Monday, January 14, 2008

Infecting others

It was also about this time that I stated buying fuel from Western States Petroleum. They sell virgin soy-based biodiesel, made in IOWA and shipped in via rail (at about $.20/gal) and then blended at B99 (99% biodiesel and 1% petrol diesel) to take advantage of a federal $.01 per % blending credit.

WSP is the only Phoenix commercial vendor that I know about that sells biodiesel in the Valley. 3.5 million people and 1, yes ONE, biodiesel pump. (By the way, there are currently NO E85 ethanol pumps, but that's another issue.)

Something is wrong with this picture.

Most Saturday mornings I hang out with my buddy Brad and we talk about family, politics, the meaning of life... all the usual stuff. One Saturday I brought up a new topic: biodiesel. I ranted: how could it be that something so great was effectively unavailable in Phoenix? Tucson has several biodiesel pumps, Winslow has one, even Oracle, a wide-spot in the road on AZ77, has a biodiesel pump.

Brad is a smart guy. He drives a Prius. He wanted to know 'why' too.

[edited 2/1/08: WSP now has a e85 pump! ]

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