Professor A Leader in Biodiesel

Gas prices never seem to decrease, America

seems impossibly chained to a foreign power

for energy needs, and according to Al Gore,

our cars are strangling the environment with

noxious gas. The state of the American energy

industry seems incredibly dismal right

now, but UConn?s own professors have been

hard at work for the last few years constructing

viable alternative fuel sources.

For his work with UConn?s Biofuel

Consortium, Dr. Richard Parnas, associate

professor and director of the chemical

engineering program, was awarded the

Environmental Policy Advisory Council?s

Environmental Leadership award Tuesday.

He said it felt great to receive the award.

The Biofuel Consortium is a group of faculty

and students that began to work toward

the integration of alternative energy into

mainstream society two years ago. Their mission

statement, as found on their Web site,

is "to advance UConn?s biodiesel research

initiative for the greater good of the environment,

and to help our nation gain energy

independence."

"Biofuel is essentially a fuel derived from

biological resources," Parnas said. "For example,

[the fuel] ethanol is derived from corn.

But there are others like biodiesel that come

from plant-derived vegetable oils. The main

idea is that you have a renewable resource

providing the input to make the biofuel."

The idea of using alternative fuel has been

around for a while. Some Web sites offer

"conversion kits" to modify diesel engine

cars to run off of waste products. For about

$1,000, an old car can be fixed to run off of

used vegetable oil from deep fryers - easily

obtainable at local restaurants. Such kits are

often not as handy as they seem though; they

are difficult to construct and are prone to

failing.

"All fuels have to satisfy [American

Society of Testing and Materials] requirements,"

Parnas said. "The grease car kits

require one to use waste oils that don?t satisfy

these requirements. There?s essentially no

regulation on it."

"The biofuel movement is developing processes

to make fuels that are completely reliable,"

Parnas said. "With biodiesel, we can

make fuel that can be put directly into your

home heating system with no modifications.They also make automotive

diesel fuel that can be put into a

car with no modifications."

The movement seems to have

caught the government?s attention.

According to a proposed

energy plan from Gov. M. Jodi

Rell, "By 2020, 20 percent of all

energy used and sold in the state

of Connecticut will come from

clean or renewable resources."

This seems to be an accurate

figure; the state of Connecticut

has already appropriated $13

million this year and $23 million

for the following year to

stimulate the development of

the biofuel industry.

"[The budget] includes incentives

aimed at promoting the

local production of biofuel crops

and developing in-state biofuel

production facilities," Rell said

during her February state budget

address.

These incentives include helping

farmers grow energy crops,

giving grants to biofuel producers

to create facilities for biofuel,

and giving retailers reason

to sell the product.

The popularity of the search

for alternative energy sources

is likely due to the large-scale

effect that biofuel would have

on the country. Having a fuel

source produced in America

would reduce dependency on

unstable foreign nations, might

be cheaper than petroleum, will

create jobs in America and will

reduce carbon dioxide emissions,

which have been tied to

global warming. The creation of

agricultural fields for alternative

fuel sources would also create

more aesthetically pleasing

natural open spaces.

There has been some question,

however, as to whether

alternative fuels would actually

become cheaper than gasoline if

they came into widespread use.

"We feel oil prices will stay

high, or perhaps go higher, and

in that case, biofuel will be very

cost-competitive," Parnas said.

"Biofuels become competitive

within the vicinity of $3 a gallon,

so we?re just now getting into a

competitive range. Still, it?s difficult

to predict the future."

"Even if it cost more than

petroleum, perhaps one should

consider the other benefits it

adds, like air quality, preservation

of open spaces and the creation

of jobs in our own backyards,"

he said.

Other economic issues complicate

the debate as well. Many

biofuels run off of organic products

that are used in food markets.

Ethanol, for example, is largely

produced from corn in the U.S.

Once ethanol research began,

the price of corn increased, and

is now at a high it hasn?t seen

in decades. While certainly

beneficial to Midwestern farmers,

whose industry has been

depressed for years, this means

other American communities

are paying much more than they

are used to for the crop.

"It?s true that when prices go

up, it may hurt some people,"

Parnas said. "But ethanol is a

bad biofuel. We can do a lot

better - that?s what biodiesel is

about. We can now use a variety

of crops that are not food

crops."

"There?s an incredible surplus

of vegetable oil, so that will

not severely impact the food

market. There?s also scientific

research in an area called ?cellulosic

ethanol? to make ethanol

from a variety of materials

that do not go into the food

chain, like poplar trees, or willow

trees."

This kind of production may

provide an acceptable compromise,

giving the agriculture

industry a new, profitable crop

to focus on and keeping food

prices unaffected.

"There?s an enormous amount

of resources [that are] not part of

the food production chain that

can make an enormous amount

of fuel," Parnas said.