If you own a computer and use Google to search for biodiesel, just in North Carolina, you will find information at almost 200,000 different places. There is no doubt that there is lots of interest and lots of talk about this subject.

I am still trying to learn more about alternative fuels like biodiesel and ethanol. I think it is important to know the advantages of these fuels, but it is just as important to know the disadvantages as well. For an old farm boy like me who likes to see everything in black and white, there are a couple of very disturbing topics about fuels. There are lots of things about fuels that can be disturbing, but to me, these are the most important.

Even though we hear a lot of talk about alternative fuels, our American economy is still almost totally dependant upon foreign oil. Information I gathered off the Internet indicated that in 1973, at the time of the first oil crisis, we imported 35 percent of our oil from foreign nations. Today, almost 30 years after the first oil crisis, we are now importing over 56 percent of our oil from foreign nations. It is projected that by the year 2025, we will be importing over 68 percent of our oil.

Americans use 12 billion barrels of imported oil each day. That is about 600 gallons for each person per year. Although the foreign countries that provide oil to us have a far greater amount than we do, their supply is limited. One day all the oil will be gone. At some point in time, the last barrel of oil will be drawn out of the ground. Before then we are going to have to have some source of energy other than petroleum. Will it be biodiesel? Will it be ethanol?

Another issue that is quite a bit more pressing is the cost of diesel fuel today. Rising fuel costs are affecting prices of just about everything.

You are probably just like many others in the county. During the past few days, you have probably made statements related to how much more expensive things are getting. Just this past weekend, my wife was surprised at how much our weekly grocery bill has increased in the past few months. Much of this price increase is related to the increase in the cost of petroleum.

Many of the things you purchase at a store are manufactured or processed using petroleum products. All of the food items you purchase required diesel fuel to power the farm tractors and trucks and petroleum to manufacture the fertilizers and pesticides. Everything you purchase at a store arrived at that store in a truck, and the chances are pretty good that that truck had a diesel engine. When I came by the discount convenience store just this morning, I noticed that diesel fuel is over $4 per gallon. So I am not surprised when I see truck drivers on the evening news telling that they must park their trucks, because the cost of the fuel is more than they earn in transportation fees. How much more are we willing to pay for transportation for the things we want to buy?

There is a lot of potential for the use of biodiesel. Biodiesel is a diesel fuel manufactured from biological crops like soybeans. Not only is this energy source something that can be produced here in the United States rather than having to be imported from a foreign country, it is something that our farmers can produce to manufacture fuels that can be used to power their own tractors and trucks.

To help you learn more about biodiesel, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center, is networking with the BioAg Center of Robeson Community College to provide a Biodiesel Workshop on Tuesday, April 22, beginning at 4 p.m. This workshop will be held at the Cooperative Extension Center located in the O. P. Owens Agriculture Center, Highway 72 West, Lumberton. The reason for starting the workshop late afternoon is that Piedmont Biofuels, a biodiesel manufacturing company located in Pittsboro, will actually be making biodiesel in the Extension Center parking lot.

There are lots of arguments about whether the use of biodiesel or ethanol is good for the environment or not. Some feel that this is the fuel of the future, while others feel that it takes more energy to produce this fuel than the fuel generates. Some argue that we are taking away from our food supply by using crops to manufacture fuels.

I personally feel that in the not-to-distant future, our energy sources will be quite different than they are today. We may be relying on biological fuels made from crops that we don't even grow today. Our scientists may develop special crops that will grow on marginal soils that are unsuitable for traditional crops and will produce 5, 10, or maybe even 20 times more energy than the crops we are currently growing like soybeans, corn, or canola. Our energy may come from sources we have not even thought of yet.

The manufacture of biodiesel from soybeans or canola is pretty simple. This is why this process will actually be demonstrated during this workshop. It appears to me that there is an opportunity for some of our creative farmers to process their own biodiesel from crops they grow on their own farm. Then they would not have to pay the high price at the pumps.

Let me urge you to make plans to attend this Biodiesel Workshop on April 22. This is your opportunity to learn more about the advantages of biodiesel and the potential for manufacturing biofuels from the crops we are growing right here on our farms.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 4/15/08