-
1. San Francisco to Build Grease-to-Biodiesel Plant
-
2. Gas purchases plummet
-
3. What's the opposite of green?
San Francisco to Build Grease-to-Biodiesel Plant
Katie Fehrenbacher - Policy
Leave it to San Francisco to decide that the city is not only going to recycle grease from its restaurants to be used for biodiesel, but that the city will build its own grease-to-biodiesel plant. On Friday San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said that the city had received $1 million from the California Energy Commission to build a pilot grease-to-biodiesel production facility.
The plant will be built on San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s Oceanside Sewage Treatment Plant, and will be able to use “brown grease,” which is that really dirty low-grade grease, of which the city has more than 2.5 million gallons. “Yellow grease” is the cleaner, easier to convert grease, which is more commonly used to transform into biodiesel.
Late last year San Francisco announced that it would launch a program to recycle yellow grease from city restaurants to power city vehicles, like buses and fire trucks. The “brown grease” biodiesel plant should be fully built by December 2008, the city says.
Gas purchases plummet
Gasoline consumption has long proved strangely impervious to shifts in the price of oil. No longer:
- Gas purchases have taken a massive nosedive: “Demand fell 5.5 percent last week.”
- Resale value of SUVs has plummeted: “There are far more truck-based SUVs being traded in than customers to buy them.”
- Prius sales are setting new records: “Toyota has sold more Prius cars in the first quarter of 2008 than all other major manufacturers have sold hybrids combined in the same period.”
- But drivers aren’t falling for the monster-truck hybrids: “Giving a four-wheel drive Tahoe a gas-electric hybrid engine raises fuel economy for city driving to 20 miles a gallon from 14…in a marketplace dominated by smaller hybrid models that can get more than 40 miles to the gallon.”
- Los Angeles commuters have discovered the subway: “The number of passengers increased by more than 14% in the first three months of 2008.”
- LA isn’t alone: “Transit systems in metropolitan areas like Minneapolis, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Francisco reported similar jumps. In cities like Houston, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and Charlotte, N.C., commuters in growing numbers are taking advantage of new bus and train lines built or expanded in the last few years.”
- U.S. driving miles took the sharpest one month drop in history: “11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March.”
- And this drop in driving miles truly is historically anomalous:
It remains to be seen how permanent these shifts in behavior are. Adjusted for inflation, gas prices really aren’t all that high. They’re high, to be sure, but not that high. Typically what happens when the price of oil jumps is that consumers whine a lot, then get used to the new price, and then revert to their old behavior. A lot hangs on whether the price increase is sustained.
What's the opposite of green?
Dear P______ Hotels,
Thank you for your unsolicited email, which included an offer for a $50 gas card if I book a stay in one of your lovely coastal properties.
I realize times might be tough in the boutique hotel industry. A weak economy and record oil prices are probably going to keep a lot of Americans home this summer. Vacation plans will be curtailed. People will put off that big trip, or maybe take a second look at local attractions.
I can imagine what you were thinking when you cooked up this promotion. If addiction to increasingly expensive gasoline is the source of our summer doldrums, why not juice us with some of the stuff we most crave? You’re hardly alone in this strategy. All manner of companies have been trying to hook hurting consumers with gasoline giveaways.
The thing is: you’re making the problem worse. We don’t need free gas. We need everyone to start using less gas. And speaking personally, I prefer to do business with companies that support environmental goals, rather than actively undermining them.
Regards,
An unlikely customer
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment