Another municipality has discovered the potential of small-scale biodiesel production. Utah State University (USU), in conjunction with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), has decided to experiment with growing oil-seed crops in the grassy medians dividing I-15.

The unusual idea came from Dallas Hanks, a 44-year-old biologist who is working on his doctoral degree at USU. With an initial $50,000 boost fromUDOT , Hanks aims to prove the 2,500 miles of state-owned highway right-of-way could yield an annual average of 500,000 gallons of 100 percent biodiesel, also known as B100.”

Maintaining those ubiquitous, out-of-place strips of lawn comes at a surprising price - over a million dollars each year in mowing costs alone - and keeping that grass weed-free (as if that was really necessary) generally involves considerable herbicide applications. In the spirit of turning liabilities into assets, converting that sod into a renewable fuel source would have substantial benefits. USU and UDOT’s researchers plan on starting out with a 1 mile test strip of various oil-seed crops, which will later be compared on a productivity basis to a flat, fertile farm plot.

Hanks, a former Utah Valley State College biology instructor, said he conservatively estimates planting swaths of safflower, camelina, canola and perennial flax will save about $1.6 million per year in mowing costs. UDOT officials said they wouldn’t know the total taxpayer savings until the project’s first-year experiment is finished.”

“It’s really a great opportunity to show some leadership,” said UDOT Executive Director John Njord.
By addressing efficiency, energy development and climate-change concerns, the project “has it all,” said Laura Nelson, Huntsman’s energy policy adviser.”

State agencies in Utah recently began pushing for innovation and conservation under the Governor’s order to increase energy efficiency 20% by 2015. If this experiment is successful, UDOT plans on using biodiesel produced from the freeway crops (or FREE-Diesel) in government vehicles.

For more information, see the Salt Lake Tribune.

My personal take:

This is about as cool as San Francisco’s recent decision to start making biodiesel from the city’s used restaurant oil. Depending on how much energy is used in the production of the crops, UDOT has the potential to reduced CO2 emissions by several million tons each year.

Has your city started producing its own biodiesel? If so, I’d be interested to hear and/or write about it.