Greg Rose is a videoblogger and doubly cool Veggie Oil Car owner. His Mercedes 300D runs on straight vegetable oil. Yes, he can pour a gallon of Soybean Cooking Oil right into his gas tank (with a few modifications of course). The story is that the original diesel engine, invented by Rudolf Diesel in the 1890’s, was built to run on peanut oil. Imagine how different the world might be right now if this had continued to be the case.
For more info and examples of SVO Cars visit GreaseCar.com
Technorati Tags: gregrose, svo, straight vegetable oil, sustainablity, sustainable, biodiesel, veggie car, grease car, sanfrancisco, ryanishungry
This has little to do with sustainability. It doesnt scale up. Its only good in the short-term to save a few people money. The whole reason why the global peak of oil production will be so bad, is because of the sheer quantity of oil that is available right now.
If we try to grow food to use as fuel on that scale, then we will just be starving more people, creating worse moral dilemmas then today. I try to imagine a world fuelled by peanuts, and I only see it working in a world with car less people, or at least far less people driving.
When I think of the future I think of less people, doing less, in more efficient ways. Vegetarians riding bicycles and flying on airships is more like a sustainable solution, but at this stage in the energy crisis, most people are just looking for quick fixes that allow them to carry on much the same as before. All the ’single replacement for oil’ solutions Ive seen to date are nothing but fools gold.
This is so great! Thanks so much for helping spread the veggie oil gospel! It was super fun doing the interview.
steve,
agreed
i dont think once in this video did anyone say that this was sustainable
it’s just one person’s story, that’s all.
we thought it was an interesting life style choice.
i did, however choose to use ’sustainable’ as a technorati tag simply for self serving traffic purposes. my bad.
-ryanne
I don\’t think anyone has ever advocated that everyone can or should have cars that run on vegetable oil. What I love about Greg\’s story is that here\’s a guy who is hacking everyday life. He\’s finding alternatives, even if they are just temporary. He did get off his ass and try something new.
Yeah sorry for getting on my high-horse there. It is an interesting video, and it is always good to see people experimenting with the unconventional. I just cant help being a knob when it comes to how much these alternatives can actually save us, I sure would like some easy answers to energy crisis, just havent found any yet that actually scale up and dont require huge lifestyle changes.
So how bad was the smell from the car? Id also like to know what happens to the vegetable oil if it gets taken away from the restaurant, at a cost, int he standard way? Questions questions, I love any video that creates questions
Regarding “veggie mobile” and sustainability, and since I have one also, I can see a new industry growing up around waste veggie oil. There are already 2 people in my community, Santa Barbara, California, collecting and filtering and then selling waste veggie oil. Then I look around at all the restaurants and see all that other waste oil going to “waste”, the dump. That’s a lot of potential fuel. And we mix our veggie oil with 10% diesel to thin it out a little and it burns cleaner. There could be several variations of fuel depending on the microclimates of where you live, since cold climates require some extra heat to get the veggie fuel to flow properly.
The smell, since we use Sushi Restaurant oil, is a little like tempura - very mild. However, the first tank we got when we first bought the car smelled like french fries.
I think this is a viable, sustainable fuel for cars, like they use in Brazil.
steve,
i think you are correct in saying the only thing that’s going to save us is to reduce driving. no matter what kind of fuel we use- veggie oil, biodiesel, ethanol, electric- none of them are scalable in terms of the amount people drive currently. there will never be enough energy to meet the demands of all the people driving in the world. period. we know that.
i think people creating alternatives is like a mental shift more than anything. people know now that there is an end in sight for crude oil and for the mainstream brain, that’s a huge step.
-ryanne
Hey steve–I didnt smell anything. It certainly wasnt any worse than a gasoline car. At least it wouldnt kill you. In the end, we need to support people who are finding alternatives. something will click.
Oh! Great - I’ve been waiting for this one
Very interesting… looks when our car finally dies (which won’t be long from the looks of it) we’ll have to buy an old diesel car.
VegOil is only one of several options in the portfolio of alternative energies out there. There is no one solution, we have to get far more creative than we have been. That includes, to a great extent, changing our habits. But we all know how hard it is to change habits. Demonstrating alternatives helps people think outside of the habit box. See http://www.vegoil.us for the National VegOil Board website for more information on pushing the boundaries on this particular biofuel.
Thanks for the great video blog!
Cynthia Shelton, Director
NVOB
This type of fuel alternative will not save the world.On the otherhand, it will help. There is no one answer. The use of different fuels (as appropriate) may be our best answer. I have a restaurant. I have a maintenance department. For me, the switch to veggie vehicles was an easy decision. We have a 1994 Dodge Ram Truck and I drive a 1985 Merecedes 300D (a cherry compared to the one in the video). The concept is sound. It works. But, I have a restaurant and a maintenance department.It works for me, so I do it.Anyway, I love it. It is so cool.It works. I no longer pay to have my grease hauled away.Incidentally, the Mercedes in the video (no offense) looks like a real amateur conversion.I have seen much cleaner and “slicker” jobs. No mess, everything looks like a “factory” install.