This past September, Dianne and I were part way through a tour of the Atlantic Provinces. We pulled up to the ferry line-up at Woods Islands, Prince Edward Island. To a casual onlooker, our rented Chrysler minivan must have looked stereotypically suburban. Not that I mind. The right vehicle can be a good disguise, and I have no objection to going largely unnoticed. My Volvo turbo wagon, for example, is quick, but has nothing visible to distinguish it from the average grocery-getter. The van, with its Stow and Go seats, had actually been a decent camper unit. Stuffed in back were sleeping bags, a cooler, and the ubiquitous Coleman stove.
We heard the Mitsubishi van clatter up behind us. It was a right-hand-drive Japanese import, quite a common vehicle in British Columbia these days. In the mirror I watched a bunch of people crawl out, and being from the west, my first thought was that they were tree-planters, a job I've done as well. Amazing what a racing career can lead into. The Mitsu would, in bush language, have made a skookum crummy. (Translations by request.) However, its occupants were not forestry workers on a post-season lark; they were the Victoria-based Backyard String Band, out for a cross-country tour. The van had been modified to run on vegetable oil by PlantDrive in Salmon Arm, BC. (www.plantdrive.com)
There is a lot to the process, including installation of heaters, bypasses, extra tanks, and so on. However, many professional outfits, including PlantDrive, are ready and able to do the conversion. This gives a driver the option of running on regular diesel, biodiesel, or pure vegetable oil. To put this into perspective, Dr. Diesel's original design was meant to use the veggie stuff. Diesel as a petroleum derivative came later. Filtering of used vegetable oil is still a work in progress, but for the dedicated, it is possible to drive a low-emissions vehicle that runs on the leftovers from various restaurants and fast food emporiums.
Check out the Backyard String Band's website, www.backyardstringband.com for a detailed account of their journey, bios, and some fine audio clips. We spoke to Jude Pelley and the gang for a while during the ferry crossing. They were enjoying the tour, although suffering from being cramped up in a minivan that was permeated with the odour of old french fries. Jude mentioned several interesting episodes, devising improvised filter systems for deep-fryer oil, fixing leaks, dealing with minor mechanical problems. There seem to be a few entrepreneurs who run waste oil depots, and the group managed to fill up in Montreal, 100 litres for $27. Some so-called golden grease was available free for the asking. The trip log does note that they all were covered in grease from the pumping process, a theme that recurs throughout the journey. By the end, apparently, olfactory fatigue had set in, and they no longer noticed the smell. I'd be a little worried about side effects, such as a tendency to loiter outside fried-chicken joints, but otherwise a conversion of this sort makes a fair amount of sense.
Biodiesel, at least in its current production form, is not going to save us all. The production process leaves a great deal to be desired in terms of efficiency, uses up a lot of farmland, and may be a contributor to rising food prices worldwide. However, in the future it may be possible to make the fuel from other things, including algae and waste wood. That is where used vegetable oil shines, no pun intended. You are using a resource that has already been produced, has performed one function, and is ready for another.
If we owned a diesel, having a couple of barrels of veggie juice in the garage would be very handy. Not great in very cold weather, but then if the planet keeps heating up, that may be a moot point.
Iím betting that our future will include a variety of energy sources, including gas, biodiesel, electrics, and a variety of hybrids. A strategic gambler would likely buy stakes in electric car companies, because it appears battery technology is about to make a great leap forward. Those interested in strange and wonderful new designs, including air-powered cars and more, might want to take a look at our winter newsletter. It is available on the Sidorov Precision Driver Training website.
In the meantime, any guilt from snarfing up a serving of french fries can be assuaged by the notion that someone may be travelling further down some backroad, fuelled by the same stuff that is otherwise not exactly a health food.
You can reach Alan Sidorov through his website, below.
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