National Biodiesel Conference & Expo highlights industry gains, future potential

The 2016 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo, recently held in Tampa, Florida, showed the advances made in the biodiesel industry in the past year, recognized impactful individuals and organizations, and allowed attendees to test drive biodiesel vehicles.

“Last year the biodiesel industry demonstrated more than ever that no matter how beat up we are, no matter how outgunned we are, we don’t back down,” National Biodiesel Board (NBB) CEO Joe Jobe said. “We came together like never before. We stayed true to our principles in the face of deceitful attacks and we achieved the success necessary to put us back on track. 2016 is going to be our strongest year yet.”

Highlights from the week-long event include the release of statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which showed a record use of biodiesel in 2015 and an announcement from PACCAR Inc. that all of its vehicles are approved for B20 biodiesel fuel use. The conference also saw the presentation of the NBB Industry Awards and test drives of new biodiesel vehicles from Ford and Chevrolet.

"It's fabulous when an important industry group like the National Biodiesel Board calls for an objective consideration of climate science and an apples-to-apples comparison between the competing fuels,” Bob Inglis, a former Republican congressman who made the Keynote speech as a former climate change disputer who now supports efforts to fight limit its effects. “With that kind of clarity, free enterprise can fix climate change."