Berkeley Backs Off B100

18 March 2005

Berkeley Daily Planet. Berkeley, California, has scrapped its  two-year-old program to power its fleet of nearly 200 trucks entirely on pure biodiesel (B100).

The move, Public Works Director Renee Cardinaux said, came after consultant Randall Von Weder determined bacteria mold found in the cleaner burning fuel had clogged engine filters and fuel injection pipes.

Von Weder, of Point Richmond-based CytoCulture, said despite the city’s troubles with biodiesel, he never recommended that the city return to diesel, and said the best solution would be for the city use a 50-50 blend of biodiesel and a clean burning regular diesel.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get a biodiesel fuel recently that is consistently clean,” Cardinaux said. Presently, he added, the city has returned to using a blend of 80 percent diesel and 20 percent biodiesel.

For next year, Cardinaux has proposed switching the city’s fleet to ultra-low sulfur diesel, a move he said would save the city $160,000 on fuel cost as compared to 100 percent biodiesel.

Since Berkeley became the first city to go 100 percent biodiesel in 2003, two cities, Telluride, Colo. and Coconut Creek, Fla. have followed suit.