by Cate Montana

Peak Oil is the point in time when the amount of oil extracted from the earth reaches its highest point and then begins to decline. Many experts believe world oil production has already reached that peak. Others say it won’t happen for a “few” years. Whatever the timeline, Peak Oil is the indicator that the days of the dinosaur really are over and that it’s time for consumers to get ready to make the switch. But switch to what? A return to nuclear energy raises the specter of radiation spills and Chernobyl, and hydrogen technologies won’t be ready until well into our future.

But a growing number of determined citizens are convinced the worry about Peak Oil and an inevitable energy crisis is a Chicken Little response that only exists because our government and utilities have their heads stuck in the sand, ignoring perfectly viable technologies available to us today

One of these determined citizens is Charles Bensigner. Three years ago he didn’t know diddly about renewable fuels. A video production expert, environmentalist and businessman in Sante Fe, New Mexico, Bensinger was too busy lobbying the New Mexico state legislature for the development of wind farms and trying to persuade the state’s largest utilities to switch from coal to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. But when New Mexico’s largest utility, FPL Energy and Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM) finally went ahead and built the world's third largest wind generation facility - the 204 megawatt New Mexico Wind Energy Center – he turned his sights on the Peak Oil problem.

“I felt that solar and wind, of course, can help us out on our electricity side,” says Bensinger. “But I felt nobody was really addressing the transportation side of things and we really needed to look at our fossil fuel use in transportation. So about 3 years ago I decided to educate myself about what kinds of alternatives might exist.”

The alternatives were many and varied, starting with ethanol, E-10, which isa blend of 90% ordinary unleaded gasoline with 10% ethanol—a high-octane, clean-burning, renewable fuel made from corn and other grains, that every major car maker in the world approves for use in their engines. Ethanol improves engine performance while keeping engine parts cleaner, all of which helps to reduce harmful exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. E-85, a blend of 15% ordinary unleaded gasoline with 85% ethanol, actually extends the life of a vehicle.

In addition to being made from grains, which helps subsidize farmers and supports rural communities, ethanol can also be made out of all kinds of waste products, starting with cow and pig manure which pollute the atmosphere with methane. “Anything that’s not concrete, metal or glass can be made into ethanol,” says Bensinger.

Photo courtesy UK Department of Environment, Transport and Regions and zerowasteamerica.org

“That means plastic bags, tires, asphalt shingles, plywood, garden waste, wood chips … all that stuff that’s going into land fills polluting the ground water can make great ethanol. We’re burying valuable BTU’s that we should be putting into our gas tanks.”

Although any internal combustion engine can run on E-10, it is recommended that only vehicles with flex fuel systems use E-85. Flex fuel systems have been around for awhile. GM produced an E-85 Lumina in 1992, and in 1996 Ford Motor Company manufactured 6,000 E-85 Tauruses specifically designed to run on ethanol-based fuels. Currently about four million cars in the U.S. have flex fuel systems with stainless steel fuel lines, a reinforced fuel tank and slightly altered injectors. Bensinger says any new or used car can be fitted or retrofitted with a flex fuel system for between $100-$200.

And then there is Biodiesel. A clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources, biodiesel contains no petroleum, but can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. According to the National Biodiesel Board it “is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar … is simple to use and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.” It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. The highest grade biodiesel is made from soybeans, but also usable, once it has been filtered properly, is something as ordinary as used restaurant grease.

Soybean farm. Click image for larger view

When he discovered how plentiful and available the fuel options were with existing technologies, Bensinger realized Peak Oil was actually another way of saying “peak opportunity.” “Plus, there was my own personal motivation when I realized the U.S. was about 4% of the world’s population, but it’s using almost 25% of the world’s oil,” he says. “Our search for oil exacts a high social and political and environmental cost. So I felt a personal mission to do something about helping us move away from fossil fuels. And in order to do that, I realized I needed to create a real world example for people to see and experience.”