodiesels - until the cheapness of petrodiesel (petroleum derived fuel) locked up the market. The section also covers some of the various types of crops that can be used to create viable biodiesel - such as rapeseed, sunflowers and soy beans - and the methods of processing these crops into fuel. "Biodiesel around the Word" and "Biodiesel in the United States" cover the history of bio-fuel development in each of those regions. The Europeans have had a more consistent history of experimenting with production and utilization, and have higher percentages of actual biodiesel use than the United States. The U.S. development of biodiesel often spikes after energy crunches, with tax incentives and research funding drying up once the crisis is over. It could already be too late to implement a systematic biodiesel production and distribution network that will be able to shoulder some of the burden from the dwindling petrochemical supply. Such systems take time to put in place - and even IF we started now it would take several years before biodiesel would begin to flow. Farmers would need to changeover to growing appropriate crops; productions facilities would need to be developed; distribution systems would need to be created or converted. All of that takes time - time that is rapidly disappearing if we have any hope of avoiding serious economic consequences from the coming energy scarcity. Published by YBP Library Services 999 Maple St., Contoocook, NH 03229 USA v: 800.258.3774   f: 603.746.5628 w: www.ybp.com   e: academia@ybp.com All rights reserved.