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San Francisco Converting Restaurant Grease to Bio-Diesel
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by ebekins | February 7, 2009 at 12:47 pm
271 views | 35 Recommendations | 9 comments
San Francisco will become the first city to institute a program to convert "brown grease" from restaurants into bio-diesel. Mayor Gavin Newson announced the $1.2 million pilot program, which will collect about 10,000 gallons of grease a week from city-wide restaurants. This amount of grease can be converted to about 500 gallons of fuel.
Not only will the program ensure a supply of bio-diesel for the city, but it will actually save the city money. The "brown grease" that is usually dumped down into the city drainage system ends up clogging the pipes, and costs the city about $3.5 million a year. This is more than the initial cost of the pilot program. Imagine that, a solution that is both economical and environmentally savvy!
The program takes into account the fact that there's a huge potential of energy in this resource that was previously being treated as waste. San Francisco has been converting "yellow grease", the kind used for deep frying, since 2007. They will be the first city to have a large scale program for converting "brown grease".
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Recommendations (35)
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (9)
at 14:40 on February 7th, 2009
I wonder if the grease from In 'n' Out Burger will create a more efficient fuel than that of other chains.
at 17:23 on February 7th, 2009
Imagine the grease from Olestra would be a pretty crappy recycling effort on both ends! HA!
at 14:40 on February 7th, 2009
This is a great idea and if it works it can be implemented in other cities too.
at 17:10 on February 7th, 2009
Only 500 gallons of usable fuel from 10,000 gallons of grease? Sounds like most of it gets dumped back into the sewer system anyway, unless it's burned or otherwise utilized.
at 17:21 on February 7th, 2009
Actually nyctuber, the leftover grease has a lot of uses, females will gag in horror to know, cosmetics for one, hair products, and some pharmaceutical uses, with the rest going to pet food and yes, even supplements. Not pretty, but considering many cosmetic companies use Carp as a cosmetics source, perhaps a women smelling of burgers and french fries, might be the Dating Bait many are looking for.
at 20:26 on February 7th, 2009
Cool.
at 17:22 on February 7th, 2009
As Homer would say, MMMMM grease drippings, or Greenskeeper Willy, That's Mah Retirement Grease !!! (recycling)
at 19:22 on February 7th, 2009
Old news, been going on for years.
at 08:22 on May 20th, 2009
We are starting our recycling program for brown/yellow grease in Georgia. We perform grease trap cleaning and needed a good, clean disposal method. This benefits everyone!