[Sca-cooks] Greasecar?

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 12:28 AM 8/26/2004, you wrote:
>Jadwiga wrote:
>>NPR reports on a band touring in a van fueled by old cooking grease...
>>
>>http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3862582
>
>I live more or less in Berkeley CA, and those things are "indigenous" :-)
>
>There aren't a lot of them, maybe only 1/2 dozen. One is a funky VW bus, 
>but another is a very ordinary looking modern car, and i also saw a small 
>truck. They all have some way of letting passersby know what they're 
>running on. They no longer all smell like french fries, like they used to 
>a couple years ago.

There's a firm here in Portland that sells 'biodiesel'- about 40 cents a 
gallon over the regular price. I've been told that I can make my own by 
getting deepfry oil from fast food joints, etc. Oh yeah, I can just see it 
now... you know, we don't even pump our own here in Oregon. Why would I 
want to have to lug that stuff around, strain it and store it, and fill it 
myself? Gross!

There's a guy on one of the blogs I read, who seems to think of himself as 
some biodiesel prophet or something (and it's all he talks about, too. 
Bo-ring.), and I made the mistake of saying that my mechanic (who I think 
of as with near god-like status, because he's good and he's honest- not a 
common combination!) said it would not be a good idea for Zippy (1982 Volvo 
diesel wagon), something about the valves gumming up, etc. I forget now. 
But I trust him, and he said no. But Mr Prophet came all unglued on me. So 
I don't talk about it there.

If I went all bio I'd never go anywhere. There's the one place in town that 
sells it, otherwise I'd have to drive around with extra fuel stored in the 
back of the car. I can just see me, barrelling down I-5 to see my kids, 
5-gal buckets in the backseat...

Biodiesel shifts the fuel problem to another source. But only part of it, 
because while you might be able to convert some of the diesel vehicles, 
there's still the greatest majority of vehicles burning regular gasoline. 
And _that_ is where the real consumption lies. Zippy got 36mpg on the last 
tank (oddly, that was the tank that went and picked up the books- she 
really likes a heavy load, it seems), and consistently performs around 30. 
And yes, diesel smoke is heavy in particulates. But they wash off. What it 
doesn't have is all the greenhouse gases- which _don't_ wash off. (Is that 
me, in my little Swedish tractor with a smug smile on my face? Nah...)

That said, I heartily applaud anyone who experiments with alternate fuels 
and fuel systems. Anything to decrease our reliance on foreign oil.

'Lainie
-stepping down from the soapbox now...
___________________________________________________________________________
The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be 
governed by men worse than themselves. -- Plato