People's Questions about my Vegetable-oil car

1) How much did the conversion cost you?

Answer: $1,950 (fully installed).


2) Who did the conversion and how many years experience do they have?
Fred Burgess of Greenwrench did the conversion at his home near Lancaster, PA. He has 8 year experience and has completed conversions on the cars of about 60 very satisfied customers.


3) Where do you get vegetable oil? And why should I hassle myself by going to restaurants to collect oil?

Answer: I currently have 3 sources of vegetable oil:
a) a DC restaurant
b) a 30 cent/gallon supplier out of Mt. Airy, MD
c) A guy in Triangle, VA who also collects from restaurants.

If all that failed, I could still buy bulk soy oil from Costco or just fill up with regular petroleum-diesel (yes, I can do that).

And I've also read a couple good explanations of how easily and why you should be able to get your free fuel from restaurants: here:

"Waste vegetable oil is a very economical fuel to use. It is recycling something that was used up. Restaurants pay to have it removed, so they give it to me gladly. I’m accustomed to smelling fast food—now I smell free renewable fuel! It’s like manna from heaven."

4) What kinds of emissions come from biodiesel and Waste Vegetable Oil and what is the energy balance ratio (or Net Energy Gain)?

Answer(s): Some of the answers can be found here and here.

But here are some excerpts:
"The production of biodiesel has a 1 to 3.2 energy balance ratio. In other words, for every 1 unit of energy that goes into producing biodiesel, 3.2 units of energy are produced. Biodiesel also results in significantly lower emissions of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, toxic contaminants, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons, visible smoke and noxious odors than petroleum diesel. Depending on the feed source, biodiesel can result in a 75% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions over the entire production process." [From Hampton Roads Clean Cities Coalitions].

According to Wikipedia, Biodiesel's "emissions of smog forming hydrocarbon are 65% less, although the Nitrogen Oxide emissions are about 10% greater than those from petroleum-based diesel."

And here's more about waste vegetable oil emissions from here:

"These oils burn much cleaner in a diesel engine than diesel fuel. They emit no sulfur, and thus do not contribute to acid rain. The carbon released is what would have been released naturally from the decay of the plant matter used. Therefore it is carbon-neutral, releasing carbon that was captured a year or two ago, and that carbon will be again absorbed in next year's crop. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, release carbon captured millions of years ago, upsetting the atmospheric balance and causing global warming. Another benefit is that the particulate matter emitted from running on vegetable oil is way lower than diesel fuel. Gone is the obnoxious diesel smell and black smoke, replaced with the smell of cooking oil. So if you are following me as I tool around town and suddenly get hungry for fish and chips, that’s why. Also, any veggie oil spills are biodegradable."


5) What if you run out of vegetable oil on a long trip somewhere?

Answer:
Switch over to my second tank which has biodiesel (or fill up somewhere if both tanks are empty).


6) What is your MPG on Vegetable Oil?
Answer: About 50MPG


7)What is your MPG on Biodiesel?
Answer: About 50MPG


8) What is your MPG on Petroleum-Diesel?
Answer: About 50 MPG


9) Why aren't more people doing this if it's so great?

Answer(s): I think it takes research, consideration, extra time to do it yourself or an extra $2000 to pay for the conversion (although my '97 Jetta TDI only cost $4750 and the sale of my 2000 Honda Insight paid for my Jetta and the complete conversion and then some).

It takes research to find the highest MPG diesel vehicle (requires a standard transmission). It takes time to get the DMV to complete the licensing of your new diesel and then you might be without your car for a week if you have a home-mechanic do the veggie-conversion like I did.

It just takes commitment. Oh, and most people don't know anyone who has done the veggie-oil conversion. And most people don't want to be early adopters because many of us are the forerunners who work out the kinks for the middle and late adopters. It's more risky to be an early adopter.