The Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance is a group that promotes sustainable biodiesel practices. The Alliance held an event at the Hard Rock Cafe recently with celebrities like Willie Nelson in attendance. The video above shows the red carpet at the event where stars were asked what does sustainability mean to them? I really liked the definition of sustainability given by SNL alum Jim Breuer: "Anything but gas."

Below the fold is another video about the Hard Rock concert for sustainable biodiesel. You can also watch Darryl Hannah talking about the Alliance in an appearance on Fox News. The Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance looks like an interesting group. I'm sure we'll hear more from them soon.

[Source: YouTube]

The best musician friend biodiesel ever had, Willie Nelson, is scheduled to roll up to the SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel plant in Salem, Oregon in a few hours for a celebration of that plant's second anniversary and the ground-breaking for an expansion.

This plant was Oregon's first (and only) commercial plant, and Willie likes the forward approach the state takes towards biofuels.

"Oregon has always been progressive in its thinking, and has been out front in every way about most major issues. This is just another example of Oregon setting a good example for the rest of the country," he said in a statement.

Using recycled cooking oil from Northwest restaurants and food processors, SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel currently makes about a million gallons of biodiesel a year. The expansion will up this to about 5 million, and the plant is moving to use more virgin canola, grown in Oregon, to meet demand.

Willie, of course, will be arriving in his biodiesel-powered tour bus.

Related:

• Governor Kulongoski of Oregon to sign biofuels bill
• Oregon biofuel study: Slow down!
• Washington State farmers experiment with canola as biodiesel cash crop

[Source: SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel LLC]

Willie Nelson visited Terry Gross on Fresh Air Thursday to promote his new book, and if you're a fan of his music or want to know more about one of America's most famous promoters of biodiesel, it's worth a listen.

While talking about Bob Dylan, writing his first song and smoking pot, Nelson also gets into how he got started with biodiesel. He said it was his wife's idea while they were living in Hawaii. His first biodiesel car was a brand new Mercedes that he filled up straightaway with vegetable oil. This freaked the salesmen out, as they weren't sure what the veggie oil would do to the $60,000 car. But it worked out fine and the car continues to get great gas mileage, Nelson said. He said the way he was exposed to biodiesel, how he hadn't heard of fuel possibilities other than regular petroleum, shows that President Bush's use of the phrase "addicted to oil" is misleading. "I don't think we're addicted, I think that's the only thing we've had," Nelson said.

Nelson is also in favor of other alternative energy sources, saying that it'll be these new technologies working together that will get us out of the mess we're in. You can hear the full interview here

[Source: Fresh Air]

As biodiesel coops spring up across the country, some of the "old timers" are ready to share what they've learned thus far. A biodiesel coop in Duluth, MN will host an open house June 6 to mark the organization's one-year anniversary. The group is excited to share their accomplishments from the past year, including using 4,000 gallons of Midwest-grown biodiesel in about 40 vehicles and educating others on biodiesel in Canada and Northern Wisconsin. The group focuses on B100. They also met Willie Nelson and filled up his tour buses with biodiesel.

For directions to and time of the open house, follow the link to Business North. The coop's website is temporarily down, which isn't a good sign.

[Source: Business North]

The Soy Daily has the full text of the EPA Region 9’s statement this week honoring singer Willie Nelson for his work promoting biodiesel. As most readers are probably aware, Nelson has become one of the most prominent promoters of biodiesel in America, and is one of the reasons gas stations across the country are – slowly –  beginning to offer biodiesel at their pumps. Nelson is one of 39 people and groups selected by the EPA Region 9 this year for “commitment and significant contributions to the environment in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Pacific Islands and tribal lands.” Nelson promotes biodiesel to the trucking industry, which helps truckers help American farmers. Neat little circle, isn’t it?

The EPA Regions 9’s release also helps answer a little bit the question I had about the frog/biodiesel photo (below). The truck stop in that photo was the first to sell Nelson’s Biowillie biodiesel fuel.

I’ll let the engineers and the political junkies in the audience debate the validity of the EPA’s claim in the press release that “For every unit of energy used to make biodiesel, 3.2 units are gained.” The comments are yours....  Oh, and the rest of the awardees can be seen here.

[Source: The Soy Daily]