This is more for anyone concerned with the depletion of fossil fuels.

Turns out there is an alternative fuel for car engines, and its already in use in europe. The answer is biodiesel, a fuel similar to regular diesel created from vegetable oils, that runs cleaner, cheaper, and is renewable.

Read more at http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel.html

This was in Discover like a year ago.

I didnt say it was new.

A few people have been arguing about the use of fossil fuels and I figured that, hey, theres an answer to the problem, why isnt the US, the largest consumer of fossil fuels, using it?

And now our dependence on McDonalds for gas will now start .

Well at the moment they seem extremly happy to just pawn it off on any poor shmuck who will take it, but I'm sure that will change drasticly once regular fuels become scarse.

America doesn't use much biodiesel because companies like GM are investing in hydrogen fuel cells, not biodiesel

Both options look very effective, but it will probobly come down to which is safest to use, and which is most cost efficient.

Actually, biodiesel isn't all that uncommon. The entire bus system here is powered on it.

I had never heard of it until a year or so ago, and it was kinda disturbing to me that in europe, like other things, it was in widespread use, yet the US was doing nothing to even try using it.

Not to mention we have hybrid-electric buses in Seattle as well, a first for our country.

Yeah its definately been around for a long while. I remember when i did debate at ICS in 8th grade this was that point i was pushing in response to the question, How can the United States lessen its dependeance on foreign sources of energy. Its actually sold at this one BP in bellevue for like 3 dollars or so a gallon, when it first came out only diehard environmentalists bought it, now people buy it if they can. A good way to clean out a diesel engine is also to run it with biodiesel but then all the tubes have to be changed...