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Top 10 Ways to Show Gratitude to Biodiesel Supporters on Thanksgiving

Nov 25, 2014

Information provided by NBB.

The holiday season, we’re giving thanks to the thousands of businesses that choose biodiesel, a sustainable, green form of American energy. Here are the top 10 ways to show your gratitude to those who support America’s advanced biofuel this Thanksgiving:

10. Clean your house for the big day with Method products. The company “set out to change the world by creating beautiful cleaning products that are as kind to the planet as they are tough on dirt.” Method uses biodiesel to power more than one-third of its U.S. truck shipments.

9. Serve Kettle chips as a pre-feast snack. All of the waste vegetable oil from the Kettle Brand® production process is converted into biodiesel. The company chips into the environment by fueling its fleet with biodiesel, too.

8. Stock the fridge with Sierra Nevada. This craft brewing company uses a blend of up to 20 percent biodiesel (B20) in its delivery trucks. The Chico, Calif. company grows eight acres of hops, also fueling its tractors with biodiesel.

7. Drive to Grandma’s in your 2014 Ram 1500 with B20. This model, with V-6 EcoDiesel, is the only diesel option available in the half-ton truck market. It also came online with full B20 support, and won “Best Pickup” in Consumer Reports magazine.

6. Get a jump on Black Friday shopping at L.L. Bean.  Known for its quality outdoor apparel and gear, in 2003, L.L. Bean switched its heavy-duty truck fleet to B20.

5. Hit the slopes at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Not for the faint of heart, this Wyoming ski resort is known for its steep terrain. JHMR’s sustainability efforts are as aggressive as its thrill-seeking patrons, and include using a B10 blend in its diesel equipment year-round. Thanksgiving is opening day!

4. Watch football, and cheer your favorite team on to the Super Bowl. For several years the Super Bowl has used biodiesel blends in its generators as one tactic to go green.

3. Keep your home toasty warm with Bioheat® fuel. This blend of oilheat and biodiesel already keeps the boilers fired up in millions of homes and buildings in the Northeast, usually with low biodiesel blends. But the National Oilheat Research Alliance has made moving to 20 percent and beyond its number one priority.

2. Serve Willamette Valley Vineyards pinot noir. Not only with this Oregon wine pair perfectly with the turkey, but the company’s website declares: “We love our biodiesel!”  In 2005, Founder Jim Bernau launched a program offering 50 gallons of biodiesel a month to each employee, at no cost. Employees, delivery vehicles and tractors fill up onsite or at card-lock stations.

1. Eat turkey! We’re confident millions of Americans will assist with this biodiesel-supporting directive! Biodiesel can be made from any fat or vegetable oil, including poultry fat, or leftover frying oil. In Arizona, Tucson Clean Cities will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Day-After-Thanksgiving Grease Collection event, with other cities hosting similar programs to keep grease out of the sewers and recycle it to make biodiesel.

“One of the key benefits consumers enjoy from sustained biodiesel demand is that it helps lower  the cost of producing poultry and beef, which can lead to lower prices at the grocery store,” said Alan Weber, an economist who heads livestock outreach for the National Biodiesel Board. “That’s because increasing demand for soybean oil lowers the cost of soybean meal, a key ingredient to animal feed. Biodiesel also increases demand for animal fats, and helps a restaurant’s bottom line by paying owners more for used cooking oil.”

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel for diesel engines made from a diverse mix of sustainable resources.  It is the first and only EPA-designated Advanced Biofuel being produced on a commercial scale across the country.