United Biofuels

Vision

The Challenge

“Communities across the country are seeking ready, practical solutions to address their energy problems.”

Oil is the life blood of our nation’s economy. However, America’s current energy sources coupled with our insatiable consumption present a set of enormous challenges for the country and our communities. Our domestic oil supplies are limited and ever more costly, while our heavy reliance on foreign oil threatens our energy security. The use of fossil fuels contributes to global warming, and pollution from our vehicles severely damages our public health. Our domestic oil supplies are limited and ever more costly, while our heavy reliance on foreign oil threatens our energy security. The use of fossil fuels contributes to global warming, and pollution from our vehicles severely damages our public health.

The people of central Pennsylvania are no strangers to these problems. In York County (population 400,000), diesel pollution causes the premature death of more than 1,100 people each year. The City of York has the sixth highest incidence of asthma for any mid-sized metro area in the country, and its citizens feel the economic effects of energy dependence each time they fuel their cars and heat their homes.

York and communities across the country are seeking ready, practical solutions to address their energy problems. Mass transit fleets search for reliable, cost-effective, alternative fuel sources to meet federal environmental standards. School systems seek to power their buses in ways that reduce children’s exposure to asthma-causing pollution. Communities look for solutions to meet critical energy needs through local resources.

The Solution: Biodiesel

Biodiesel can help communities begin to address these problems today. Biodiesel is a clean, alternative fuel made from soybeans, recycled waste oil, or other bio-matter, which can be readily used in existing diesel fuel engines and heating oil systems. It is locally produced, generates fewer harmful emissions than diesel, and offers communities a sustainable, cost-effective, environmentally-friendly fuel source.

With current processing and feedstock technology, the US biodiesel industry can produce 2 billion gallons of biodiesel—enough for roughly 25 percent of diesel vehicles to run on a B20 (20 percent biodiesel) blend. If this level of biodiesel use was reached:

Energy security would be protected, with locally made, renewable biodiesel fuel directly replacing 2 billion gallons of foreign oil imports each year.

Air quality would be enhanced, significantly improving human health and the environment. Carbon dioxide emissions would decline by 17 million metric tons per year, while emissions of soot, sulfur, and carbon monoxide would also significantly fall, preventing 580 premature deaths, thousands of heart attacks, and tens of thousands of cases of asthma and bronchitis.

Farmer livelihoods would be improved, with sales of soybean and other vegetable oil for biodiesel production increasing net farm income by more than $300 million per year.

Our Vision

Our vision is that one day, in communities throughout Pennsylvania and the country, citizens will pull up to a gas station and fill their current diesel car, bus, or truck with a fuel that is both safe and clean. Their vehicles will no longer release harmful emissions, and the air in the town will become clearer. Children will suffer from fewer bouts of asthma and pollution-aggravated deaths will diminish. Finally, these communities will live without worry of an oil crisis beyond their control, confident that their fuel source is being grown on farm fields nearby.