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Four years ago, a short film called “French Fries to Go” debuted at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride. The film’s premise was that burning organic fuels rather than diesel oil, as inventor Rudolph intended, could reduce the eye-smarting, lung-damaging pollutants emitted by diesel engines. Among the sources of that homegrown fuel was the oil from restaurants used to fry French fries. It was the perfect unbroken circle of reduce, reuse, and recycle.

This winter, Sugarloaf, Me., will be manufacturing biodiesel much as the film imagined. The area is installing a pioneering biodiesel plant that will, in fact, convert the area’s used vegetable oils into fuel. (See box for details.)

Still, the reality of biodiesel for most areas is not that simple, as many ski area operators have ruefully discovered. Even conventional sources of biodiesel, let alone vats of stinky restaurant grease, have caused problems in some ski area operations. Fleet managers are advised to keep their eyes open, carefully evaluating potential suppliers for their quality control before introducing biodiesel into diesel-burning resort vehicles. Biodiesel in resort applications requires extra precautions.

But the benefits of biodiesel justify the extra attention, say a growing number of operators. Biodiesel has greater lubricity, resulting in engine parts that last longer. When fuel spills occur, they’re less toxic, because biodiesel is organic. It also causes less pollution, which is something good for the environment in general but also something that resort mechanics quickly appreciate. And finally, it’s a small but deliberate way to lessen U.S. dependence on imported oil while also helping domestic farms, from where many groomer operators come.


It’s All Good
Among the most enthusiastic proponents of biodiesel is Jim Mersereau, director of operations at New Hampshire’s Cranmore Mountain Resort. “I can’t say anything bad about it,” he says. “Everything is good about it.”

Mersereau gambled on biodiesel because of a grant program that minimized the financial risk. “It was a no-brainer for me,” he says. He now uses a 20 percent blend, called B-20, in his fleet of four snow groomers, even when temperatures drop to 20 below Fahrenheit, as they do occasionally in northern New Hampshire. Biodiesel puts fewer emissions into the air, and it makes the engines work better. “The mechanics tell me they can see the difference in the oil changes, and the fumes in the garage are more bearable now,” he says. The burning eyes and the stink of conventional diesel, “most of that goes right away,” he adds.

That’s a sign of the low-emission nature of biodiesel. The Environmental Protection Agency, in a 2002 report, found that using B-20 results in significantly fewer emissions of regulated chemicals than 100 percent conventional diesel. Total unburned hydrocarbons are 20 percent less, carbon monoxide is 12 percent less, and particulate matter is 12 percent less. Burning B-20 also yields 20 percent fewer nitrates, 13 percent fewer polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and yields 10 percent less potential for ozone resulting from speciated hydrocarbons.


Well, Mostly Good
But Mersereau cautions other fleet managers to carefully evaluate potential suppliers. “I wouldn’t want to buy it from a smaller company that is just getting into the biodiesel thing and doesn’t know a lot about it,” he says. Ask the company how long they’ve been in the business, talk to a few of the supplier’s customers, he advises.

The Aspen Skiing Co. was the first U.S. ski area to use biodiesel, beginning in 2000. Now, personnel at the company’s four ski areas mostly embrace the fuel. But there were early problems of gelling that caused clogged filters. “It was a painful lesson,” says Auden Schendler, the company’s environmental coordinator. Because biodiesel holds water, water in tanks must be managed, he says. Also, microbial matter grows more readily in biodiesel than in conventional diesel, so a microbial agent of some sort is imperative.

Among the lingering skeptics is Don Popich, who manages vehicle maintenance at Snowmass, where 22 grooming vehicles have used biodiesel the last two winters. “If you get water suspended in the fuel, that’s hard to get out,” he explains. Filters were changed at least once a week that first winter, he says. But last year, after the problem was addressed, biodiesel worked fine. “We changed filters just two or three times,” he says. “I’m kind of on the bubble now.”

Much of the ski industry is like Popich, waiting for strong evidence that the problems have all been solved. At Vail Mountain, environmental coordinator Luke Cartin reports a go-slow attitude. He would like assurances from manufacturers of grooming vehicles that biodiesel is compatible with their machines. That lack of assurance makes fleet operators at Vail nervous. “And I think they have a right to be nervous,” adds Cartin. “We have a massive grooming fleet.”

Keystone tested B-20 in a snowcat for a week with no problems during early 2005. Then a second supplier provided more biodiesel, and the vehicle got only a few hundred yards before the vehicle stalled, its filter clogged. For now, Keystone’s use of biodiesel is also stalled. “It’s a great story, if we could find a way to have farmers growing the fuel we use, but there are some issues that need to be worked out,” says Dave November, Keystone’s environmental coordinator.


