The NY Times ran an interesting story today on grease theft. I love this bit:

The suspects in a growing number of grease infractions fall into a range of categories, people interviewed on the matter said, as grease theft is a crime of opportunity. They include do-it-yourself environmentalists worried about their carbon footprints, warring waste management firms trying to beat each other on the sly, and petty thieves who are profiting from the oil’s rising value on the black market.

Doesn’t “do-it-yourself environmentalist” sound disparaging? How dare they try to be environmentalists on their own! How pathetic that they worry over their carbon footprint. And “petty thieves” profiting on the black market! I love that one!

I never felt comfortable taking oil from a container without the permission of the restaurant. The relevant question though seems to be, is discarded fryer oil garbage? “Once you put something in the trash, it’s abandoned property,” said Jon A. Jaworski, a lawyer in Houston who represents accused grease thieves. “A lot of times, it’s not theft.” I am not a lawyer but I wonder about this. I have heard that trash is pretty much free for the taking. Trash has some monetary value. Some items can be salvaged or recycled.And, the container is usually owned by the proprietor, company or municipality hauling away the trash. How is discarded grease any different?

This quote from the article may give us a glimpse of what we might expect in the near future.

At Olympia Pizza and Pasta, Mr. Damianidis [the owner], who now sells his grease for a small monthly fee, finds the problem of stolen fryer oil quite annoying and distracting. And he wants to stop the thefts. He is leaning toward a security camera and hoping for the best.

“I cook food,” Mr. Damianidis said. “I’m not going to stay up until 2 in the morning trying to catch someone stealing a barrel of grease.”

I am reposting this post from July 26, 2006…

For a long time I have wanted to determine definitively how much cleaner svo (straight vegetable oil) burns compared to diesel and compared to gasoline. In a post on the lovecraftbiofuels website forum, Stephen Blackburn posts the results from having his car smogged. Remember, in California diesel vehicles are exempt from smog inspections (brilliant idea, eh?).

The results are impressive and confirm what many of us have believed all along, namely that using vegetable oil as a fuel reduces dangerous emissions significantly, even compared to many late model gasoline powered cars.

Here are the highlights:

1. HC (Hydrocarbons) – 8 ppm (parts per million)
   • new cars are allowed 40 ppm
2. CO% (Carbon Monoxide per gallon of fuel burned): 0.03%
   • new cars are allowed 0.9%
3. CO2% (Carbon Dioxide per gal. fuel burned) 14.3
   • Average is 14-15%. NOTE: the carbon removed from the air while growing the plants is greater than that released when it is burned. Therefore, airborne carbon is reduced with svo as a fuel.

Read the post for more details. One of these days I’ll get my car smogged to see how it rates on these emission measures. If anyone else out there has had their vegcar smogged, please send me the results.

Documentary filmmaker Trish Dalton has made a spot about how, “Students at The Automotive High School in Brooklyn convert a diesel car into one that runs on grease from their cafeteria.”

heck out her site here.

Today I installed a 12-volt, inline booster pump in my vegcar. The pump pulls the fuel into the engine compartment from the fuel tank. It then pushes the fuel into the Davco heater/filter. The idea is to relieve my car’s fuel pump and injector pump as much as possible from the effort required to move the vegetable oil – especially when it is cold and thick.

I got the pump from Lovecraft Biofuels. Another side benefit, is when changing the filter in the Davco, one has to pump the little hand pump to purge air and draw fuel into the injector lines. In the new configuration, the pump will fill the Davco when the key is in the #2 position. I’ll let you know how this works the next time I change my Davco filter.

I’ll post some photos when I have a chance.

I have heard rumblings about a soon to be released single-tank conversion for any diesel vehicle. Sound too good to be true? Maybe. But some claim that the solution is just a patent approval away. Stay tuned…

As I wrote below, we now have seven vegcars in our little town. We need more oil. If you have oil available, filtered, unfiltered, used or new, I am interested. We can send a truck to pick it up (preferably in California) and would of course be willing to pay for it. Our nearest city is Fresno.

If you have some, or have a lead on a good source, please let me know.

Thanks, Dan

Which town or city in the U.S. has the highest ratio of vegcars to (human) population? I haven’t found any statistics on the web so I am going to drive a stake into the ground by making the following claim.

North Fork, California has 7 vegcars and a population of 3,000 people. With one vegcar for each 428 persons, North Fork has the record for the highest vegcar to person ratio. The fleet includes four Mercedes, one VW Passat and two trucks. We have two additional vehicles ready to be converted.

If your town or city has a higher ratio please let me know so we can update the record book.

I am in the Bay Area now. I drove here on Thursday night. I traveled a total of 193 miles on 8 gallons of wvo (waste vegetable oil). That translates to around 24 miles per gallon.

It is funny to me how one of the first questions people ask when they first hear about my vegcar is how many miles per gallon does it get. I understand why they ask the question but I think that after “getting” what a vegcar is really about – especially one running on wvo – they realize it really doesn’t matter that much.

I I brought along the usual 15 extra gallons of filtered oil in my trunk for the trip home. The 18 gallon tank plus 15 extra gallons provides enough fuel to travel a total of nearly 800 miles. I’m only going 400 this weekend.

For those going on longer trips… I routinely carry 50 gallons of oil in my trunk when collecting oil from a restaurant. Actually, I have carried as much as 60 gallons but didn’t like how low my car was riding with the tremendous weight in the trunk. (Vegetable oil weighs around 7.6 lbs. per gallon.) With 50 gallons of filtered oil plus the 18 in the fuel tank my car has a range of 1,632 miles! That would allow me to drive from Los Angeles to Kansas City, Missouri without picking up or purchasing any additional fuel!

In an interview with a conservative talk radio host, Vice President Dick Cheney admitted that the U.S. has used water-boarding and doesn’t consider it torture. The graphic illustrates what water-boarding is. It was good enough for the Spanish Inquisition so it is good enough for Bush/Cheney.

Impeachment is far to good for these two war criminals.

SeQuential Biofuels has stations throughout Oregon selling B5, B20 and B100 biodiesel and E10 and E85 bioethanol. Their station in Eugene is solar powered and features many other sustainable design elements.

From Treehugger:

Approaching the site, the dominant features are the 244 solar panels that cover the fueling islands and the 4800 plants installed in five inches of soil on the roof of the convenience store. The 33kW solar array will provide 30% to 50% of the electrical power that the station will require annually. The “living roof” will help to control rainwater runoff on the site and will help cool the convenience store during the summer.
[...]
The fuel station also includes a convenience store that carries top-shelf natural foods and beverages, many of which are produced by regional companies. The store also houses an annex of Sweet Life Patisserie, an established local coffee and pastry shop renowned for its premium coffees, baked goods and savories, complete with wireless internet and an inviting seating area. Local farmers will stock a seasonal fresh produce stand also located at the station.