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OVERVIEW

Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel produced from American-made vegetable oils.

Biodiesel is less toxic than table salt, bio-degrades as fast as sugar, and is essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. It also sharply reduces greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, and the health risks associated with petroleum diesel, and because biodiesel is produced from domestic, renewable resources, each gallon of biodiesel displaces a gallon of foreign oil-based diesel.

Unlike some other renewable fuels, biodiesel offers a positive energy balance. For every unit of energy needed to produce a gallon of biodiesel, 3.24 units of energy are gained. In addition, because biodiesel increases cetane, fuel lubricity, and fuel oxygen content, it may become the preferred blending stock for ultra-clean diesel. Although biodiesel contains no petroleum, it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend (5% to 20% are common blends) for use in:

• Transportation
  Diesel engines in school buses, trucks, ships, and locomotives can burn biodiesel with little or no modification.
• Home heating
  Some progressive distributors are already selling blends of biodiesel and regular home heating oil to customers under the trade name “Bioheat.”
• Power generation
  Biodiesel can be used to generate electricity. Indeed, major institutions in the Commonwealth, including colleges and hospitals in non-attainment areas could fuel standby power plants with biodiesel when air quality constraints might otherwise prohibit their use.