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Biodiesel

With prices at the pump climbing to record highs, consumers are beginning to look for new sources of cheaper and more environmentally friendly sources of energy. As the United States continues to fight terrorism in the Middle East, there are growing concerns regarding the United States’ dependence on foreign countries such as Iraq and Iran as our source of oil. The United States should adopt alternative fuels such as biodiesel because it is cheaper to run, better for the environment, and would decrease the amount of oil imported into the United States.
Currently, the United States tops every other country in the amount of oil consumed 19,650,000 barrels per day (one barrel (bbl) is equal to 42 gallons). This figure is almost five million more barrels per day than the next closest country, the European Union. The gap to third is even more apparent with Japan consuming 5,290,000 barrels per day. To put these numbers into perspective, the amount of oil consumed by the United States accounts for roughly 25% of the oil consumed in the world (Oil). One statistic that may surprise some people is the amount of oil the United States produces. The US comes in third behind Saudi Arabia and Russia with about 8,700,000 barrels of oil produced per day (Top). To make up for the almost 11 million barrel difference, the US imports about 13 million barrels of oil per day, which is second behind only the European Union, who imports about 15.7 million (CIA).
It is estimated that the United States uses about 55 billion gallons of diesel every year, which is equal to about 1.3 billion barrels per year, or roughly 3.6 million barrels per day. Looking at these statistics, it is easy to see that diesel only makes up a very small percentage of the oil used in the United States, about 18 percent (Mello).
Most people are unclear of where diesel comes from or even how it is made. Diesel is actually made from regular crude oil through a series of refinement. The process is as follows:
Crude...