School buses in some San Francisco Bay Areas school districts will soon be running on fuel that was made from waste grease from nearby restaurants. Thanks to a partnership between Blue Sky Bio-fuels and the City of San Francisco's Greasecycle program the waste grease will no longer be dumped into the city's sewer system and instead it will be produced into a cleaner burning fuel that is better for the environment and local school children.
Blue Sky Bio-Fuels has been receiving waste grease from San Francisco's Greasecycle program just launched on November 21st. The Greasecycle program was developed in order to clean the sewers, MUNI buses and the air. Blue Sky Bio-fuels produced its first 1000 gallons of biodiesel in November using SF's waste grease. This month, Michael's Transportation in Vallejo, will be receiving its first delivery of biodiesel made from SF waste grease, for use in its fleet of 80 school buses. Michael's transportation services numerous school districts around the bay area including Oakland Unified School District.
"Our goal is to help California reduce its carbon footprint and become less dependent on foreign oil," said Patrick MacIntyre, president of Blue Sky Bio-fuels. "Our solution is a triple win proposition where cities have their waste grease turned into a renewable fuel for our youth to breathe cleaner air. We take a product, waste grease, that has been typically reconstituted for animal feed, makeup or shipped to Asia for heating oil and turn it into a cleaner burning fuel at a price that is competitive with diesel."
Blue Sky Bio-fuels, located in Oakland, CA, has designed and engineered a 20 million gallon per year facility. Blue Sky, the brainchild of brothers Patrick and Ralph MacIntyre, was the top biodiesel project funded in part by a grant from the California Air Resources Board.
"One of our first initiatives is to get biodiesel in as many school buses as we can in the San Francisco Bay Area," said MacIntyre. "Diesel fumes from the tailpipe and crankcase of our existing diesel school buses have been known to cause asthma and cancer in children. As long as we can keep it priced competitively for the school districts, biodiesel it is a better alternative."
Blue Sky Bio-Fuels also provides a solution to restaurant owners who currently have to pay to get rid of their used grease. Local restaurants sign up with Blue Sky's Grease collection service to pick up their grease for free. Blue Sky has created the Clean Air Partners Program for restaurants to be recognized for their contribution of their waste grease being turned into biodiesel for school buses.
About Blue Sky Bio-fuels
Blue Sky Bio-Fuels was founded by Patrick and Ralph MacIntyre, brothers with unique expertise in biodiesel production, industrial facility development, construction management and heavy-fleet operations. Blue Sky Bio- Fuels is a leading producer of biodiesel fuel through its newly constructed facility in Oakland, California. Blue Sky Bio-Fuels produces high quality biodiesel (ASTM D6751) from virgin feedstocks as well as inedible kitchen grease (IKG). The production facility is ideally situated along the transportation corridor in Oakland, CA just off Hwy 880, the main rail line and a few miles from the Port of Oakland. Blue Sky will initially serve the San Francisco Bay Area and the greater Northern California markets, where demand for biodiesel continues to accelerate at a rapid pace. Blue Sky is well-positioned to be the first large-scale operation to capitalize on fast- growing biodiesel demand in the SF Bay Area.
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