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Posted on  

August 8, 2001

USDA To Switch Some of Motor Fleet

Promoting the use of farm-grown energy sources, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman said Tuesday that some of her department's fleet of vehicles will switch to biodiesel and ethanol fuels.

Veneman said that as supplies become available and if the costs are reasonable, USDA would try to start using a vegetable oil-based biodiesel fuel in about 800 vehicles, including some boats. Some of the vehicles are based in U.S. national forests.

Another 700 vehicles and all gasoline fueling facilities maintained by the agency will use blended fuels with at least 10 percent domestically produced ethanol if possible, she said.

``Agriculture can help us solve our energy problems through the production of domestic liquid fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel,'' Veneman said.

Biodiesel fuel is produced from soybean oil or recycled vegetable oil from restaurants. While its use doesn't cut down on smog-causing nitrogen oxide, it produces none of the carbon monoxide or small particles created by burning traditional petroleum-based diesel fuel. Fuel economy is slightly lower with biodiesel.

Sharon Holcombe, who is overseeing the fuel-use transition for the Agriculture Department's more than 36,000 vehicles, said the agency expects to double its annual use of 80,000 gallons of biodiesel next year and be using 360,000 gallons a year by 2005.

Peanut oil was the first type of fuel used by Rudolf Diesel to power his first engine in 1895. Fuel distributors say the modern soybean oil-based biodiesel, generally used as a mix of 20 percent biodiesel with 80 percent petroleum diesel, typically costs up to 25 cents more per gallon than traditional diesel fuel.

Prices have come down partly because of a federal subsidy for soybean biodiesel producers. The federal government estimates sales of the fuel in the United States reached 6.7 million gallons in 2000 and could reach 20 million gallons this year.

With public demand growing, the first public pumping stations for biodiesel fuel opened in May in San Francisco and Sparks, Nev.

At the Agriculture Department's research center in Maryland, 150 diesel-powered vehicles - including tractors, snowplows and a visitors' bus - are running smoothly on a biodiesel blend without any modification, officials said. Because the blend also increases lubrication for moving parts, it has added to the life of the vehicles' engines, the officials said.

 

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