--- Lyle Estill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear List, > > I watch the contributions fly by from various subscribers reporting > their fuel prices to the student who needs the data for a project. > > That's wonderful. > > And it seems there is a sense that biodiesel needs to compete with > regular diesel on price. > > I get that a lot at Piedmont Biofuels, and I thought I would toss > this > out to the list: > > Diesel in North Carolina right now is about 1.69 a gallon. > > At 3.50 a gallon for B100, biodiesel is a bargain.
I agree with you on this - here in the UK we do pay for our healthcare more at the pump than in the US, but your point about $3.50 per gallon being a bargain (about half the UK price) stands, as you need to consider the _system_ costs. These will include a lot of things that Joe Public won't even think about. > As a society we have decided that I will pay my own health care tab > for > my asthmatic children. > I do not pay for health care at the pump. If I did, if we decided > that > petroleum producers were accountable for the health effects of their > products, add a buck per gallon. > > This concept is commonplace in cultures where the government pays for > > health care. Go buy a litre of diesel in Canada sometime. Or any > other civilized society, for that matter. > > As a society we have decided to pay for the security of our oil > supply > on April 15th--rather than at the pump. Even in peacetime, Uncle Sam > > maintains a huge (and expensive) military presence in the Persian > Gulf. > Forget Saddam for a moment (we all know that Operation Iraqi > Freedom > has nothing to do with oil. We are there because Saddam is a bad > guy. > He even tortures prisoners and such). Even in peacetime we provide > fighter jet escorts to tankers leaving the gulf. > > If we asked the importers of petroleum diesel to pay the tab for > that--rather than paying in our taxes, add a buck a gallon. > > Suddenly 3.50 a gallon saves you money and the price "objection" goes > > away... The problem here is that you are assuming that individuals actually care and think about this. The fact that you and I are on the biofuels mailing list shows that we are very rare beings - we actually think and care about a lot of things. I bet you care about other issues unrelated to biofuels too - I certainly do - and are probably on a number of different mailing lists and subscribe to a number of different magazines that reflect what you care about. The problem is, probably about 99% of the population only care about one thing - what they _think_ they are paying to maintain their lifestyle. If only we could get them to care about what they are _actually_ paying, that would be a major step forward, and that's before we even try to get people to change their lifestyles. And what people think they are paying is the pump price of their fuel, in this case. Do you ever work out the cost per mile of a journey? What does that cost include? Does it include the cost of servicing your vehicle, divided by the number of mile between services? Does it include wear and tear on the tyres? Cost of windscreen wash? Antifreeze? Replacing the battery every few years? Does it include tax, insurance, depreciation in any way? Does it include wear and tear on the road surface? Does it include the cost of clearing up after accidents? Does it include any healthcare costs? Does it include costs associated with washing/cleaning your vehicle? I could go on almost ad infinitum, but I bet for most people the only cost they include is the fuel. Most people don't even care about what goes on in Iraq, as long as their perceived cost of transport is low. So in the bigger picture, of course the pump price of the fuel is not very significant. But for the majority of users, it is the single most important factor in deciding which fuel to use, if given a choice. If it can't compete at the pump on price, very few people will buy it. Now that biodiesel prices in the UK are similar to dinodiesel prices as a result of a tax concession, the rate of usage is increasing rapidly - and there's not even a significant cost _advantage_ at the moment. I think you will find that people are the same the world over - most people don't care at all, and those that do will need a certain amount of persuading before they change their ways. I started buying biodiesel for environmental reasons, but I now think by far the most important reason is political - the environmental benefits seem small compared to the political benefits to me at the moment. Donald > Lyle Estill > V.P. Stuff > Piedmont Biofuels > www.biofuels.coop > 919-545-2551 > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > --------------------~--> > Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. > Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM > --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > ===== -- 43 - slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything. ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! 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