November 18, 2008
Save the Planet with Vegetable Oil
Meet a family that is devoted to saving the planet. Sara and Matt Janssen gave up a 1,600-square-foot home for a small apartment, then they moved into a recreational vehicle powered by vegetable oil.
They scavenged the oil from fast-food and mom-and-pop restaurants willing to give away "an increasingly valuable commodity."
The fueling process itself takes about an hour, Sara Janssen said, adding that the couple invested in an on-board oil filtration system, which strains the "batter and chicken chunks" before the oil reaches the engine. [...]Now, to save $25,000 on fuel while traveling 20,000 miles doesn't make sense. Reportedly, their RV gets eight miles per gallon of fuel. That means 2,500 gallons were used for 20,000 miles. $25,000 divided by 2,500 gallons equals $10 savings per gallon of vegetable oil used.Having traded up to their 1998 Western Alpine Coach in September, they figure that they have traveled about 20,000 miles in all and resorted to diesel fuel just once, outside of Austin, Texas.
"It was our fault," Janssen said. "We didn't start looking early enough."
She estimates that they saved about $25,000 using the kitchen grease instead of conventional fuel.
With diesel running below $3 a gallon, how do the Janssens save $10 a gallon by replacing it with vegetable oil? Maybe they used some type of global warming math. It doesn't make sense to me. (more)
By Mike Pechar at November 18, 2008 12:39 AM | | l digg this
