Letters to the Editor: Lower Speed Limits, Biodiesel Defended
These Letters to the Editor appear in the Aug. 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Lower Speed Limits
More and more, we are hearing that fleets are cutting back truck top speeds to well below the speed limits in order to increase fuel economy. Does everyone understand that time is money?
This is very clear in driver pay, which is typically by the mile. The fewer miles per hour that a driver can cover, the fewer dollars per hour he or she earns. Drivers need pay raises just to stay equal with their previous earnings.
Danny Schnautz
Clark Freight Lines
Pasadena, Texas
You can’t read any trucking industry publication where the high costs of fuel isn’t the priority subject. With everything that is said about the need to do all we can to conserve and limit our use of fuel, I find the speed the big trucks achieve and maintain on the interstate system staggering — and alarming.
Many trucks observed are from smaller trucking companies or are obviously owner-operators’ rigs. I guess the message isn’t getting to these individuals that the faster they go, the more fuel they use.
Rather than slowing down and taking the necessary steps to limit their fuel use, they would rather cry their plight to the public and complain to their elected federal and state officials, asking them to do something to help.
If they want help, they should follow the advice of industry experts: Slow down and quit idling the truck unnecessarily. If they start by helping themselves, in the process they may even gain some respect and concern from the public.
Lawrence Hartung
Director of Safety
deBoer Transportation Inc.
Blenker, Wis.
Biodiesel Defended
In response to “Is Biodiesel a ‘Green’ Fuel? The Jury Is Still Out” (Equipment & Maintenance Update, 7/7, p. 1), biodiesel is the epitome of a green fuel. The amount of greenhouse gases biodiesel reduced in 2007 alone was equal to taking 700,000 vehicles off the road. The U.S. biodiesel industry aims to quadruple that positive effect by 2015.
Biodiesel reduces atmospheric carbon dioxide by 78%, compared with petroleum diesel. That reduction is proven in a study by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on soy-based biodiesel.
New and varied feedstocks for biodiesel — such as the fat byproducts of meat processing and waste greases — are increasing in use. The majority of U.S. biodiesel is still made from surplus soybean oil. The food protein is 80% of a soybean — the traditional economic driver for soybean farming.
Soybean yields have increased, but net acreage being farmed in the United States has not increased in nearly five decades. The studies referenced in your article that warn against converting land to grow biofuel crops do not reflect what is actually going on in the United States.
Furthermore, biodiesel has one of the highest energy balances of any liquid fuel, at 3.5-to-1, according to DOE and USDA. For every unit of energy it takes to make biodiesel, 3.5 units are gained. Compare that with diesel’s environmental footprint. For every unit of energy it takes to refine diesel fuel, you get 0.83 unit back. That’s a negative energy balance.
Moreover, nitrogen oxide is not raised in biodiesel — it comes out neutral.
Biodiesel production also results in 79% less wastewater and 96% less hazardous waste, compared with petroleum refining.
Based on rigorous data, ASTM International has approved specifications for blends of B6-B20, and for B5 in the diesel fuel specification. ASTM is a consensus organization that includes engine manufacturers and petroleum distributors.
Biodiesel is here and can be used in modern and traditional diesel engines to improve emissions, our economy and energy independence.
Don Scott
Director of Sustainability
National Biodiesel Board
Jefferson City, Mo.
