WASHINGTON – Sales of cars using diesel and biodiesel increased in 2010 and are expected to continue climbing, according to the Diesel Technology Forum, a diesel advocacy group.
Nevertheless, the percentage of renewable biodiesel used in passenger vehicles is likely to remain small, according to Robert McCormick, an engineer in fuels performance at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Most of the billions of gallons of diesel fuel used in the U.S.annually are consumed by commercial truck fleets, McCormick said at a Forum meeting in July. Next year, only 800 million gallons of diesel are expected to be biodiesel rather than refined petroleum, he said. In contrast, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that 58.8 billion gallons of diesel were supplied in 2010.
Of the biodiesel being consumed, only a fraction comes from biomass and renewable hydrocarbons. Biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oil and grease at a commercial scale, but turning cellulosic plant materials into fuel is still in early stages.
“We’re not going to have the technology figured out in a year or two,” McCormick said.
Forum Executive Director Allen Schaeffer said diesel has to be part of a sustainable energy strategy that involves consumers.
Biodiesel “could be promoted to your average consumer,” McCormick said, though he thought that most consumers would not want to worry about purchasing the correct type of diesel at the pump. Biodiesel comes in different blends, the most common being B5 – a blend of 95 percent regular diesel and 5 percent biofuel.
The number of available diesel models is expected to more than double in the next three years, according to Alexander Freitag, director of engineering at Bosch.
Using diesel alone emits approximately 15 to 25 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional gasoline, according to the comparisons that track fuel life cycles. Using B20 – a blend of 80 percent petroleum-based diesel and 20 percent biodiesel – reduces emissions 30 percent.
“The tragedy is that we should have been doing this 10 years ago,” said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., a sponsor of the forum’s congressional briefing series.
However, some caution against placing too much faith in biodiesel, which normally blends small amounts of alternatively produced diesel with large quantities of petroleum-derived fuel.
“The problem is that the biodiesel industry is out there hustling this stuff, saying it was grown in the sun,” said Daniel Becker of Safe Climate Campaign. “Most of it is dead dinosaurs.”