Green Options

Ten Things I’ve Learn About Driving A Car Powered by Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)

What makes a seemingly rational guy, who can afford to drive pretty much whatever car he wants to, trade in his shiny, new Audi for a 27-year old Mercedes 240D that runs on waste or straight vegetable oil (WVO/SVO)?  Well, in my case, someone took the time to call me out on my level of willingness to make a difference–or at least try to.

In late 2007, my partner and I took on a brand development project for a fledgling, Washington DC-based hybrid limousine company. These guys were not only driven by a real desire to reduce their industry’s carbon footprint, but also to engage with the theoretical decision makers on Capital Hill. Every week, we’d be on these long conference calls, where I would inevitably begin to complain about the escalating price of gasoline and the perils of foreign oil dependency.  Finally, one of these brave entrepreneurs told me to shut up and do something about.

Editor’s Note: This is Part One in a series of articles by John Rarrick examining how small businesses are turning to Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) to tighten their belts while simultaneously reducing their carbon footprints.

Like many small business owners, Jose Duarte, Chef/Owner of Taranta, in Boston, MA, is constantly looking for ways to control costs in an economic climate that has no sympathy for the little guy. Fortunately for Duarte, discovering ways to trim his operating overhead also led to a “greening of Taranta.”

“I was looking for ways to cut our costs and I stumbled upon an article about these people running their diesel cars and trucks on fryer oil. I figured that was a good place to start,” said Duarte.

Calculating that he could save a few thousand dollars a year on the fuel costs he incurred from daily runs to his seafood vendors, Duarte turned to Boston-based Green Grease Monkey for advice on converting the restaurant’s Chevy Silverado to run on WVO.

Now he recycles not only his own grease, but that of the  restaurants owned by several of his friends.

What was admittedly at first an experiment, turned into an obsession, with Duarte becoming increasingly more involved in the environmental impact of his business. After implementing a series of changes and upgrades to the restaurant, including an in-house carbonating system that enables them to make their own sparkling water supply, a recycling/composting program, and a move to utilizing more organic ingredients, Taranta received the City of Boston’s Green Business Award for 2008.

Drivers of WVO-powered cars will either love or hate the work of Boylston, Massachusetts-based Owl Power Company. Owl Power’s founder and CEO, James Peret, has developed and launched a product they call the Vegawatt, a fully automated cogeneration system for restaurants, designed to run on waste vegetable oil.

Peret’s team says the Vegawatt system is more than just a basic generator. The device, which is about the size of consumer-size refrigerator, includes a turn-key waste vegetable oil (WVO) refinery that automatically transforms even the most disgusting used cooking oil into fuel appropriate to supply up to 25% of the electrical power a restaurant requires for lights and hot water.

I had a chance to speak with Ben Prentice, VP of Sales at Owl, who gave me the low-down on the Vegawatt.

Last week, The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the success of a city-wide holiday recycling drive, which looked to top the more than two tons of used cooking oil San Fransicoans unloaded over Thanksgiving weekend. The grease will go to power the city’s fleet of fire trucks, ambulances, Muni buses and other vehicles.

According to Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, programs like this can also put a huge dent in the city’s sewer repair budget, as kitchen grease is one of the major causes of municipal water pipe damage, responsible for over 50% of sewer emergencies each year.

As winter dumps her usual dose of cruelty here in New York’s Hudson Valley, like many drivers of veggie oil-powered cars, I have begun reading up on how to best prepare mine for the cold season.
There is a LOT out there on the web regarding the proper blending of WVO, diesel, kerosene, etc. After several weeks of reading several hundred blogs and forum posts, here is what I’ve deduced: Nobody really knows.

And here’s what else I’ve deduced…it really doesn’t matter.  I’ve put every conceivable combination into my single-tank 240D. With the exception of a slight increase in power when using a higher ratio of dyno-diesel, there is no significant difference in performance or MPG.

When I was asked to write for Gas 2.0, I jumped at the opportunity to share some of the experiences I’ve had during my greasy 10,000 mile odyssey in the 1983 Mercedes 240D, with a diesel engine converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO).

I’m often asked what kind of oil works best, so here’s a quick reference guide to different kinds of grease for your driving pleasure.

Waste vegetable oil gathered from restaurants is definitely not all the same. Or rather, by the time you get them, they have not all been “used” the same. So far, over the past six months, here’s what I’ve deduced:

Editor’s Note: John is one of the newest additions to the Gas 2.0 writing team. Welcome John!

When Greg Steltenpohl, Chairman and Co-founder of Adina, the San Francisco-based healthy beverage company, does something, one might say he takes it to the extreme.
His company’s tagline, “Drink No Evil”, even applies to their vehicles — including a delivery fleet of electric cars and full-size school bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO), which Adina uses at their tasting events.

I recently had a chance to interview him about his company’s transportation options. Several interesting topics popped up in our chat, including corporate responsibility, greenwashing, and the importance of outreach. Read on to hear more.