The NBB featured a “Ride-and-drive” session this morning, where people could get a chance to get behind the wheel see how biodiesel performs in real vehicles… a Dodge pickup truck, a Jeep Cherokee, and a Volkswagen TDI. This is the first year the Ride-and-drive event was opened to the public in an effort to show people that biodiesel needs no fancy conversions because every vehicle that runs on regular diesel will also run on biodiesel.
A press conference kicked off the event with remarks from Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty, NBB Chairman and western Minnesota farmer Ed Hegland, John Kellog with World Energy, and country music star Michael Peterson.
Crotty says the Central Florida continues to be a leader in biodiesel promotion. He says since 2006, the county has replaced 180,000 gallons of petroleum diesel fuel (which the county’s fleet consumes at a rate of 700,000 gallons a year) with cleaner burning biodiesel. Crotty says they will phase biodiesel into 630 more vehicles over the next two years. He points out that the area’s theme parks, including Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, are turning four million gallons of yellow grease into biodiesel.
Hegland told those gathered that biodiesel is a cleaner and quieter alternative to its petroleum counterpart. He says biodiesel producers are facing the challenges of staying profitable even as conventional feedstock prices, such as soybeans, continue to skyrocket. Hegland says producers are finding new feedstocks that will help the industry remain competitive. He also taking a careful look at another vehicle at the show, the TOMCAR, an ATV that runs on biodiesel. Hegland says there are plenty of uses for something like that on his western Minnesota farm (which he points out right now is about 100 degrees colder than sun-drenched Orlando!).
Kellog says biodiesel is becoming more and more accepted, and its use will only expand to more and more vehicles. He points out that a public ride-and-drive event such as this one shows the general public just how easy it is to use biodiesel.
Peterson says that the development of biodiesel not only helps farmers and the environment in this country and around the world, it also gives our generation the best chance to educate youth in the math and sciences it will take to keep biodiesel innovations going. He adds that it’s just a matter of changing your viewpoint. “When you change the way you look at things, things change the way they look.”
Afterward, the four got behind the wheels of the vehicles and took them around the block.
You can hear the whole press conference here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nbb/nbb-08-ridedrive.mp3]
Link to the “Ride-and-drive” press release here.
See more pictures from the Ride and Drive press conference on theFlicker Photo Album from the 2008 National Biodiesel Conference by clicking here.