The right alternative

  • Eric Fetters / Herald Writer
  • Sunday, April 11, 2004 9:00pm
  • Business

MALTBY — When one of Earthwise Excavation’s vehicles crashed into a drainage ditch and spilled 140 gallons of fuel from its ruptured gas tank, it could have been an environmental headache.

But firefighters and an Environmental Protection Agency official responding to the spill were stumped.

They had expected a large puddle of diesel requiring an intensive cleanup effort.

Instead, they found biodiesel, a fuel made from soybeans. Since late 2002, Maltby-based Earthwise has powered its entire fleet of 18 vehicles with the natural, fully biodegradable energy source.

"Everybody was scratching their heads, trying to figure out what to do, because it’s basically vegetable oil," said 38-year-old Albert Postema, president of Earthwise.

The responding crews finally decided that hosing down the area with water was enough.

If Postema needed any more validation of his decision to become the first construction company in the state to use biodiesel, that was it. He figures he saved thousands of dollars in cleanup costs on that one spill.

Postema also touts the environmental and health benefits of using biodiesel in his equipment.

Pure biodiesel, like Earthwise uses most of the time, reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 75 percent over petroleum-based diesel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. Biodiesel also produces fewer particulate, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide emissions, all considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The exhaust fumes smell similar to cooking food, Postema said. Earthwise employees no longer complain about getting headaches, which he suspected were caused by diesel fumes.

"Working around the stuff, employees have remarked it’s tremendously more pleasant," he said.

Using biodiesel is indicative of Earthwise’s overall business philosophy. Postema, who started the company in 1987, drives a hybrid gasoline-electric Honda Insight to work. His business cards are half the normal size in order to conserve paper, and the company pays a little more for wind-generated electricity from Snohomish County PUD.

After adopting these and other "sustainable" business practices over the years, Postema learned about biodiesel in the late 1990s. But it didn’t become available in the Puget Sound area until recently.

After initially blending the biodiesel with regular diesel to see how the vehicles ran, Earthwise switched to using 100 percent biodiesel last spring.

The company now uses between 15,000 and 20,000 gallons a year. The fuel itself comes from Iowa, as it’s not yet produced in the Northwest.

That’s one of the reasons biodiesel still costs about $3 a gallon, one of the downsides of using the alternative fuel. Other downsides include the fact that it is corrosive to rubber materials, including gaskets and hoses. That’s been a problem for Earthwise’s older vehicles, although it’s not affected newer vehicles, which use synthetic materials instead of rubber, Postema said.

Biodiesel also needs to be mixed with regular fuel in the winter, as cold temperatures can make the alternative fuel solidify. That happened earlier last year, requiring a fuel filter change.

Overall, Postema estimates he’s spent about $2,000 extra on vehicle parts and labor since switching in 2002. The higher cost of the fuel itself has increased the company’s expenses by 5 to 6 percent, he said.

As Earthwise has a profit-sharing program, some of the eight employees grumbled about the higher costs at first, but they seem to share Postema’s enthusiasm for the fuel now.

The cost also could go down as soon as demand goes up and the fuel is more locally produced. That could happen later this year, according to Dr. Dan’s Alternative Fuelwerks in Seattle, where Earthwise buys its biodiesel.

"There are plans for at least five production facilities in this state, with three of those on this side of the state," said Dan Freeman, owner of Dr. Dan’s.

The first plant, which is scheduled to open in Bellingham later this year, plans to make biodiesel from used vegetable oil. In Eastern Washington, plans to make biodiesel out of canola and mustard seed are moving ahead, Freeman said.

According to the American Biofuels Association, biodiesel production facilities across the United States could eventually make about 2 billion gallons a year. That would be enough to replace about 8 percent of the regular diesel fuel consumed by trucks and other vehicles.

While only a handful of Washington businesses such as Earthwise are using biodiesel, Freeman said he’s getting more individual customers all the time, and many government agencies and transit districts have begun using biodiesel.

"If I can do it here in the excavation business, anyone can," Postema said.

Interest also may grow faster if gasoline prices continue to rise, Freeman agreed. While biodiesel is more expensive now, it can only get cheaper. That’s in contrast to petroleum, which is expected to hit record prices for the second summer in a row.

"Looking out to the future, my fuel costs are only going to go down," Postema said.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.

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