City turning toward biofuel

From Eyewitness News:

Thousands of restaurants throughout New York City are recycling their used cooking oil, keeping it out of landfills and providing a cleaner fuel source.

Local gas stations then sell diesel fuel from Tri-State Biodiesel, which can be used by any vehicle that uses diesel. It costs the same, but is much better for the environment.

And Tri-State Biodiesel is busy, making weekly pick ups of used cooking oil from more than 3,000 restaurants throughout the five boroughs.

City to turn crap into fuel

From NBC:

We flush it and it's out of our lives. But does anyone give a you-know-what about our waste going to waste?

"We do," says Commissioner Cas Holloway of the City's Department of Environmental Protection. "And what we're trying to do is take what is pure waste and turn it into a valuable resource."

The water from every toilet that flushes in the Rockaway section of Queens ends up at the Rockaway wastewater treatment plant. But instead of just being treated and dumped in the nearest waterway, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has bigger plans for that waste.

It's part of a pilot program that converts human wastewater into fuel.

"Now we literally have the ability to make gasoline-grade fuel out of waste water," Holloway said. "It's an environmental benefit, and it would reduce energy costs for the agency."

The experiment exposes wastewater to sunlight, causing photosynthesis. The algae that grows is shipped to a lab to be converted to biofuel.

If the technology works and proves cost efficient the city estimates it could power 2,800 cars a day on just 10 percent of the city's waste stream.

Queens men accused of grease theft

From CBS New York:

Two Queens men are accused of trying to steal used cooking oil from a New Jersey restaurant.

Police say they caught Youngil Kim and Byung Ho Choi sucking 700 gallons of grease from two storage tanks behind a Five Guys Burgers and Fries restaurant in North Bergen Monday.

Waste oil can be turned into biodiesel fuel. The restaurant sells its grease to a contractor for a little more than $1 a gallon.

Police say the men attached a hose to a pump in a canary yellow van. The oil was stored in a plastic bladder.

Detective Lt. Frank Cannella tells The Record newspaper they “weren’t sneaky thieves, they were greasy thieves.”

The fuel of the future?

From NY1:

A Briarwood man is heating his home in an eco-friendly way, but has also added to the debate over a possible citywide mandate.