Bi-o-diesel: The San Francisco Fleet
City announces B20 use, Biofuel Recycling Program

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.– The City of San Francisco is now the largest city to use a 20 percent blend of biodiesel (B20) fleet-wide. This announcement, made by Mayor Gavin Newsom at a biodiesel retail pump today, appropriately comes just two days after Earth Day.

“Every city bears responsibility for taking local action to address our global climate crisis, and vehicle emissions are a major source of greenhouse gases,” said Mayor Newsom. “When it comes to the use of alternative fuels, renewable energy sources and greening our city fleet, San Francisco is demonstrating leadership and commitment on every front.”

“The city of San Francisco departments have announced various strategies using biodiesel to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases, and to use local resources to produce biofuels,” said Randall von Wedel, a biochemist representing the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) in state regulatory affairs, based in the San Francisco area. “We are grateful to Mayor Newsom for his initiative,” said von Wedel, “and we hope that San Francisco will serve as a model for other large cities on how to make a difference in reducing air pollution, greenhouse gases and dependence on petroleum fuel."

The city’s “Biofuel Recycling Program,” also announced today, will collect waste grease and cooking oil from area restaurants. Regional biodiesel plants will process the separated cooking oils into biodiesel, while the grease will be fed to anaerobic digesters to produce methane gas for electric power generation at the city’s waste water treatment plant.

The city started the pilot program using B20 in various locations such as the San Francisco International Airport and the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) in 2006. The program tested the fuel in the Bayview Hunters Point area, which has some of the poorest air quality in San Francisco. This B20 use complies with the mayoral directive, “Climate Action Plan,” for city diesel vehicles to run on B20. So far, all the public works vehicles, street sweepers, utility trucks and more are running on B20. The city also announced all 325 of the waste management company’s trucks are running on B20. That is in addition to the 2,000 city-owned vehicles that will be running on B20 by the end of this year.

Other plans to increase biodiesel use in San Francisco include an EPA grant program, through the City College of San Francisco and local biodiesel firms; to train distributors and fleet managers. New biodiesel retail pump stations are set to open, with several other initiatives as well. Partners in the city’s goals have included the Region 9 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various city agencies. Today’s biodiesel announcement is part of a series of environmental initiatives touted by the Mayor at yesterday’s Annual Mayor’s Earth Day breakfast.

Representatives of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, EPA and the San Francisco Department of Environment spoke at today’s event, held at the Olympian fleet fueling station at 3rd Street and 23rd. In previous years, this station served as the nation’s first B100 (pure biodiesel) retail pump in the continental United States. Tellurian Biodiesel, a member of NBB, now manages the distribution of B20 to the station, part of a network of new B20 stations planned for that pollution-impacted area of the city.

"The city of San Francisco has made great progress on its goal of converting 100 percent of its diesel fleet to B20 by the end of the year,” said Eric Bowen of Tellurian. “It is ahead of schedule with almost 40 percent of the fleet already running on biodiesel. San Francisco is leading the way toward a more sustainable future," he said.

During the National Biodiesel Conference held in February in San Antonio, NBB honored firefighters from the San Francisco department for their personal influence in starting SFFD on B20. Mike Ferry and Brie Mathews received NBB’s “Inspiration” award for their efforts. Mathews used biodiesel in her personal vehicle and Ferry developed and managed the B20 pilot program for city fire engines and emergency vehicles, on the committee instituting city-wide B20 use.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can run in any diesel engine in blends of 20 percent or lower, blended with diesel fuel. It can be made from any vegetable oil or animal fat through a chemical process that removes the glycerin. Biodiesel has added fuel refining capacity to the U.S. with more than 105 biodiesel plants operating currently. Biodiesel significantly cuts harmful environmental emissions, including carbon monoxide and life cycle carbon dioxide. Production tripled between 2005 and 2006, from 75 million gallons to about 250 million gallons.

# # #