Devon's Desk
Green and Greasy
Over Christmas break I was looking for a book full of meaty context to read when I came across Greasy Rider by Greg Melville. The catchy cover “Two dudes, one fry-oil powered car and a cross country search for a green future caught my attention. Since I work for the Environmental center it seemed like a great opportunity to read about my kind of work.
Greg Melville has written for Men’s Journal, Outside, Wall Street Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. Melville drives a 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon power by vegetable oil from grease traps. As a college student, I thought, “Wow! Free fuel. Lucky guy!“ The book tells about these “two dudes” adventure across 3900 miles without stopping for diesel fuel. During their trip they visit Google headquarters, the National Ethanol Council, wind turbines in Minnesota, the national renewable energy lab, and the worlds largest geothermal heating system, not to mention a green Wal-Mart. All of these places seemed like great places to visit on a road trip forget, Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty I want to know what a green Wal-mart consists of!
First things first. A car that runs on vegetable oil has got to be expensive, wrong! Greasecar is a company started by a kid in Massachusetts. Basically the car heats the veggie oil, thinning it. Then the driver turns on the switch activating the veggie power. Presto! Energy independence. There’s no other hard science or mathematic equations involved. Now getting a good supplier of grease can be awkward at first but once find a good supplier of French fry, chicken nugget, free grease you then have a start. It may seem like your walking into someone’s restaurant and asking them for their garbage, but I don’t see why anyone would say no to free waste removal. The next step, consist of heating the oil, pouring it into a felt bag and then pouring it into the grease car. Melville assumed that converting a car to veggie power was only something that hippies did when they are not making clothes out of hemp. After his trip he decided anyone can operate and maintain French fry car.
Greasy Rider and made me wonder why anyone would drive a diesel not run by veggie power? Statistic show that vegetable powered cars reduce greenhouse gas emissions of diesel fuel by 95. 95 percent is a large number, but veggie power cars can clog some parts in the engiune, like the filter, and the grease soldifys when temperatures get cold. Looking at the drawbacks are not enough to stop me from wanting a veggie car, look at the bright side; they reduce emissions, and the fuel is free! I would even like to look into getting my own diesel car just so I can run it on veggie power and be free frying in no time!
Devon Dey
To comment on this Opinion piece email the communications team at ec_communications@fortlewis.edu.