We're having a baby. And yesterday my beautiful wife and I heard his heartbeat loud and strong at the doctor's office. It was a sweet human symphony - magical music to our ears. Last week at an ultrasound we learned that he's a boy. Our search for a cool name has begun.

It's a miraculous thing to me, this having a baby. You see, this is my first biological child and I am 56 years-old. I figured that having babies had most certainly passed me bye. We are filled with joy.

The event has set me to thinking a lot lately about the wide shot - the big picture - about the future and about the shape our earth is really in. I search for optimism in these realities and found some in this recently read quote, "The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time." The speaker was Rudolf Diesel the man who invented the diesel engine. He uttered the words 100 years ago. I reckon it's time to get back to his sentiments.

Rudolf was born in Paris in 1858. His parents were Bavarian immigrants. He was educated at the Munich Polytechnic Institute. After graduation he found work as a refrigerator engineer but his true love lay in engine design. He was drawn to heat engines and built a working solar-powered air engine in the 1880's. In 1893 he published a paper that outlined the manufacture of a compression ignition engine with combustion contained to the cylinder - the complete internal combustion engine. In 1894 he filed for a patent for his new invention. It was originally called the oil engine but soon came to be known simply as "the diesel." His first prototype nearly became his last when it exploded and took out the workshop, nearly killing Rudolf. He took faith in the fact that the fuel could be ignited without a spark and considered the whole adventure a success. You have to love that kind of enthusiasm.

Diesel built his first successful engine in 1897. In 1898 he was granted patent #608,845 for an "internal combustion engine" - The Diesel. Like all of his inventions it satisfied the three criteria he valued most: it related to heat transference by natural physical laws; it featured a highly creative mechanical design and it was motivated by Diesel's concept of social need.

The engine that brought him fame and fortune was originally conceived with the purpose of enabling independent craftsmen to compete with large industry. He felt that the economics of his revolutionary design would get cheap power into the hands of the working class. He saw the USA as the greatest potential market for his engine. The first diesel built in the United States was made in 1898 by Busch-Zulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Co. The president of that company was Adolphus Busch, of Budweiser brewing fame. Busch bought up the North American manufacturing rights.

In the shadow of the brand new Eiffel Tower at the World's Fair in Paris in 1900 Diesel unveiled his engine to the world. Shortly after that he made the bold prediction that, "The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries that use it." Once again Rudolf was right on logically. He still is. The whole idea of farmers growing fuel to power their needs is just too perfect, especially farmers in poorer regions of the world. Diesel's whole motivation was the creation of independence. That's what I want to pass on to our son - the idea that independence is desirable.

In September of 1913 Rudolf Diesel boarded the SS Dresden bound for the short trip across the English Channel to attend a factory opening at Ipswich. He never made it. His body was fished from the Channel a few days later. The cause of death remains a mystery to this day. His death, like his life was filled with drama but his ideals live on. The fires that drove him have never burned brighter. This very website is a testament to that fact.

It is my fervent hope that our son will drive a biodiesel vehicle. One built in the USA. I'm going to dedicate a significant amount of time working towards that day - a day when American farmers grow fuel to power American vehicles - a time when every fuel station in the country offers biodiesel as an option. That's a big part of the story here - positive and healthy options.

We're not going to name our baby Rudolf. We're not going call him Diesel either. But we sure are going to tell him the story of the man who invented the world's best engine - the diesel - and who dreamed of a system that isn't dependent on uncertain foreign fuel supplies. We might not be able to change everything but we can sure change our own little corner of this big, big world. We can do this!

Dave Toms - 02/05/05