I received my Winter 2008 edition of biodieselSMARTER magazine today and I’ll have to say I was impressed again. This little quarterly magazine is packed full of interesting topics. It even had an article on catalyst by Dr. Jon Van Gerpen!

Included in this issue are articles on integrating biodiesel production into the family farm, a B100 Road Test on the 2009 VW Jetta, Shut Down by the Fire Dept goes into detail of what can happen when the fire department visits. a case study on DieselGreen Fuels in Austin and much more.

The people behind biodieselSMARTER have been making and using biodiesel for many years, and are home brewers at heart. Many have graduated into small scale commercial production or operate coops for making biodiesel. Frankie Abralind is editor and mastermind behind the magazine. Kumar Plocher is a regular contributor and has been making and selling biodiesel made from WVO in California for ages. Leif Forer is another regular with the magazine and writes “Spanking Ester” for each issue. He is one of the original founders of Peidmont Biofuels in North Carolina. There are new faces each issue bringing different viewpoints.

BiodieselSmarter comes out four times a year. When it arrives, I put everything down and read it cover to cover. It’s always filled with fascinating material on home brewing and farm production of biodiesel. I strongly recommend it. Get your subscription started today by going to www.biodieselSMARTER.com

Penn State University has published the last two years work by the “Biodiesel Best Practices Committee.” The Committee is a collection of academic, regulatory, and homebrewing resources. The Goal of the project was to review accepted practices to make them better and safer and more environmentally friendly. The title of the publication is, “Biodiesel Safety and Best Management Practices for Small-Scale Noncommercial Use and Production”. I would have put a more homey title on it. “How to make biodiesel at home and on the farm the right and safe way” Yep this is targeted squarely at homebrewers and has a lot of good no nonsense advice for both the old hand and the beginner on how to make biodiesel legally and safely. It does discuss some Pennsylvania specific environmental regulations. They are clearly identified in the publication and if you do not live in Pennsylvania, you will need to check with your state for specific regulations.

This is a great pub. A MUST READ for every homebrewer of every experience level!

You can download the publication from: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/agrs103.pdf