bum76's Blog

Much like gasoline, diesel fuel has been undergoing some changes over the last 20 years. For many years diesel engines belched black, smelly smoke. That's just the way it was. Along with technological improvements to the diesel engine came "low sulfur" diesel fuel. This helped cut down on the smoke and the smell which made diesel engines more attractive to automobile manufacturers. More recently we have been introduced to "ultra low sulfur" diesel fuel, which is designed for "newer" diesel engines. The problem for "older" diesel engine owners is nobody sells plain old "low sulfur" diesel anymore. In our zeal to create a cleaner environment we have created an excuse for oil companies sock it to us at the pump. So, there is a reason why the cost of diesel fuel has outpaced the cost of gasoline. Much like reformulated gas and E85, I don't think it's justified.