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Domain: biodiesel.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to biodiesel.org.
Stories · 3
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Brew Your Own Auto Fuel For 41 Cents A Gallon
Iphtashu Fitz writes "Damon Toal-Rossi of Iowa City, Iowa had enough of the high price of gasoline, so it didn't take too much for his friend to talk him into switching to biodiesel, an alternative fuel based on soy or vegetable oil. But after a few months of driving 10 miles to a biodiesel fuel station he decided it was time to start brewing his own. It didn't take him long to find a recipe for biodiesel, and with used cooking oil that he gets for free from a nearby restaurant, he figures he's now getting 44 miles per gallon out of his diesel powered VW Golf and only paying 41 cents a gallon. According to the National Biodiesel Board the number of biodiesel stations in the US rose by 50% last year (to a whopping 200). The president of the American Soybean Association claims biodiesel has almost the same amount of energy as petroleum-based diesel, but cleans an engine's fuel injectors and cuts down on the number of required oil changes. Perhaps these are some of the reasons why diesel powered cars are making a comeback in the US." -
239 MPG Car
Kozmik writes "VW/Audi has a history of being a leader in creating super fuel efficient vehicles. They currently sell the most fuel efficient car in the world, 3L Lupo and the Audi A2, and the most fuel efficient station wagon (Jetta TDI Wagon). Now VW is experimenting with something along the lines of the Honda Insight ( a 2 person vehicle ). The 1L VW concept car can achieve .89L/100kms or 239MPG. With Biodiesel and Ultra low sulfur diesel becoming available, hopefully more of these vehicles will come to North America. These fuels are already available in Europe and combined with the new catalyst technology they use, these new engines produce very low emissions." It's nice to talk about alternative fuels, but I have yet to see a gas station selling one of them. -
Drive a Greasecar - DIY Biodiesel
TinyTim writes "Sure, you could buy expensive biodiesel for you car - or you can hack your diesel to run on filtered vegetable oil. Kits take a few hours to install and cost about $800, but you can get your fuel free from restaurant deep-fryers (the filters are ~$10/2000mi). Supposedly no loss of performance or mileage, and you can change between diesel and veggie oil with the flick of a switch. A previous article mentioned the theoretical possibility, but it looks like kits are now available from greasecar.com."