Canola Biodiesel...
The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

There are several environmental benefits achieved when using Canola biodiesel, but there are also some ugly nitrous oxide emissions. Do the benefits out weigh the disadvantages? Beats me... you'll have to figure that out for yourself! :) Have a look at these facts:


Well, First I Should Address the Varying Statistics I Found:

• The estimates I found for canola biodiesel’s impact on greenhouse emissions ranged from lowering them by 85%... WOW! To, increasing them by 70%... EEK!

• The reason for this, in part, is that some statistics just report the greenhouse gasses emitted when the fuel is burned… while other statistics subtract the greenhouse gasses that are absorbed when growing the crop from the emissions when burned.

• Another cause has to do with the climate and soil type that the canola plants are grown in.

Photograph taken by Nick Saltmarsh (License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Humidity and temperature, combined with fertilizers, effect the nitrous oxide emissions.


The Good:

• The seeds have a 43% oil content - more than twice that of soybean.

• It reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 12%.

• North Dakota State University (NDSU) has come out with a breed of canola that has a 15% oil increase over the commercial strain.

• Its cold point is really low… 37°F (3°C)!! Which is the lowest of all the major oil plant crops.

• Imperiam Renewables created a B99 blend that is good down to 9°F!


The Bad:

• Canola is not being welcomed in some areas of the country because it cross-pollinates with brassica crops and is able to carry and transmit many of the same diseases.

• The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 1% of fertilizer used for Canola crops turns to Nitrous Oxide.

And the Ugly…

• The crops can require lots of Nitrogen fertilizer. The fertilizer reacts with microbes in the soil that cause nitrous dioxide to form from the fertilizer. Nitrous oxide (a major greenhouse gas) has 298 times more of an impact than carbon dioxide, when compared by unit of weight.


Wondering if small-scale production of canola biodiesel for on-farm use is worth it? This article discusses the details.

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