Vastly lowered emissions. Biodiesel meets California's strict CARB standards. Because biodiesel is derived from plants, it has a complete carbon cycle - burning biodiesel emits about as much carbon as was absorbed by the plant when it was alive. In May 2000, biodiesel became the only alternative fuel in the country to have successfully met the EPA's Tier I and Tier II Health Effects standards under Section 211(b) of the Clean Air Act. Biodiesel mixes cleanly at any ratio with petrodiesel-- in fact, adding only a small amount of biodiesel to petrodiesel results in greatly lowered emissions.

 

GRAPH KEY: THC = total hydrocarbons CO = carbon monoxide NOx = nitrogen oxides PAH = polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons nPAH = nitrated PAH B20 = 20% biodiesel, 80% diesel B100 = 100% biodiesel — Source: Cincinatti Office of Environmental Management & US Department of Energy NREL studies. World Energy studies show significantly lower emissions.

Safe, nontoxic and biodegradable. Because biodiesel is produced from vegetable oil, it is safe to transport, PH neutral, and biodegradable. It has a higher flash point (the temperature at which a fuel combusts) than gasoline as well as traditional diesel. According to the US Department of Energy, using biodiesel can reduce cancer risks from diesel exhaust by 94%!

Same or lesser cost as gasoline. Because diesel engines have 20-50% better fuel economy compared to gasoline engines, the extra cost of biodiesel works out to be the same or less than using a traditional gasoline burning vehicle.