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Number of comments 0 Small Garden Energy Production...................... July 8, 2007 15:42:38 I have been wondering about something for a while. How much would it take to grow maybe soybeans and press them for oil to make biodiesel? After some reading I found that soybeans produce about 48 gallons of oil per acre. Sunflowers are a little over double that amount at about 102 gallons of oil per acre.I roughly figure I am currently using about 20 gallons of gasoline a week in my vehicle. I do not own a diesel vehicle at this point. But, anyway, I would need about 1000 gallons of fuel to power a vehicle with the same level of use. That is if I could get 30 mpg out of a diesel vehicle. That comes out to about 10 acres of sunflowers and almost twice that much for soybeans. That is a lot of space and much more than a garden sized operation. But, let's say I had about 20 acres I wanted to use for something other than raising livestock feed. 20 acres of sunflowers would yield me about 2000 gallons of biodiesel which at $3.30 per gallon makes $6600. That is less than what you could get for soybeans selling for $6.50 per bushel. The figures come from the Department of Energy Website Alternative Fuel Price Report for March 2007. So probably fuel production of any consequence is not a gardeners goal. It could be for a small farmer or entrepreneuer. The biodiesel equipment is available for small scale production. I have heard rumors of farmers making their own but I have never met any that have. Since they have diesel tractors and like to complain about the cost of fuel you would think they would all be doing this. There are lots of websites about biodiesel and how to produce it. It is not something for everyone and it looks like you should follow directions carefully and understand the hazards involved. But really if we don't start finding some ways to help ourselves and take control of our lives no one will do it for us. Comment on this article |