WHAT MAKES YOKAYO DIFFERENT?
If you watch the news, you probably aren't a stranger to the concept of biodiesel- it’s a pretty hot topic
these days. Unfortunately, TV reports and news articles tend to be all over the place when it comes to
biodiesel. As a consumer or investor, you want to know what's real and what isn't. Here are some ways in
which Yokayo Biofuels has distinguished itself from the rest of the American biodiesel industry:
- We care tremendously about the health of the natural world. We were founded back in 2001 as a biodiesel-dedicated company, based on the premise that renewable fuel is better for the environment.
- We were an early adopter of recycled source biodiesel, purchasing our first tanker load back in 2002, at the first moment it became available to us.
- We know what we're doing. We've been distributing and marketing pure biodiesel as a fuel since 2001! That experience gives us a depth of knowledge that few in the industry can share. When, as a distributor in 2003, we saw quality problems with the industry's product, we invested in our own quality control lab and began the R&D to produce the fuel ourselves. Yokayo Biofuels' production of high quality biodiesel commenced in the fall of 2005, using equipment that we developed in-house.
- We are completely dedicated to the idea of a local, living economy. We do not believe in the inherent sustainability of fuel sources such as low-yield crops that double as food (i.e. soybeans) or high-yield crops that compete with rainforest (i.e. palm oil), and have consistently spoken out against such tactics. We have never sold our fuel outside of Northern California, nor have we ever used oil sources that came from outside the state.
- We understand the limitations of the present, and the promise of the future. We believe that recycling used restaurant fryer oil into biodiesel is the most sustainable "starter feedstock" available to our industry at the moment, and we have seized that opportunity, servicing over a thousand restaurants in Mendocino County and the North Bay Area. But we are also working on developing what's next (other forms of recycling, as well as high-yield crops that don't compete with food and can be grown locally).
- We are vertically integrated. We collect the oil, we make the fuel, and we deliver it into the customer's fuel tank. That kind of directness allows us to compete with much bigger companies, even though we are small and do not benefit from their economies of scale.
- We believe that small is beautiful. We are certain that in the long run, the most intelligent form of growth for this industry will be decentralized and regional resource-based. Rather than ship our product far and wide, we believe in shipping our business model instead.
- We want you to use less fuel. It's true. We don't think that using biodiesel can ever solve the fuel crisis. That will take smart growth management and a heck of a lot of conservation. Biodiesel is a transitional fuel, but it sure is a convenient one! We rejoice that the diesel engine is so efficient, and we encourage everyone to press hard for diesel-electric plug-in hybrids. The technology exists. We've ridden in it!