MAR 05

I've always been a fan of using as much of the animals we eat as possible, and this fits right in with that, so I think it's a great idea, even though the environmental impact is negligible.

This is a fine idea as long as the demand remains at a level that is sustainable with the amount of fats we already have. Otherwise you are just supporting factory farming, which is extremely far from Green or "eco"-anything. It's extremely important to keep that in mind.

I think the better way to look at it is as a waste product. It's already there and I doubt there will be any cows grown simply for their fat (when you can probably get oil from the ground for far cheaper).

The only way it supports factory farms is by making a cow slightly more profitable. Of course the actual market force is always going to be our crazy obsession with beef for every meal.

Also they probably don't focus on the animal product too much because the kind of person who would buy a green product is also the kind of person that would probably have an issue with ethical treatment (or environmental impact) of livestock.

My point is that a lot of people are working very hard to gradually reduce our dependence on cows, red meat, and animals in general for a lot of reasons [health, environmental impact, and animal rights issues themselves among the top reasons]. Created just another way to depend on these animals for fuel [we could take a lesson in how the biofuel bandwagon was jumped upon to show just what kind of impact support of alternative fuels of any sort will have] is not a good thing. Creating a demand even for waste elements is supporting the system that creates them. If this fuel is successful, and demand grows beyond what current systems support, what then? It's a good stopgap measure, and I'm all for making the best of every resource we can possibly find, but that's all.

And, most unfortunately, you're a bit mistaken about that last statement as well. Some of the staunchest advocates against animal rights and fiercest supporters of anything that will get a steak to them quicker, bigger, and rarer often term themselves "environmentalists". I wish the two went hand-in-hand, that all Greenies cared as much about the environmental impacts of their food as they did their cars, that they cared about their health as well as their footprint, but from my personal experience it just isn't always the case.

Saturated fats are all locked into the *cis* position by the biological processes that produce them.

It is only the non-biological hydrogenation of unsaturated fats (i.e., opening up a double bond between carbons, and attaching a new hydrogen atom to each carbon as single bonds are formed) that can lock fats into the *trans* configuration. This is because the double bonds are flexible, and might be bent into an unnatural shape during the hydrogenation process.

Frying in lard (the traditional fat for this purpose), or in coconut or palm oil, may actually be healthier, because there isn't the opportunity for accidental hydrogenation.

Created just another way to depend on these animals for fuel [we could take a lesson in how the biofuel bandwagon was jumped upon to show just what kind of impact support of alternative fuels of any sort will have] is not a good thing. Creating a demand even for waste elements is supporting the system that creates them. If this fuel is successful, and demand grows beyond what current systems support, what then? It's a good stopgap measure, and I'm all for making the best of every resource we can possibly find, but that's all

Beef is great. There's not much out there that tastes better than a good steak. All this company is doing is taking waste that no one wants to fry with anymore and paying for it. Without people buying the left over fat to fry the ranchers have to find some other way to dispose it. We're never going to raise cows for fuel, even though their methane could be captured and burned as a fuel. They are food. Everything else is just gravy.

Interesting article, however it left me somewhat confused. Is it make from cow fat or from lard which is pig fat?

Please clarify.

According to the companies website that it meets current API Service Levels. So they must have passed their requirements for oil breakdown with use and the other tests they use.

G-OIL is the “GREEN ALTERNATIVE” for ordinary engines as well as high performing heavy duty turbocharged and super charged diesel and gasoline engines that require API Service SJ, SL, SM/CD, CDI, CE, CF, CF-2, CF-4, CG-4, CH-4, CI-4, CL-4 Plus and ACEA E2-96, E5-02 Issue2/B3-98/A3-98… satisfaction guaranteed!

Castor bean oil has been used for generations as a motor lubricant and also as a two stroke oil, better to take the cow out of the loop and research growing meat in vats, soylent green anyone?