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Driving Biodiesel

Bungee Monkey

posted Nov 28, 2006 11:47:33 AM	To All
This is kind of a catch-all thread for me to throw in things that I've experienced running on biodiesel and see if anyone out there has had similar experiences. When I stared getting serious about driving "greener" I got my hands on a 2001 Prius, which was a great car for me. When the 2004's came out I was one of the first in the Denver Boulder area to get one and loved that too. I could carry all kinds of things in it, it rode great, and was a really good car. Until I left it in the sun with the windows closed... luckily I did it while I was still under warranty so the $2,000 computer repair was covered. But realizing that keeping it going might get expensive, so I started looking around at biodiesel. One of my motiviations was that - bottom line - even the Prius uses petroleum. If you want to get totally off petroleum, you have to go with biofuels and biodiesel is a great way to go. So I found myself a 1995 Cheverolet Diesel pickup (known as the K2500 Silverado). Another motivation with getting a pickup truck was that I treated my Prius like a pickup and might as well go full-bore and get a real truck. And lastly, I wanted to run on veggie oil and I figured that putting the GreaseCar kit into my truck would be somewhat easier than getting it put into a VW or something like that. So I got my truck and started running it on B20 (since I bought it in February), and stayed with the B20 until the weather warmed up. I ran on B100 for several months and then switched back to B20 early in October. B100 is expensive, but in my mind it's worth it. It doesn't smell bad like dino diesel and even B20 do. You spill it on your hands - no big deal. Washes right off. You spill it on the ground - no big deal. It's just vegetable oil. You store it in your garage - you don't even know it's there. I'm really hoping that the price goes down as supply goes up, but I'm willing to keep plugging away at $3.49 a gallon. (By the way, it was $3.09 in Salt Lake City. Boulder is very expensive comparatively, but that's not unexpected =) More to come about my trip to California running on B100... Bungee Monkey

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Driving Biodiesel

Bio_fuel_Guy

posted Dec 12, 2006 12:04:18 AM	To All
Hello Bungee Monkey, A friend had sent me this link and I think it's great!! Glad to see more folks are on the biodiesel band wagon and moving across america with stories to tell. I run B100 as well only I produce my own. Ever think about getting involved with a Coop? I run one in southern Littleton but if you live in Boulder, Boulder biodiesel coop is a great place to join. Our coop is Front Range Bio-Fuels coop. Let your fellow green friends know about us and Boulder Biodiesel. We are always looking for new and diverse members. Good Luck and Let's hear how it's going with your B100 adventures. Regards, Bio_Fuel_Guy

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Driving Biodiesel

Bungee Monkey

posted Dec 12, 2006 8:27:10 AM	To All
Hello. I have considered setting up a coop in my neighborhood, but you may have a good idea in joining an existing one before I try to take that on! Better to get some experience, make some contacts, and avoid some of the pitfalls. Does your coop have a web site? My ex-wife's father is interested in doing biodiesel and he lives over by I-70 and Youngsfield. A resource for those who haven't found it yet that seems to be quite useful if you're into the coop style of getting your grease is http://www.biodieselamerica.org. It's a very informative site and nicely done. Bungee Monkey

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Driving Biodiesel

Bungee Monkey

posted Dec 12, 2006 8:39:10 AM	To All
I was looking back at my post and I realized that I made a completely erroneous statement in there. Going biodiesel isn't the only way to get away from petroleum. Biking, walking, and using electric vehicles are even better ways, obviously! I bike and walk a fair amount, but not as much as I could (and should for the exercise alone). I occasionally use my eGo electric scooter to get around which is a great thing to do. I actually keep it plugged in and locked up at work and lend out the keys to co-workers for trips to the bank or lunch. I works out great on days I bike in or take the bus - it's a sweat-free trip at lunch time for those hot summer days when biking to lunch would make the rest of your day a bit .... moist. The really great thing will be when Tesla Motors comes out with a car mere mortals can afford. They're proving out their technology on the high-end of the scale, where they are most likely to get back a good chunk of cash (at $100,000 each) and make a big splash. I'm hoping they come out in 2007 with something more affordable, and in 2008 something more affordable than that. I think electric vehicles will start re-appearing all over the place as more and more research is put in to their design. It will be great to watch that happen! Bungee Monkey

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Driving Biodiesel

Bio_fuel_Guy

posted Dec 12, 2006 8:41:15 AM	To All
Hello Bungee Monkey, Glad to hear you are looking into a coop. They are real good for experience and getting a feel for what is going on with the market and your neighborhood as well. We don't have our web site published on the web as of yet. I've got to wear many hats and web page builder is one of them. We will have our site up before the close of 2006. Have your ex-father in-law contact me at Bio_Fuel_Guy@msn.com and I'll send him our meeting invite for this month. It will be on 12/17/06 from 2-4 p.m. in Littleton. I can send him the details. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. Best Regards, Bio_Fuel_Guy

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Driving Biodiesel

jimurl

posted Feb 7, 2007 3:22:03 PM	To All
HI Bungee Monkey, That sounds cool, glad to hear that you took the carbon-emissions bull by the horns. Did you ever end up converting your Silverado to run on used cooking oil? I installed a GreaseCar kit in my F-250. It works pretty well. I've had to tinker with it some, but now it runs great. It even works pretty well in the cold ( I live in Montana, we've got cold). Interesting, too , that you chose that option over a hybrid. I kinda did the same. The F-250 cost $4500 ( its a '91), and you can't get a hybrid for less than 20K, I assume. It still uses diesel (or biodiesel blend) to warm up with. Averaged over many tanks, though, it comes to 56 mpg- so about the same as many hybrids.

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Driving Biodiesel

Bungee Monkey

posted Feb 16, 2007 3:34:07 PM	To All
As soon as the temperatures here look like they'll be in the 60's for a few days, I'm going to do the conversion. I don't have a shop so I'm going to be doing it outside =/ I hadn't done the math yet on the MPG. Interesting way to think of it - essentially the oil is free, so the MPG is per gallon of startup-fuel. I'll have to create a log of my "mileage" once I've done the conversion and see what it turns out to be. When you think about it, this type of system really should have an electric component to it. I'm thinking of getting a solar panel and some batteries to "pre-heat" the oil either on a timer or using a remote control. Then you could start on veggie oil, assuming you could get the oil up to 160F. I found this product called "Blue Heat" which can be used to preheat an engine. Not a block warmer, but something that actually gets the engine up to a reasonable temperature. Energy intensive, but if it's solar... ? Bungee Monkey

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