The Revelation

I remember now hearing about vegetable oil powering diesel engines, but only after being re-introduced to the idea. They (I will be writing a future post about "they": who "they" are and why "they" are so influential) say a child will reject new foods until it has been presented to them 12 times (on average), and since this new concept only took 2 introductions to take root, I guess I am ahead of the curve...if I were a 3 year old. Somehow when I first heard the idea years ago, I thought it was for granola-eating, Birkenstock-wearing environmentalists. That was not me, for sure. Don't get me wrong; I love nature and being outside, but not at the expense of A/C and heated seats.

A few weeks ago, I was trying to rent out my house in midtown. I posted it on craig's list and received an overwhelming response. While I was at the house waiting for a potential tenant to show up for a tour, I received another email inquiry. I had a few minutes to kill, so I called the guy to discuss. He was moderately interested in the house, but VERY interested in the garage. The garage is nothing to speak of. It's big enough for 1 car, but the door is manual and it's not what I would call "clean".

It turns out, the guy inquiring had just finished Pharmacy school and was moving back in town for a job. Pharmacy...garage...He's cooking meth! Why else would he be so interested? He called me "sir" on the phone and went to Tech for undergrad, so I figured he couldn't be that bad...meth or not. So I decided to rent to him (without ever meeting him in person). The following weekend, when he was moving in, I told him of my "meth" fantasy and he just chuckled...he said "No, I'm not cooking meth...I'm cooking something else." He proceeded to explain to me that he collects waste vegetable oil (WVO) from local restaurants, filters it in the garage, and uses it to power his 2002 VW Jetta TDI.

Genius! Why hasn't everyone done this (that is the topic of a future discussion all by itself)? Immediately, I latched onto the idea. As he gave me a tour of his garage refinery and car, I started forming a list in my head of all the reasons I should do this and all the reasons it would never work!

Pro's (in order of importance to me):

1. Cool science project and topic of discussion.

2. Free (or really cheap) fuel for my car.

3. Very low carbon output.

Con's (in no particular order):

1. It has to be very expensive otherwise everyone would be doing it.

2. It has to be very time consuming...otherwise everyone would be doing it.

3. Why isn't everyone doing it?

This all happened about 3 weeks ago and since then, I have been what some people might call "obsessed" with the idea. I have been reading, learning, evangelizing, self-convincing, and shopping non-stop since then. In all that research and internal debate, I have answered (or justified) for myself:

1. It has to be very expensive otherwise everyone would be doing it.

Expensive is relative. Here is a list of the things that must be acquired in order to attempt this science project.

• Car with a diesel engine
• Kit that allows your diesel engine to use vegetable oil for fuel
• Supply of clean (or straight) vegetable oil (SVO)

Obviously, if you are not one of the few people currently driving a diesel in the USA, the car would be the largest up front cost. Unless...you were in the market for a new car anyway. With my gas-guzzling SUV nearing it's end-of-life (120k miles, which, incidently, is the warm-up period for most diesel engines), I was definitely in the market.

The metamorphosis should be less expensive, unless you get a really crappy car. Just the parts (2nd tank, some hoses, pumps, switches, etc.) can be purchased online for less than $1000, depending on the model of your car.

The supply of fuel can range from "free" to a heck of a lot cheaper than regular fuel.

2. It has to be very time consuming...otherwise everyone would be doing it.

My renter spends about 2 hours per month filtering his vegetable oil that he collects mainly from sushi restaurants. These restaurants currently pay a company to dispose of their waste oil. It seems to me that they would be excited about giving it away.

3. Why isn't everyone doing this?

That is the looming question. I have some ideas such as my long-lasting theory that Americans are more than happy to pay for convenience, but I will explore this question in more detail later.

For now, I am off to search ebay, craig's list, and auto-trader for my diesel.