Talk:Sustainable energy

Certainly getting into an area I'm trying to understand

In working on a specialized biodiesel project, I've been fumbling for the right term: it's not full recycling, but partial, and with reduction in fuel transportation costs. The idea is to take waste vegetable oil from seafood restaurants here on Cape Cod, turn them into biodiesel, and use it as 20% for the fishing boat diesels and 100% for the delivery trucks. For a first approximation, we project we could meaningfully supply, with cost savings, enough biodiesel for about 6 of 25 boats. There are some food processing operations that, however, might bring it close to a closed cycle.

There's a nice symmetry, of course, since the cycle is within one industry. But what should it be called? It's "more sustainable" than petrodiesel alone, but would not replace petrodiesel in the near term.

Unfortunately, we also have to deal with fear, uncertainty and doubt. While the marine diesel manufacturers have all said that 80/20, perhaps with additives, will not harm their engines, one of the fishing associations warned its members that any biodiesel, perhaps in a truck on the pier, will rot their boats.

If this article helps me find better words, it would be great! Howard C. Berkowitz 21:21, 12 May 2010 (UTC)