Here it is folks, one solution to our gas crunch. I support this kind of thing. Look up VEGGIE CAR on the web, this is for real.
http://www.rherald.com/news/2003/0320/People/p03.html
McGrath?s ?Veggie Car?
To Enter Tour de SolJust how far will a bottle of vegetable oil get you?
"About 55 miles", says Scott McGrath, of Randolph?based NFA Technologies.
McGrath's company is one of a growing number of organizations focusing on ways to ease the world's troubled energy situation. NFA Technologies, however, sees one possible answer in a golden bottle of vegetable oil.
"I've driven to work and back on it everyday, for almost two years now." proclaims McGrath. "It's safe, clean burning, and 100% renewable?making it better for the environment."
For McGrath, and others who run their cars on straight vegetable oil, it's cheap too. Free, in fact.
"We collect waste vegetable oil from restaurants who would normally have to pay to dispose of it. We heat it up, strain the food out of it, and pump it into the car."
From there, as McGrath went on to explain, the vehicle is started and run on its "conventional" fuel, just until the vegetable oil is warm and thin enough to be used. This is accomplished using a heated fuel tank, heated filter, and heated lines. Electronic valves allow the driver to select between vegetable oil and conventional fuel on the fly, without stopping the car. McGrath says it only takes about one to five minutes of regular driving before the fuel is sufficiently warm, and the car has no noticeable difference in power. He's even put it to the test on some of the coldest Vermont mornings, with temperatures down to -20 degrees fahrenheit.
Vegetable oil as a fuel has been gaining popularity recently, but more often in the form of biodiesel; a by-product that results from vegetable after chemical reaction.
Straight vegetable oil however, as it fuels McGrath's car, differs from biodiesel in that a few modifications to the vehicle must be made. The advantage of a Greasecar system is that no preprocessing of the fuel is necessary, except filtering (in the case of using waste vegetable oil).
What's the catch? For now, McGrath says, only diesel vehicles can be converted. However, that could change with new technology.
"Just like any industry, there's new innovations being made everyday. That's what NFA Technologies is all about."
The Greasecar kit retails for around $800, and includes a custom aluminum tank, fuel lines, and switching equipment necessary for the conversion. McGrath said the conversion process was "straightforward" and "can be done in about a weekend."
NFA Technologies and Greasecar recently announced that they will be jointly entering the car in the 2003 Tour de Sol (http://www.tourdesol.org). The Tour de Sol seeks to promote transportation that decreases our dependency on foreign oil, and reduces greenhouse gases. Through the Tour de Sol, McGrath and his teammates intend to show that "Vegetable oil is among the most renewable, clean, and powerful ways to fuel a vehicle."
Vegetable oil's chief exhaust emissions are water and carbon dioxide. Since both of those are necessary for the growth of more vegetable oil-yielding plants, it is a largely renewable fuel.
"You can't argue with the facts," he said. Every gallon of vegetable oil is better for the environment, domestically produceable, and safer on the roads than petroleum."