Belleville’s Liese Lumber Using Biodiesel in Delivery Trucks

Local lumberyard Liese Lumber has taken a bold & progressive step — it is now running it’s 14 delivery trucks on 11% biodiesel. I spoke with owner Tom Lippert by phone today and he said the reasons were twofold. First, the cost of the fuel is less than regular diesel (the soybean-based biodiesel is subsidized by the state of Illinois). The second reason is his staff saves time by not going to filling stations — they have the biodiesel fuel delivered to them and kept in a storage tank. They’ve been running the biodiesel since July 2005.

Liese Lumber has two locations in Belleville IL, one at 319 E. Main and another at 2200 S. Belt. Liese Lumber mainly services contractors but they are also open for consumer business. But their hours of 7am to 5pm Monday — Friday are not consumer friendly.

Thankfully the biodiesel in their trucks is friendly both to the environment, helps local soybean farmers and helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Congrats to Liese Lumber for taking this important first step.

Next time I’m buying something from a company that will need to be delivered I’m going to ask if they use biodiesel in their delivery trucks. The more we ask the more we can impact our own future.

– Steve