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November 29, 2007

San Francisco Municipal Program to Produce Biofuels

San Francisco, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a new program to collect fats, oil and grease free of charge from the city's restaurants and turn them into biofuel to power city-owned vehicles.

"For every 5 gallons of grease we collect and keep out of our sewers, we displace 5 gallons of petroleum diesel. That is a net 100 pound reduction in carbon emission."

--Susan Leal, General Manager, SFPUC

The program, SFGreasecycle, was developed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) as a way to combat sewer blockages caused in part by excess cooking oils and fats discharged down drains from restaurants and homes. The program will produce an estimated 1.5 million gallons of fuel per year and will power the city's fleet of 1600 diesel vehicles.

"We're taking a serious City problem and using the best available technology to save our ratepayers' money and do something good for the environment," said SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal. "For every 5 gallons of grease we collect and keep out of our sewers, we displace 5 gallons of petroleum diesel. That is a net 100 pound reduction in carbon emission."
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Reader Comments (6)
 
No image available
November 29, 2007
I'd like to see every city in the country follow suit. This could be followed by every sewage system being energy self sufficient and garbage collection as an energy source.
Comment 1 of 6
No image available
November 30, 2007
On a SF news clip (channel 5), it came our that the City flet was only using B20. SF should really step up and be the first city to use B99 in its entire fleet (all of the City's Water Bureau vehicles in Portland, OR use B99). Also, in the same news clip, it said that the use of biodiesel is costing the City 5-10 cents more than petroleum diesel. I'm having a hard tme seeing how that is the case if they are using a free feedstock. Anyone know who is producing the biodiesel? Is it the City or a private company?
Comment 2 of 6
No image available
November 30, 2007
Honolulu did this almost 6 years ago and created an instant market for the product by converting all city diesel vehicles over to biodiesel. All of the fat, oils, and grease then got picked up for free at restaurants by the biodiesel company. This stopped illegal dumping by fly by night pumping companies and slug loads into our sewer lines. Restaurants quickly agreed to the new paperwork requirements that they had previously fought once they got free service.
Comment 3 of 6
No image available
November 30, 2007
Although it not obvious in the article, I assume they plan to make biogas from sewage sludge and municipal waste - a great initiative that works hand in hand with current Californian initiatives to capture biogas from cow manure - a massive untapped resource!
Comment 4 of 6
No image available
December 3, 2007
It shouldn't be too hard to devise a bit of equipment that would separate fats and grease from the water stream leaving a restaurant. Then the restaurant could simply pour the whole lot down the drain and the municipality would come along from time to time to empty the reservoir. The municipality grease wagon could then do their pick up in the wee small hours of the morning when there was minimal traffic since the restaurant wouldn't have to be open when they collected the feed stock. New restaurants would have the device built in rather than retrofitted. With the cheapness of electronic communications these days, the grease reservoir could even communicate to a central pannel when it needed emptying, making the rounds of the grease wagon quicker and more efficient.
Comment 5 of 6
No image available
December 3, 2007
Pardon my ignorance but what is B20 and B99
Comment 6 of 6
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