Quality Control is the Key
Jeff Probst, chief executive officer of Denver-based biodiesel supplier Blue Sun, says the major barrier to broader use of biodiesel is the lack of quality control. Experienced biodiesel suppliers understand what formulas, level of customer service and additives are needed and the necessary ingredient specifications to make biodiesel work in even the most extreme conditions—such as those at Aspen, where fuel tanks are located at the top of the mountains. With that experience now gained, he expects a shakeout that will yield a few recognized and respected brand names—including, of course, Blue Sun. He argues that tax credits have made biodiesel competitive with conventional diesel and, in the last year, less expensive. This even makes incentives counterproductive, he says—subsidies are propping up small, inexperienced operators who lack the ability or interest to provide the necessary quality control.

Probst also hopes for a shift in the base material for biodiesel. Waste grease, the metaphorical premise for “French Fries to Go,” he considers unacceptable or sustainable for commercial use. But even soybeans, which are used for most biodiesel in the United States, he considers second-rate compared to canola, flax and other such seeds, which are used for 95 percent of biodiesel production in Europe. “The fatty essence profile of canola oil is better,” he says. “We have to find a better fuel, and not rely upon the good nature and good corporate citizenship of Aspen and others, because longer term it’s not sustainable,” he says.

Mammoth Mountain can testify to both the good and the bad of biodiesel since tests were launched in the winter of 2003-04, both with faulty fuel and with tanks that were not adequately prepared, says Lisa Isaacs, environmental programs director. “You can end up with scary stuff that you can’t run through your machines,” she says. Fuel should not sit around for more than a year, which rules it out for use in a backup generator. She also advises a shocking agent—Biocide, a combination insecticide and pesticide, is her preference—to keep the biodiesel free of the sorts of things that clog filters. A capsule of Biocide at the end of summer service is sufficient, says John Wallene, manager of snowcat maintenance. “It doesn’t cost much, and it’s a very simple thing to do,” he says.

Mammoth has used B-20 in temperatures down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but suggests B-10 for anything colder. “Once it gets affected by the cold, you can never bring it back,” explains Isaacs. “You still have those crystals.”


Other Benefits
But Mammoth, like many ski area operators, now embraces biodiesel, using B-20 for 40,000 hours of snowcat operations last year. It has become less expensive than conventional diesel, and as at Cranmore, mechanics at Mammoth find the fumes more tolerable. “Our people who work around it, they love it,” says Isaacs. “It takes careful handling, but it is worth it.”

Northstar-at Tahoe Resort is another convert. A B-5 mix introduced three winters ago caused no problems, although gas mileage may have decreased, reports Bill Goodwin, transportation manager. The resort is now using B-10 in all diesel-powered vehicles, including buses.

Wyoming’s Grand Targhee has used B-20 for two summers and B-10 for one winter in snow groomers and employee buses. While the resort’s use of biodiesel is a “function of our values,’ says Andy Steel, the resort naturalist, it’s also a way to connect with guests. Buses and snow cats sport signs that say, “powered by biodiesel.”

The final decisive consideration for some fleet managers is the “buy America first” element. Cranmore’s Mersereau says that one good reason to buy biodiesel is that “20 percent of my fuel is home-grown. And it’s a renewable resource.”



Sugarloaf’s Fuel Plant
Sugarloaf’s novel new biodiesel plant (three pieces of equipment including two tanks in a 20 x 20 room) is operated by a private supplier but housed at the resort in a former horse barn that now serves as a combination lift terminal and storage building. The facility converts used vegetable oil from resort-area restaurants into fuel, and has the capacity to produce 40 gallons of 100 percent vegetable-based diesel a day. The area hopes to make 100 to 150 gallons a week this winter, then expand its collection universe and raise production in the future.

The process is relatively simple and clean. The used cooking oil is heated and mixed with an agent; it then goes through a settling process to remove water and other impurities. The entire process takes 24 hours to complete. One of the main byproducts is glycerin.

The 100 percent biodiesel will power one shuttle bus this winter. To avoid biodiesel’s usual temperature-related problems, the bus will be kept in a warm shelter overnight, and the tank will have a heater, among other steps. Sugarloaf will add any leftover fuel to its regular diesel tanks.

Beyond the fuel the project supplies to Sugarloaf, the area hopes to demonstrate that recycling used oils at many such small sites could make an impact on the nation’s energy supply generally. —Rick Kahl