Biodiesel: All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

Posted in Secrets To Fuel Savings by Brian · Leave a Comment 

Thankfully diesel prices have come down in recent months, but there’s no reason to believe they will stay down indefinitely. In fact, it’s almost guaranteed that the prices will increase. To combat the high cost of diesel fuel, many people are pushing biodiesel instead. But is it all it’s cracked up to be?

One of the great selling points for biodiesel is that it is a renewable energy source, unlike petroleum. Once petroleum reserves are gone, it will take too many years to think about in order for more to be created by natural means. In comes biodiesel, which is comprised mainly of used oils from restaurants.

Used vegetable oil, most often used for frying foods like French fries or fried fish, is passed through a process called transesterification. This creates glycerin, which can be used to make soap, and diesel fuel which can be used to run vehicles. This fuel can be used alone or combined with traditional diesel fuel to reduce the call for petroleum-based fuels.

Besides helping to stretch current petroleum fuel reserves (usually it is used in a 20% mixture of biodiesel with 80% petroleum), biodiesel doesn’t release aromatics or sulfur into the atmosphere. It also greatly cuts down on the carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate emissions of any vehicle using it.

Biodiesel also has a higher flash point which means that it is much less combustible than diesel or gasoline fuels. In fact, according to OSHA, it is classified as a non-flammable liquid which means that it is much safer in case the vehicle running it has an accident.

So, what, you may ask, is wrong with it? Actually there are a few reasons why biodiesel isn’t all it’s touted to be.

1. Biodiesel is extremely sensitive to cold weather. It also has a higher cloud point than fuel made from petroleum. This means you’ll still need anti-freeze treatments to run your truck in when thermometers plummet.
2. Biodiesel may require modifications to your engine, although some people think modifications won’t be necessary. Since biodiesel has a solvent effect, it may release accumulated deposits from the tank walls or pipes from when the truck was run entirely on petroleum-based fuel which may cause blocked fuel lines and filters.
3. Biodiesel, for all of its great selling points, isn’t cheap to produce. In fact, it’s actually more expensive right now to produce one gallon of biodiesel fuel as it is to produce that made from petroleum. Hopefully the price to produce biodiesel will be reduced which will make it cheaper for the user, as well.

Ultimately, the choice to run biodiesel in your truck instead of diesel fuel made from petroleum products is entirely up to you. Whether or not you can find biodiesel may be another factor in whether or not you choose to use it.

Every Driver Has Had One Of Those Experiences Only Us Drivers Can Relate To! Had An Experience On The Road You’d Like To Share? Leave your comments now and enter to win a $500.00 gas card. We give away one each month and you can be our next winner… Click Here To Enter Now!

Want to  Watch those  extra pounds drop off  naturally while you sit ? Go to www.thetruckersedge.com/home

Six Little Known But “Easy To Do” Secrets To Saving Big Money On Diesel Fuel

Posted in Secrets To Fuel Savings by Brian · 3 Comments 

With the rising cost of diesel fuel, truckers all over the country are trying to reduce the money they have to spend during each road trip.  If you’re new to driving a big rig, you may wonder what some ways to save on diesel fuel are.  These ideas may help you keep more of your hard-earned money.

Check your tire pressure.  This may seem like a simple solution, but it can help reduce your fuel usage by as much as 2% if your tires are properly inflated.  Tire pressure is affected by the temperature, how fast you drive, and the condition of the roads.  If your tires are improperly inflated, there is undue pressure put on the sidewall which causes the tire to blow out more easily.  Check your air pressure weekly, if not that often at least once a month, and don’t them become under-inflated.

Drive at night.  Since tire pressure is affected by the outside temperature, driving at night should help your tires remain inflated properly.  Another thing about driving at night is that the traffic is usually lighter which mean there would be less need to slow down and less reason to stop for congested traffic.

Slow down.  Install a governor, if you own your own rig, or start using your cruise control.  For each mile per hour over the speed limit you travel, you lower your miles per gallon by 2%.  By installing a governor, truckers won’t be able to let their lead foot take over.  They’ll only be able to drive as fast as the governor allows. Having a governor, according to some reports, could save fuel for every hour that the truck is in use.

Give your rig a tune-up.  If you haven’t been servicing your truck on a regular basis, now would be a good time to start.  Some mechanics recommend scheduling a tune-up every 10,000 miles.  What would you do during that tune-up? Replace the oil and fuel filters, check each belt to see if they need to be adjusted, check all lights, rotate the steering tires, verifying suspension on both ends, and that all gears are lubed properly.

Don’t carry unnecessary weight.  Every truck driver has things in their cab or sleeper that aren’t necessary.  By removing extra items from your truck, you can increase how much fuel stays in your tanks.  If you remove 1,000 pounds from your truck, your fuel economy will increase by 0.4%.

Reduce tractor-trailer gaps.  Motorists know that aerodynamics off of trucks can help them save gas if they drive closely behind.  If you reduce the tractor-trailer gap, you increase your truck’s aerodynamics by reducing the resistance the truck feels.  This will help you save fuel.

These ideas are just five ways to save on diesel fuel.  If you think about it, you’ll probably be able to think of some others like not leaving the truck running.  Use these ideas to begin saving money and then incorporate others as you run across them.

