Bio-diesel vs. grid

I am in charge of electricty for an environmentaly friendly festival to be held in May.

In the past we have used a combination of photo-voltaic, bio-diesel generator, and grid based electricity.
Evaluating the benifits of the various sources has led me to prefer PV (unless it rains). However my particular question is the relative cleanliness of bio-diesel generators vs. the grid.

Bio-diesel is not a clean fuel. It is cleaner than petro-diesel, but the generator still puts polutants into the air and causes noise polution. A bio-diesel generator kicked off an asthma attack in someone I know.

I am wondering if the economies of scale would make the grid a greener source than a portable bio-diesel generator.

Specificaly, does the grid cause less pollution per kilowatt than a portable bio-diesel generator? Does anyone have any sources for information?

 

If you do not have to pay for a big connection cost then the grid would be the way to go.

 

Do you have a source of pollution numbers? I not only need to convice myself, but also a group of people who hear "grid" and think "Enron", "nuclear" and "evil."

 

Well, does'nt it really depend what the grid is hooked up to? Here in south Fl the "grid" is running off the three nuclear plants. Where do you get your power from?

 

PG&E in California. I am guessing that we get our power from all over. Perhaps a bit more from hydro-plants than most folks. Which brings up the question of hydro-plants; They aren't polluting and they are renewable source, but somehow I doubt that many folks would consider them "green."

 

it seems that the is no way to be the cost of the grid on a small scale.

 

Whoa, someone dug up an old thread.

Edgar,
There is no way to beat the cost of the grid on a small scale, depends on what you define as small scale. I've heard that for a typical (CA) house, the money pay-off is about 5-10 years.

Digging deeper into the environmental footprint side, I've found that you end up comparing apples to artichokes.