[Vwdiesel] Biodiesel support

[James Hansen]

> I'm thinking even smaller than that. I used your word "agribusiness"
> facetiously to show that traditional big business doesn't want much to do
> with biodiesel because of the ease and pitifully low cost of small scale
> startup.

Ah, I see.

 Too many potential producers, too much potential supply, too high a
> risk of investment loss for the profit driven corporations to get involved.
> The corporation's concern is in the crop, not whether it winds up on a salad
> or in the fuel tank.

But does not too much potential supply equate to lower input costs and higher
profit for the investors? This would seem to suggest an incentive to build, not
a discouragement.  It certainly was for the waste oil re-refinery that set up a
couple hours from here.   I used to have to pay to dispose of waste oil, now
they pay me 7 cents per litre as the going rate.

> Using waste vegetable oil hurts the corporations more.  They have just the
> one market rather than two bidding up the price of the vegetable oil. The
> already processed raw material "input" for the small scale B-D producer is
> often another income source and not an expenditure. Why spend money on a farm
> to grow a crop for the oil when others will pay you to take their oil?
>
Any ideas on how much WVO is out there yearly?  I've often wondered this.
 Also, would not a clearly defined usage and end product add value to the raw
material, in this case WVO?  When there is a demand, it calls for a price,
usually.  Personally, I can't wait to be done with the house I'm building and
build a small scale B-D setup myself with local WVO as the input.  For now,
finishing carpentry and moving in are on the front burner...
-James