|
.gif) |
Sevier co-op to offer mix of
biodiesel
|
| By:CANDICE GRIMM,
Staff Writer |
January
05, 2005 |
|
 |
Photo by Curt Habraken
Jerry Titlow, of
Calloway Oil Company, pumps 285 gallons of the B-100 yellow
grease base to mix with the diesel gas already in the Sevier
Farmer's Co-op tank.
| SEVIERVILLE - As of today, Sevier Farmers Co-op and its
members will begin doing their part to improve air quality in East
Tennessee. |
A
2 p.m. ceremony today at the Farmers Co-op on Chapman Highway will
kick off the sale of B-5 biodiesel fuel for on-road use by its
customers. The price will be $1.879 per gallon, according to Co-op
Manager Darrell Clark.
Clark said there currently are
stations in the area that give on-road diesel customers the option
of buying regular diesel or biodiesel, but Sevier Farmers Co-op is
the first in the area to begin offering only biodiesel for on-road
vehicles, he said. Regular diesel will still be available for
off-road vehicle use.
"We would like to
try to take care of what the good Lord has given us," said Clark, in
reference to biodiesel's positive impact in reducing diesel
emissions.
It has been more than a year since Clark first
proposed that the Sevier Co-op Board of Directors consider making
the switch to biodiesel sales.
"We wanted to be sure that
what we were doing was the right thing to do - we didn't want to do
anything that would cause problems with somebody's vehicle and we
wanted to be sure we didn't get into a fly-by-night deal," said
Clark.
Letters have been sent out to diesel fuel customers of
the Co-op, alerting them to the switch and explaining what biodiesel
is made from, how it affects a diesel engine and its positive effect
on the environment.
"Biodiesel reduces almost all the air
emissions that come from diesel vehicles, which will help our
community literally breathe easier and attain the EPA health-based
standards for ozone and fine particulate matter that are now upon
us," wrote Clark in the letter.
"Air emission reductions
benefit us in other ways as well; our community's ability to attract
new industry and allow those currently here to continue to grow
require that we begin reducing our emissions, and will be a direct
positive result of biodiesel usage. Biodiesel puts your dollars back
into the U.S. economy, in lieu of into Iraqi and Saudia Arabian
economies," he continued.
B-5 biodiesel is regular diesel
fuel containing 5 percent biodiesel made from either recycled
vegetable cooking oil or soybeans.
Clark said that because
biodiesel is a solvent that will clean the buildup of wax and gunk
from a diesel engine, it will be a few months before Co-op bumps up
the amount of biodiesel in its fuel to 10 percent, then hopefully by
the end of the year to 20 percent.
n
cgrimm@themountainpress.com
|
| ©The
Mountain Press 2005 |
|
|
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
