As I work towards my own energy independence I thought about planting the spare acre or two of my property with rapeseed aka “canola”. That way I could not only make my own BioDiesel, but also grow my own feedstock. I assume rape will grow in Washington since it also grows in the UK and our climates are very similar.
Then I read about this tree. Copaifera langsdorfii is also known as “the Diesel tree” because you can tap it like a Maple and oil flows out. Pretty cool huh?
The wiki entry says though:
Despite its vigorous production of oil the tree does not grow well outside of the tropics and does not show promise as a reliable source of biodiesel.
Oh well. I guess the canola idea might still fly. 😉
Is there anyone in the Skagit area with their own crusher you could rent time on? Last I heard (some time ago) nearest processing facility was in Yakima. Plus you’d need a diesel tractor.
I had similar thoughts…if I planted a few acres in rapeseed, I could, if my chart of yields are correct, get enough oil to run a Listeroid engine for a year.
Hi Roger. I have no idea about a crusher in the area, and frankly this idea of becoming a farmer is a tad ludicrous. 😉
I am however looking at acquiring a Lister-based genset for the house. Especially after the storm of 2006 and all the pain that it involved. I bought the Utterpower CD (and promptly misplaced it somewhere!) Are you serious about doing this too? If so we should probably collaborate.
Rapeseed is good (I like the colors too) -but are you sure all those other plants are legal?
lol… were not smoking them Mad Dog!
Chuck, the Gentleman Farmer. 🙂
I can see it now: goolsbee, cruisin’ through craigslist, looking for good deals on a used Kubotoa diesel tractor, with plowing attachments, bib overalls, chewin’ on a piece of straw as he rumbles around his property, growing his fuel.
I LIKE it!
In that vein, I’m looking to invest in some grid-tied electrical generation, ala’ the wind turbines that Jay Leno chanpions! A basic 3.5Kw setup is about $4000, and with the *near-constant* wind resource of the eastern Colorado plains, I can realaize a payback in 5-7 years.
Then, given that I can mount them on the ground (easier, cheaper, easier to maintenance), rather than the roof of my house, the next step is a PV system, to take advantage of the ~300 days/annum of clear blue skies we are blessed with, here in Colorado.
I already have the water panels and 300 gallon storage tank (all free!) to hook up to my Ipex radiant heat tubing, for the slab in the yet-to-come “Garage Mahal.”
I’m pouring a slab to add onto my “Garage Mahal-ete” this summer, and it will be radiantly-heated by the sun.
So…
Inch by inch, row by row..it’s off to energy independence we will go!
lol.. I already have the overalls. I wouldn’t mind having a tractor though, I rent one every summer to box-blade the driveway.
I’m still thinking of a Lister or Lister-clone for my own genset. There was a used one awhile back I missed…let me know if you can get a much better deal by buying two, I can’t promise I’ll be ready to go in, but I’m at least interested.
I might experiment with the rapeseed once we’re actually living on our property, assuming I ever get enough scratch together to start on the house build. The property is otherwise idle. If the Mrs. gets back into horses, though, I’ll have to switch to methane from oil.
This would also give me an excuse to get another tractor, a diesel this time.
Likely the only savings is in freight, but I’ll let you know what I find. I’m looking at late summer as my time frame.
If you’se guys get serious about a Listeroid buy, clue me in; I’d be interested in one, myself and shipping three can’t be all that much more expensive than shipping two!