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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."
Though it seems that biodiesel is cheap compared to current gas prices, one thing to factor in is that making your own biodiesel has hidden costs. First off, not everyone will be able to get free used cooking oil (those who live in the country, for example...the time/biodiesel used to drive into town is something to consider). Beyond that, the preperation time for making biodiesel factors into the cost. Any time you spend making biodiesel is time when you could be working, and thus making money. One reason (and yes, I realize there are many others involved) that gas is expensive is due to the convienience. With a typical gas station, you drive up, pump your gas, pay for it, and leave. The gas has already been processed, transported, etc, which factors into the cost. So, though making your own biodiesel is a good way to save some money, you have to remember to balance convience and time into the equation, and determine if the savings are worthwhile.
There is a finite number of places one can obtain large amounts of cooking oil. While at the moment, it may be quite easy to talk a manager at a local KFC into letting you cart off for free what they would have to pay to dispose of, the problem arises that there will not be such widespread availability of waste oil as the popularity of home-brewed biodiesel takes off.
I can easily picture fierce competition over whom is allowed to get the oil from KFC this week, etc.
When it comes to growing crops to manufacture biodiesel, you have to ask how much energy will be expended planting, harvesting, commercially refining and transporting the finished product. Will it be viable?
bio-diesel not your thing? Too much time to make it?
Run it straight
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