Deep Fried Fuel
New York
Nice deal: Eat a meal in a New York restaurant and you may help save the environment—especially if you order fries. That’s because Tri-State Biodiesel is collecting the city’s grease and used cooking oil, converting it into biodiesel fuel, and selling it to commercial truck fleets.
Founded by Brent Baker in 2004, Tri-State now picks up thousands of gallons of grease a week, from several hundred restaurants and markets, including Whole Foods. It’s a simple bargain: The restaurants get to freely unload their waste and Tri-State gets easy access to free fuel, allowing the company to circumvent the sticky ethical issue that arises when biodiesel companies engage in large-scale vegetable production for use as fuel instead of as food.
Baker is hopeful that as biodiesel takes off, consumers and automakers will begin to accept a diversification of energy and fuel sources: “Diesel isn’t the dirty fuel it once was,” he says. “I believe that one day soon, we’ll move away from our single-fuel, single-engine system to have diesel hybrids running alongside solar-powered cars, ethanol hybrids, and bike cars.”
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Converting deisel engines to run on vegetable oil in NC
We're doing more than makin' moonshine down South.
Taken from American Public Media's "Marketplace" website, with WUNC radio's Jessica Jones reporting:
One increasingly popular solution to the energy problem is using vegetable oils to fuel cars. In fact, the first diesel engine was actually designed to run on peanut oil — until folks realized petroleum was cheaper.
Today, a small but growing number of drivers are starting to convert their diesel cars to run on vegetable oil. Fueling your car with vegetable oil is different from using biodiesel, which is federally-approved and regulated. So many states are cracking down on these gasoline refuseniks.
Most states don't know what to do with these so-called 'greasers'. Some impose strict fines and confusing regulations. In Illinois, regulations were just relaxed. Lawmakers in North Carolina are thinking of doing the same.
Stan Bingham: This is just not a direction that we need to go in with our dependency on petroleum products, you know. Gollee.
Stan Bingham is a North Carolina state senator. He drives a converted Volkswagen Beetle powered by used cooking oil from the legislature's cafeteria.
Bingham didn't even know that he could be liable for taxes. He's working on measures to eliminate penalties on greasers that he says, like him, are innovators.
Bingham: I guess if you heard in 1904 that somebody was flying around in an airplane, you'd say, "Oh, [bleep]." But then all of a sudden, here comes one over, you know. Or here I drive by in my little bug, and it's sitting there running, and somebody smells the exhaust pipe — "God, it does smell like french fries." You know, it's true. I mean, we need to promote that and show that it can be done. Not curb it.
Posted on July 21, 2007 — by Stacey1968
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