BrevardBioDiesel Blog

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again."
Thomas Paine

Lyle Estill documents his journeys into the future of biofuels with his recent work "Biodiesel Power" published by New Society Publishers. Peppered with anecdotes and entries from his Energy Blog, he describes the landscape of the biodiesel movement including the production, people, and policies encountered.

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Starting with his first experience with biodiesel at the Festival for the Eno in North Carolina in 2002 Estill describes his journey forward and adventures
along the way. He reports on his first attempts to make biodiesel, the beginnings and operations of a biodiesel co-op, meetings with experts and evangelists in the field, successes and failures at influencing government/industry policy, and the initial process of spinning up a biodiesel production business.

Along the way we are introduced to many of the people he encounters - his
self described "garage band" cohorts Rachel and Leif, North Carolina state officials, National Biodiesel executive director Joe Jobe, entrepreneur Joshua
Tickell, and folk hero girl Mark. Estill captures something positive from each meeting and the individual stories flow with humor and sagacity.

The breadth of the book's information ranges from the best pumps and methods to use for collecting restaurant fryer oil, through financial cost/benefits of operating a biodiesel business, to his thoughts on the overall sustainability of biodiesel production. From the mechanical differences among barrel bung holes to explanations on the real price of our fossil fuel infrastructure the span of knowledge is the strength of this work. The humor used to spoon it down makes for an enjoyable reading session. The book is not organized as a reference or textbook. Rather it is a series of blog posts welded together with an equal amount of commentary. The book's index provides a useable method of locating particular technical and discussion topics.

Biodiesel is described in this book as a "finger in the dike" of our energy
resource problem, with conservation and local living an obvious part of
Estill's perspective on an overall strategy for solving this problem.
I recommend it for users of biodiesel, and especially for anyone considering a biodiesel related business/co-op. The lessons learned and described may be worth three years of valuable experience for such individuals.

"Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies. "
Ann Landers

Jay Wherley
Melbourne, FL