Monday, March 23, 2009

Dear Mr. Lunsway,

    I am writing to you out of concern for the future of transportation at Georgia Tech. It recently came to my attention that our transportation contract is up for bid and that campus transit authorities, such as yourself, are interested in transitioning to buses that run on bio-diesel. On behalf of innumerable students, including those who will come to Tech in the future, I would like to thank you for your efforts to protect our environment and resources for generations to come. However, certain biofuels are highly preferable to others and we want to make sure that our campus takes the most direct route to creating a truly sustainable transportation system.

    There are many benefits to using biodiesel as opposed to petroleum diesel. It improves fuel efficiency and reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur, carbon monoxide and particulate matter that creates smog and causes health problems for many city residents. Furthermore, biodiesel burns cleaner, provides greater lubrication and deposits fewer particulates, making it better for campus vehicles' engines. It is biodegradable, non-toxic and can be produced domestically from waste vegetable oil and other waste products.

    However, biofuels produced directly from crops require excessive amounts of land, water and energy for their production and transportation. They are often very inefficient for energy conversion and, in many cases, they can actually drive the cost of food up, sparking a food vs. fuel debate. Many studies have even shown that fuels like corn-based ethanol produce more greenhouse gas emissions than regular gasoline!

    To avoid these pitfalls, Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS) strongly recommends sourcing biodiesel that is produced locally from waste products such as spent fryer oil. Waste vegetable oil (WVO) is readily available from Sodexo, our campus food service provider, and many other nearby restaurants as well as large event venues such as the Georgia Dome. Refuel Biodiesel would be the ideal provider for Georgia Tech as they are a local, vertically integrated, non-profit organization that uses only waste products to produce their fuel.

    When composing your Request for Proposal for transportation providers, we advocate requiring that our new buses be prepared to run on high biodiesel blends like B100. Often this requires nothing more than ensuring that all the seals, hoses and other rubber vehicle components that come in contact with the fuel are replaced with synthetic parts. There should not be a significant cost increase for making such a stipulation.

    Thank you so much for reviewing our concerns and recommendations! We hope that you will take these suggestions into consideration when preparing your RFP. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I would also be happy to arrange a meeting between you and a few students who are very passionate about bringing sustainable biodiesel to campus, if you are interested. I look forward to hearing more about the future of GT Transportation at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Carly S. Queen

President, Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS)

www.sos.gatech.edu

(404) 606-6760