Co-op America Quarterly
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SUMMER 2007
Web Exclusive
The Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance
Biodiesel is clearly a win for the planet—using it results in 52% fewer lifecycle greenhouse gas
emissions than gasoline, 41% fewer than diesel, and 41% fewer than the much-touted corn
ethanol when it’s made from soybeans. But some people wonder whether a massive switch to
biodiesel would be sustainable: would it use up food crops and drive up grain prices? Would it
result in countries clearcutting critical habitat to grow more feedstock for fuel?
These are valid concerns, but the good news is, unlike with corn ethanol, there are ways to
produce biodiesel that benefit both communities and the environment. To make sure that’s the
path we as a nation choose, several diverse groups have come together to form the Sustainable
Biodiesel Alliance (SBA).
“Because the biodiesel industry is still relatively small, we have a chance to do it right and move
forward in ways that could make it renewable and sustainable,” says Heidi Quante, SBA’s
director. “There’s no reason to recreate the problems we’ve had with petroleum.”
SBA was founded in December 2006 by film star Darryl Hannah, Pacific Biodiesel's Kelly
King, and Annie Nelson, whose husband, country musician Willie Nelson, is also an outspoken
advocate of biodiesel. The three women brought together biodiesel producers that were
community-owned and –operated, and looking for ways to make their fuel as sustainable as
possible. They also invited several nonprofits concerned about sustainable transportation and
family farmers, like the IATP and Farm Aid, as well as university scientists and other industry
experts, to the table.
What the groups all had in common was that they all wanted to see the creation of a communitybased biodiesel infrastructure that benefits farmers, stewards the Earth, and brings the lifecycle
greenhouse gas emissions of biodiesel to the lowest levels possible.
A Multi-Stakeholder Process
The various players involved in the SBA are working on creating a consensus around a list of
best practices for producing and purchasing biodiesel. These best practices, which the SBA plans
to unveil this September, focus on keeping biodiesel environmentally, socially, and economically
sustainable.
For example, Quante says, some language will probably go into the list to ensure that:
• from an environmental perspective, critical habitat isn’t clearcut for biodiesel crops, and that
waste is used for making biodiesel as much as possible.
• from a social perspective, that small-scale or subsistence farmers in developing countries aren’t
forced off their lands to increase biodiesel production, as has reportedly been happening in
Colombia.
• and from an economic persective, that urban and rural communities benefit as much as possible
from the biodiesel energy future, such as by having community-owned production facilities and
locally produced feedstocks when possible.
In an effort to ensure that biodiesel is sustainable from as many perspectives as possible, the
SBA has gone beyond its membership to bring a multitude of stakeholders into working groups.
The various working groups mirror the lifecycle of biodiesel, focusing on growing feedstock, plant
processing, and distribution.
Co-op America business member Organic Valley, a cooperative of US organic, family farmers
that sells organic food, is part of the growing feedstock and plant processing working groups.
“We’re really interested in the sustainable agriculture part of it,” says Organic Valley’s Cecil
Wright. “We like to see crop diversity, not monocropping, as well as organic or close-to-organic
production. We want to make sure that the biodiesel is as good as it can be for family farmers and
the environment, over its entire lifecycle.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the US Navy—currently one of the largest users of biodiesel in
the US—is also participating in the SBA working groups.
“They want to see a domestic biodiesel industry, for national security reasons,” says Quante.
Once the best practices are in place, the SBA plans to come out with a Sustainable Biodiesel seal
in 2008, which consumers could look for to determine whether their biodiesel was grown and
produced in ways that benefit people and the planet. The seal will be modeled on other third-party
industry certifications, like the Forest Stewardship Council FSC mark.
Looking at Feedstocks
One of the major questions the SBA and its working groups have been tackling is which
feedstocks make the best biodiesel for people and the planet.
“We’re finding that that differs from region to region,” says Quante. “For example, sunflowers
aren't optimal crops for every region in the US, but they make a high-yield biodiesel crop that’s
more efficient than soy. So while one region may want to grow sunflowers, another might grow
mustard or camelina.
And, of course, the SBA is big on using as much waste as possible to make biodiesel.
“Waste has such an amazing place in biodiesel,” says Quante. “One of the problems is that waste
grease can cause problems in municipal water systems. By using waste oil for biodiesel, you help
avoid a problem for many large urban cities. Also, urban communities can benefit from
production, as waste oil becomes a type of ‘urban crop.’”
Quante cites Fryodiesel, a for-profit biodiesel producer in Philadelphia, as an example. The
company is part of the SBA’s best practices working group for producers and purchasers. Using
its own patented process, Fryodiesel makes a high-quality biodiesel from waste grease it collects
from local restaurants.
Not only does Fryodiesel sell this fuel to customers across the state, but it also makes an effort to
get it in the hands of Pennsylvania school districts, as part of a statewide effort to convert the
state’s school buses to biodiesel.
“The majority of school buses run on diesel, and they’re incredibly polluting,” says Nadia Adawi,
Fryodiesel’s president. The Union of Concerned Scientists notes that diesel exhaust has been
linked to asthma, heart disease, and cancer, and several studies have found that diesel pollution
can concentrate inside the buses, where children breathe it in.
“Besides the air quality issues, one of the reasons we try to sell to school districts is that they can
get grant money from the state to cover any incremental costs associated with a switch to
biodiesel,” says Adawi.
So with Fryodiesel’s help, local schoolbuses in one district have converted to biodiesel that’s very
sustainable: It’s made from waste grease, it’s produced in a community-owned, local facility, and
it’s less polluting than diesel and so less of a danger to the children in the buses. The company
hopes to help more districts convert in the future.
Efficiency First, Then Biodiesel
While the SBA remains focused on making biodiesel as sustainable as possible, Quante notes
that their efforts will be in vain if we don’t increase the fuel efficiency of our cars, so we need less
fuel, including biodiesel, in the first place.
“Biodiesel is by no means a silver bullet,” says Quante. “We need to look at improving fuel
economy and improving our public transportation systems, so we use much less fuel.”
She points to a 2006 WorldWatch report, Biofuels for Transportation, which states that “advanced
biofuels could provide 37 percent of US transport fuel within the next 25 years, and up to 75
percent if automobile fuel economy doubles.”
For now, she encourages consumers to take steps in their own lives to use less fuel, and
advocate for more public transportation and improved fuel economy overall.
For those of us who want to jump on the biodiesel train before SBA certification comes online,
Quante encourages us to ask questions when we purchase it, such as: What feedstock do you
use? Is it waste or virgin? Where is your feedstock coming from? Is it domestic or imported?
Also, she says, you can ask about ASTM certification, which is a standard set by the American
Society for Testing and Materials to ensure that the biodiesel meets a certain fuel quality. Note
that some local cooperatives may not have ASTM certification, because it can be costly.
“If we want a sustainable future, it’s up to each individual to act,” says Quante. “We need to ask
questions about what’s being posed as a solution to our current energy structure, and we need to
get behind the best options.”
—Tracy Fernandez Rysavy
©2005 Co-op America. All rights reserved.