Co-op finds biodiesel sales unsustainable

After 15 months of selling pure biodiesel, a fuel made from vegetable or soybean oil, the Denver Biodiesel Co-op is homeless and facing permanent closure. The co-op, which opened it doors in its first location at 3860 Tennyson St. in Northwest Denver, had grand plans for that original space, including housing the co-op and office and a learning space in the back with pumps and a shop in the front where they planned to sell fuel “brewed” from waste cooking oil.

But they ran into the same problems many small businesses face in the first year of operation: slow growth and limited resources.


“Brewing your own biodiesel works fine when you’re making it for yourself or your friends,” says Denver Biodiesel Co-op co-founder Luis Manriquez of Denver. “But making it for sale doesn’t work out financially unless you can brew in huge quantities.”

Watching the World Trade Center fall from his New York apartment prompted Manriquez to become politically active and, after graduating from NYU, he moved to Denver and decided he wanted to stay politically active and part of the solution.

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