University of Colorado students fund biodiesel conversion of campus fleet

In Colorado, the campus buses at the University of Colorado have converted to biodiesel in a changeover funded by student contributions.

An article in UC’s Campus Press highlighted the contrast to the Denver RTD pilot program, which tested four hybrid vehicles but did not see strong enough gains in fuel economy to justify the $200,000 higher price per vehicle.

The City of Boulder discontinued a biodiesel trial in 2004 citing cold-weather performance of the biodiesel made at the time.

This week, Colorado biodiesel production received a potential boost when Blue Sun Biodiesel  proposed a $42 million, four-year jatropha-based biodiesel and synthetic diesel project to the US Department of Energy (DOE). Among Blue Sun’s partners is  the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colorado.

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