As you know, my car is a 1984 Mercedes 300D. The trunk is quite large and now holds 12 5-gallon jugs for collecting oil, two 5-gallon jugs for filtered, clean oil, as well as a 5-gallon bucket with my collecting gear. This gear includes rubber gloves, a large plastic funnel, a 1/2 gallon pitcher (for scooping) and a small “funnel”, actually a 12 oz. plastic juice bottle with the bottom cut off, that screws into my fuel tank.

Yesterday I went to the chinese restaurant in Fresno where I have twice collected really nice oil. It was 70+ degrees all day, so the oil was thin, clear and well separated. I was able to fill all 12 of my jugs! 60-gallons! At $3.09 per gallon for diesel (I haven’t bought any for a while and am not sure what the current price is) that is around $190 worth of fuel.

Here are a few books you might find interesting and informative. They include the classic by Joshua Tickell, “From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank”, and books on Biodiesel.

We are having technical difficulties on this post. Sorry.

Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Airways, on biofuels from MSNBC,

‘I believe it’s the future’ and can replace fossil fuel in 30 years.

“We are looking for alternative fuel sources. We are going to start building cellulosic ethanol plants (to make) fuel that is derived from the waste product of the plant,” he told Reuters in an interview in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

“It is 100 percent environmentally friendly and I believe it’s the future of fuel, and over the next 20 or 30 years I think it actually will replace the conventional fuel that you get out of the ground.”

The following story is true… really.

A friend lives off the grid outside of my already remote town in central California. For some time he has been fulling up his pickup truck with biodiesel. One morning he awoke to find that a bear, smelling the veg oil based biodiesel in his truck, had gnawed the fuel hose beneath the truck to get at the yummy nectar. (This really happened.) It is unclear how much of the fuel the bear actually consumed, but the damage to the truck was considerable.

I have heard a lot of skeptical questions about biodiesel and SVO but nothing about how they can attract wild animals that might just maul your vehicle.

Just drove to Sacramento, about 160 miles from home. The drive went smoothely enough. Last night after eating at a Vietnamese restaurant, I asked the owner if I could take some of their oil. He said sure. It was dark so I shined the headlights on the dumpster where there was at least 100 gallons of nice looking oil. I took filled 5 of my 10 five-gallon containers and called it quits. I couldn’t see the oil very well and was concerned that I might be getting some of the creamy stuff.

It was great to have dinner and collect $80 worth of fuel for free. Will drive back home tomorrow.