POLITICIANS, ENTREPRENEURS, AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS have all touted the idea of making Washington a leader in producing and using biodiesel. Boastful stickers (“Powered by biodiesel. No war required.”) are proliferating on local bumpers. Eco-vanguard types can fill up at nearly 30 gas stations between Bellingham and Olympia that sell biodiesel—if they’ll pay a premium price for a clear conscience. America’s largest biodiesel maker, Imperium Renewables, has set up shop in Hoquiam with enough tanks and gear to produce 100 million gallons of fuel a year. And the state’s political leaders, from Congressman Jay Inslee to Governor Chris Gregoire, have touted biodiesel as a win-win for the environment and the state’s consumers and farm economy. “Biodiesel is a supreme fuel,” Senator Maria Cantwell has said, “and it is going to carry us down the road”—not only giving Americans a greener way to drive but “making their fuel cheaper.” For the generations that grew up being told “You are what you eat,” homegrown biofuel sounds nearly irresistible.

Here as elsewhere, however, the promise of biofuels is starting to fade. Biodiesel made from tropical palm oil comes at the expense of rain forest, which is razed to plant palm plantations. Soybeans, the most popular source, displace forest in Brazil. But the biggest drawback to growing our way out of dependence on oil and coal is that it consumes land and water needed to feed an increasingly hungry world. Diverting food crops—in particular soybeans and corn—to fuel contributes to food shortages around the world. Encouraged by generous federal subsidies, a fifth or more of America’s corn crop already goes to ethanol.

Hopes for Northwest biodiesel development rest instead on oilseeds, in particular rapeseed, which makes far better fuel than soy, and its cousins canola and camelina. These can be grown in rotation with wheat and other grasses, producing healthier crops of both. Imperium already uses rapeseed, mostly imported from Canada. But Russ Karow, head of Oregon State University’s agricultural extension, says he and other agronomists are still laboring to figure out how to get good oilseed crops out of the drylands of Eastern Washington and Oregon. If they can, he says. “It would help displace fossil fuel and help us move toward sustainability.” But don’t expect a panacea. “It’s not going to solve our fuel needs. We don’t have enough acreage.”

"I think biodiesel is a supreme fuel, and it is going to carry us down the road." —Maria Cantwell, U.S. Senator

Food diversion is less of an issue in this region than elsewhere; corn isn’t a big crop here, and soybeans don’t thrive in cool Northwest nights. Palm oil doesn’t work well here; it congeals and clogs in cold weather. “Nobody in their right mind is going to trying to make and sell palm-oil-based biodiesel in the Northwest,” says Peter Moulton, bioenergy coordinator for the state’s economic development department.

At least it won’t be a net minus on the carbon scale. Corn-based ethanol takes almost as much energy to grow, refine, and transport as it yields—or more, according to some analyses. Biodiesel, by contrast, yields two to three times as much energy as goes into making it. And it burns relatively cleanly: According to Kim Lyons of the Washington State University Energy Program, pure biodiesel emits just a fifth to two-thirds as much carbon monoxide, particulates, and hydrocarbons as conventional diesel.

That alone makes biodiesel attractive, says Patrick Mazza, research director of the Seattle-based nonprofit Climate Solutions, since particulate pollution has been linked to chronic health problems like asthma and found to be among the leading causes of global warming after carbon dioxide. Mazza contends there’s no reason to fear that growing use of biodiesel will lead to food shortages, because producers can charge more for edible oil than for fuel oil. Indeed, even in jumbo cartons at Costco, cooking oil costs about $6 to $8.50 a gallon, while diesel goes for just $4 to $5 a gallon at the pump.

But economics isn’t all that steers the biofuel market. State and federal governments provide tax breaks and other incentives to build plants and produce the fuels, making ethanol a lucrative product for Midwest corn growers. In Europe, by contrast, tax incentives operate at the other end of the chain, encouraging consumers to buy biofuels. What that means, explains Moulton, is that “it makes economic sense to make biofuels in Washington and sell them in Europe.” Not surprisingly, Imperium ships most of its output to Europe. American (in particular, Washingtonian) taxpayers are subsidizing the production of biodiesel to power cars on the autobahn and help Europe meet its Kyoto goals.
Whether shifting from petroleum to biofuels actually helps the climate is an open question.

"It’s not going to solve our fuel needs. We don’t have enough acreage." —Russ Karow, Department head, Oregon State University Agricultural Extension

Plant-based fuels produce more nitrous oxide—a greenhouse gas 300 times as potent, molecule for molecule, as CO~2~—than their petroleum-based counterparts. Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Chemistry calculates that increased nitrous oxide will wipe out any climate benefits gained by reducing fossil-fuel use. But a Heidelberg University study found that even when all greenhouse gases are taken into account, biodiesel from soy and rapeseed is nearly two and a half times better for the environment than petrodiesel.

One other biodiesel source holds up especially well on that score: waste grease from fast-food fryers and rendering plants. Imperium aside, the state’s nine small to midsize biofuel producers are making a go of it mostly by tapping this recycled resource. “The whole waste-grease arena for biodiesel [is] actually a very promising one,” says Moulton. But so far it’s just a drop in the oil barrel, and even in a fast-food nation the potential supply of fryer oil and trimmed fat is limited.

Perhaps the best bet in the long run for biodiesel is so-called next-gen feedstocks—in particular algae that, boosters claim, can be grown in virtually unlimited quantities. Imperium recently announced a deal with a Bay Area supplier of algal oil, and Moulton expects more suppliers to enter into the equation. But, he cautions, getting algae to produce large amounts of oil is tricky—and when things go wrong you’re left with nothing but a vat of stinking goo.