Trick For Making Your Truck More Fuel Efficient

Posted in Secrets To Fuel Savings by Brian · 2 Comments 

Fuel economy and the effects of fossil fuels are on the minds of nearly everyone who drives.  They want to get the most miles per gallon but the desire to save money is not enough.  There has to be action in order for savings to occur.  This is true whether it is a small car or a big eighteen-wheeler.  Manufacturers are trying to make cars more “green” in an attempt to improve fuel economy; will making a more fuel efficient truck soon to follow?

Laws are already on the books that will require cars to get 35 mpg in the near future.  Politicians are trying to make the same rules apply for medium trucks.  Will laws concerning fuel economy for over-the-road trucks be far behind?

Many people would argue that there have already been gains in the fuel economy of big rigs.  In fact, improvements have stayed at about 1% for a number of years.  Have automotive manufacturers been able to say the same thing?  The answer to that question is “no.”  It seems fuel economy improvements are only made for cars when Congress enacts laws to require it.

To combat the cost of fuel for big trucks, some large companies are beginning to incorporate hybrid propulsion technology into their delivery trucks.  Instead of an electric motor, batteries, and wires, these new trucks are propelled using a hydraulic pump-motor, high-pressure fluid lines and accumulators.  Can this technology be far behind for big rigs?

These improvements make it possible to store energy while the engine is not actively being used, as when the trucks are idling, so they can help reduce the amount of pull on the diesel engine once it starts again.  While these changes may not seem to be very effective, the difference in the emissions is expected to be substantial.  The initial cost to change over to this system is also expected to be quite large.

It will probably be quite some time before this technology is required on big trucks, if it ever is.  However, it’s good to know that there are people developing ways to improve the fuel economy of these trucks as well as address the environmental concerns of the fossil fuels to run them.

Are there other ways to improve fuel economy without such a major outlay of funds to upgrade a rig?  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that trucks could save more than $2,000 per year.  All they’d have to do is spend about $2,400 once to install side skirts.  This would save on the cost of fuel which will also help reduce the amount of emissions.

Fuel economy is important to everyone who drives, but of the utmost importance for truckers who have to spend so much money on fuel.  Making a more fuel efficient truck would go a long way to easing costs, and there are some systems in the work.  Hopefully it won’t take an act of Congress to ensure the changes are made.

Is It Time To Slow Down?

Posted in Secrets To Fuel Savings by Brian · Leave a Comment 

Diesel fuel and gasoline prices continue to skyrocket and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.  For truck drivers, that’s disastrous because they have to use fuel to complete their job of transporting goods across the state, many times across the country.  The cost of fuel has many truckers and trucking companies wondering, is it time to slow down?

Back in the 1973 during the Arab oil crisis, speed limits were reduced nationwide in an effort to cut back on fuel demands.  This speed reduction has been credited with helping the US over the fuel slump then and its hope that reducing speeds will help with the current problem.

Several of the larger trucking companies are leading the way by setting the governors (electronic speed limiters) on their fleet from 65 mph to 62 mph. For some companies, especially those with a fleet over 8,000 trucks, slowing down by just 3 miles per hour could help them save over $12 million per year.

How do those savings compare to cars?  If 8,000 trucks were to reduce their speed by 3 mph each, that would be like over 7,000 cars disappearing from the roadways.  It would also be better for the environment because it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 70 million pounds.  Not only will the truck companies breath easier from the savings, the whole country can breath easier because of the reduced emissions.

The larger trucking companies, along with the American Trucking Association, would like every driver to slow down, which would save fuel all across the board.  It would also be safer for cars that must travel the same highways as the big rigs.  Reducing speeds to less than 60 mph would increase the savings for the whole nation, which may inadvertently reduce the price of fuel for everyone.

Congress instituted a national speed limit in 1974 and set it at 55 mph.  The speed limit policy changed during the 1980s because oil prices had fallen.  Congress repealed the speed limit regulations entirely in 1995.  It would take another act of Congress to institute a new speed limit in an effort to save fuel.

Some people have also suggested that new trucks be manufactured with an internal governor that would permanently keep trucks from driving faster than 68 mph.  It would probably follow that automobiles would have governors or that the governors’ speed would be reduced.

Don’t expect smaller trucking companies or automobile drivers to be enthused about possible changes in manufacturing.  Unfortunately, if you’re a small trucking company or a private truck owner, slower trucks means less money in their pockets.  Independent truckers make more money the more miles they have behind them.  

No one expects reducing speeds to completely solve the current fuel cost crisis.  It may, however, start us down the road to recovery.  When others ask the question is it time to slow down? The answer from many trucking companies may be a resounding “yes.”

 

• Polls

  Do you think the speed limit should be changed to 55 MPH?

  • Yes
  • No

  View Results

   Loading ...

• Recent Articles

  • The Taxman Cometh
  • Trim the Trucking Expense Fat
  • What to do While Stuck in Traffic
  • What’s a Trucker to Do for Retirement?
  • Biodiesel: All It’s Cracked Up to Be?
  • GPS and Other Routing Software
  • Help for Truck Drivers with Sleep Apnea
  • No Rest for the Sick DRIVER
  • On-Board Safety
  • Start Planning Mother’s Day for Women Truckers Now

• Categories

  • Money Saving Tips
  • Resources
  • Secrets To Fuel Savings
  • The Healthy Trucker
  • Trucker Lifestyle
  • Women Truckers

• Archives

  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008

• Links

  • The Truckers Edge