Nathan Scandella (personal)

Green Suckers

One disturbing trend that's developed in the last few years is that of the retailers gouging consumers on environmentally-friendly products. I suppose the rationale is that if people are willing to spend a little more money to get products they can be proud of, maybe their conscience will support paying a lot more money to avoid the guilt.

Right now, there is a crisis in the biodiesel world. Biodiesel is made from agricultural feedstock, but also requires some traditional fuels to produce it (diesel to run the farm equipment and truck the fuel to market, electricity, etc.). Because of the process used to produce, and distribute biodiesel, there is a lag between the price of the "ingredients", and the price at the pump. Last year, we had a huge run-up in the price of oil (and thus petro-diesel), and several factors which led to the increase in the cost of most agricultural commodities, including the soy used to make most of our local biodiesel. Therefore, the cost of biodiesel now is still reflecting some of the price spikes from several months ago. Meanwhile, gas and diesel have gotten much cheaper in a hurry. For better or for worse, the price of petroleum products at the pump can change very quickly.

The problem is that biodiesel, which is a fledgling industry, is now stuck competing against a petroleum-based alternative that costs about half as much. And the nature of the diesel engine means that you can switch from biodiesel to petro-diesel, or vice versa, with no hassle at all. I'm afraid that at this price differential, the biodiesel industry will soon be dead, unless The Obama Administration steps in quickly to save it. Ok, that's just background. Now to my point:

Even though there are legitimate reasons why biodiesel costs more per gallon than petro-diesel, some retailers are taking the opportunity to gouge biodiesel users at the pump. Currently, the Propel Biofuels station in West Seattle is selling B99 (99% pure biodiesel) at about $4.25 per gallon. Petro-diesel is selling at most stations at $2.70 per gallon. There are a couple stations in West Seattle, that offer a 5% blend of biodiesel. They are a Safeway, and a Chevron, located directly across the street from one another. Safeway started selling B5 first, and the Chevron has followed more recently. Both of them are currently selling their B5 product at $3.11 per gallon. Biodiesel doesn't need a special blending process to produce it. You can just combine the two types of fuel to get your mixture. It doesn't even have to be precise, because the two stations don't even guarantee a 5% biodiesel constituency (they say your fuel may contain up to 5% biofuel). So, if you do the math, using the price of "pure" bio- and petro-diesel, B5 should cost around 10 cents more per gallon than regular petroleum diesel. So, why are Safeway and Chevron selling it at $3.11/gallon? They are taking advantage of the good Samaritans who want to help prevent climate change.

This type of price manipulation should be regarded which just as much contempt as those who refuse to choose greener options at all. They are stifling the adoption of biofuels and padding their profits, while selling a product that's almost as bad for the environment as standard diesel. B5 only gives a driver a 3-4% savings in greenhouse gas emissions versus petrodiesel.

This is the kind of practice that should be investigated by the State Attorney General. Unfortunately, Washington has a Republican in that office, so I'm not holding my breath.

Posted at 09:37PM Dec 27, 2008 by Nathan in Environment  |  Comments[0]