The industrial area of Brooklyn does look a bit nasty when you drive through it, but there is something coming that is going to make New York and the surrounding a whole lot greener. The Mayor and Metro Fuel Oil Corporation are planning on opening a huge bio-fuel plant in the Greenpoint area in the upcoming year. As petroleum prices skyrocket, the large increase in the nation's bio-fuel production will be coming from this industrial area.
From The New York Times:
The Greenpoint plant and a smaller proposed plant in Red Hook, Brooklyn, both scheduled to open next year, would be the first biodiesel refineries in the city, hitching onto an industry that has been concentrated in the Midwest and the South.
The growth and eastward expansion of the industry are being driven by high petroleum prices and government programs aimed at reducing pollution and demand for foreign oil. But these changes are also creating concerns that the push for alternative fuels, if not managed carefully, could have unintended consequences like deforestation and higher food prices in the race to convert more land for fuel crop production.
“We have to pick the right policies and the best technologies,” said Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge, a Portland, Ore., research and consulting company. “But when done right, the move to biofuels addresses a number of issues, from the volatile prices of fossil fuels, to reliance on foreign supplies, to climate change, to job creation.”
The market is ripe for these fuels and there is plenty of vegetable oil out there to create the green energy. Oil is becoming increasingly expensive and our reliance on it continues to harm the planet. This idea is a no-brainer and I'm glad to see the production of bio-fuel here in New York. There are enough renewable, clean alternatives to oil out there in the world and we need to utilize more of them. In addition to bio-fuels, wind, solar and water power are abundant wherever you go. With adequate government funding, the world would not need to rely on the oil that we are addicted to today.
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