Perhaps Howards should make a trip up to McGill.
The environmental impact of excess oil
Besides avoiding the otherwise costly disposal of used cooking oil, using these fuels means less time at the pump filling up on nonrenewable and increasingly scarce gasoline. Moreover, most restaurants are willing to give away their used vegetable oil for free because they are usually required to pay a disposal fee. Cars that run on vegetable oil also emit fewer pollutants.
"It is a relatively closed carbon cycle. The CO2 that is released by vehicles is recaptured by the plants when they grow, so it is generally seen as at least a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions versus petroleum products," explains Howards.
Research performed by the United States National Biodiesel Board shows use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons (which are ozone and smog formation precursors), carbon monoxide and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel. The exhaust emissions of some major components of acid rain, sulfur oxides and sulfates, are essentially eliminated in biodiesel emissions, whereas in diesel engines this is not the case. Furthermore, studies done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show that the ozone forming potential of the hydrocarbon emissions from biodiesel run cars is 50% less than that of regular diesel.
Biodiesel vs. vegetable oil
Biodiesel is chemically altered vegetable oil or animal tallow that can be purchased for around $2.00 to $3.00 a gallon. Vegetable oil, on the other hand, is usually burned as 100% straight vegetable oil, which means its use is more beneficial to the environment. The chemical alteration of oil to make biodiesel, however, allows it to be put directly into a diesel engine while the vegetable oil (and the engine itself) must be heated and the oil filtered in a home plant before being used. Once the engine is used, the vegetable oil must be purged from the cylinders before it cools.
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