Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dated but relevant look at alternative fuel.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Hot Grease
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
HOT GREASE focuses on the efforts to bring biodiesel, made largely from used cooking oil, into the mainstream as an alternative to petroleum-based fossil fuels. In 2007, the government mandated that a certain percentage of gas at the pump should contain biofuel, in most cases ethanol, which is made from corn. Corn, it turns out, doesn't reduce carbon admissions as much as it was hoped due to land-use issues. On the other hand, biodiesel falls into the category of an advanced biofuel, made largely from used cooking oils. This fuel has far greater potential to reduce carbon emissions and rid restaurants and food businesses of what used to be a waste product. Now restaurants are paid for their used cooking oil, turning the waste product into a commodity. As of 2017, restaurants disposed on 250 million gallons of cooking oil a year. Grease collecting is now a $2 billion industry. The oil and gas industry has enjoyed $480 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for years, and for the reason energy sector hasn't been a free market. Yet that industry complains that helping the fledgling biodiesel industry jeopardizes a nonexistent free market.
Is It Any Good?
This documentary will be of most interest to tweens and families interested in environmental causes. While many movies about the fossil fuel alternatives focus on climate change, Hot Grease shines the light on the powerful petroleum industry's efforts to lobby Congress and administrations to limit biodiesel inroads. Anti-biodiesel talking points all sound the same -- the government shouldn't be permitted to "pick winners and losers" or put fingers on the scale favoring biodiesel. But these petroleum lobby arguments ignore the hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of subsidies and tax credits the petroleum industry has been receiving for decades. That industry was happy to have the government pick winners and losers as long the petroleum industry was the winner, the documentary argues.
Note that much of the information here is more than five years old. Many interviews focus on the fact that oil prices fell in 2014, seemingly nullifying a need for cheap alternative fuels. Recent record-high gas prices certainly offer a contrary view.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the way unfair policies created by wealthy corporations and the politicians they support affect us all. What can we do to change this?
The movie suggests there's room for many players in the multibillion-dollar energy industry. Why do you think it seems as if the petroleum industry wants to quash alternative businesses?
Does the movie make you want to press for more environmentally-friendly fuel sources? Why or why not?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : November 16, 2017
- Directors : Sam Wainwright Douglas , Paul Lovelace , Jessica Wolfson
- Studio : Discovery Channel
- Genre : Documentary
- Run time : 62 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : August 15, 2022
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