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On April 28, 2011, the Alamo Area Clean Cities Coalition (AACCC) in partnership with Renewable
Energy Group (REG) conducted a biodiesel workshop in San Antonio,Texas at the Alamo Area Council
of Governments.
The workshop was held to increase the use of biodiesel and thereby decrease the use of foreign
oil, create greater energy security, improve air quality, and encourage economic growth in the
region.
Attendees at the workshop included local business decision makers, fleets, media professionals,
and interested citizens who learned about benefits and opportunities associated with biodiesel.
Joe Jobe, Chief Executive Officer of the National Biodiesel Board discussed sustainability.
Since 1973 when OPEC decided to use oil as an economic weapon against the United States, every
president since then has said that we need to make energy security a priority. We need to
develop new domestic, renewable energy sources and biodiesel is an important part of that.
Robert McCormick, Principal Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, discussed running
biodiesel in a 2011 engine.
For engines, certainly since the early 90's, if your using a high quality biodiesel, blends up
to B-20 should provide good performance and reliability. Not all engine manufacturers are
currently blends up to B-20. Almost all engine manufacturers are approving B-5 blends. Many
engine manufacturers have at least some products that are approved for B-20 including 20-10
products.
Gary Glasscock, VP of Maintenance of VIA Metropolitan Transit, presented on the use of Biodiesel
in fleets.
We wound up saving approximately $ 100,000 just on the cost of fuel alone. That does not
include any savings we experienced with the reduced maintenance and while we don't have a
particular figure for those savings intuitively we know that it helped us out.
Jake Sheeran, Area Director of the USDA Rural Development spoke about a rural energy program.
Jake Sheeran - Our mission is to provide funding for communities, infrastructure and so forth,
but under this program, the only program we have, we are able to help agricultural producers and
also small businesses.
Rob Dascal, Biodiesel Sales Manager for Renewable Energy Group, Inc. spoke about the biodiesel
industry and tax incentives.
This workshop helped continue the efforts of the Alamo Area Clean Cities Coalition to advance
transportation choices and economic development in the Alamo, Texas region.
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