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RANDOLPH, VT (January 21, 2003) -- "About 55 miles", says Scott McGrath, of Vermont based NFA Technologies. McGrath's firm is one of a growing number of organizations focusing on ways to ease the world's troubled energy situation. NFA Technologies, however, sees one possible answer in a golden bottle of vegetable oil.
"I've driven to work and back on it everyday for almost 2 years now", proclaims McGrath. "It's safe, clean burning, and 100% renewable- making it better for the environment."
For McGrath, and others who run their cars on straight vegetable oil, it's cheap too. Free, in fact.
"We collect waste vegetable oil from restaurants who would normally have to pay to dispose of it. We heat it up, strain the food out of it, and pump it into the car."
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From there, as McGrath went on to explain, the vehicle is started and run on its "conventional" fuel, just until the vegetable oil is warm and thin enough to be used. This is accomplished using a heated fuel tank, heated filter, and heated lines. Electronic valves allow the driver to select between vegetable oil and conventional fuel on the fly, without stopping the car. McGrath says it only takes about 1 to 5 minutes of regular driving before the fuel is sufficiently warm, and the car has no noticeable difference in fuel economy or power. He's even put it to the test on the coldest of Vermont mornings, with temperatures down to -15 degrees fahrenheit.
Vegetable oil as a fuel has been gaining popularity recently, but more often in the form of Biodiesel; a by-product that results from vegetable after chemical reaction. Straight vegetable oil however, as it fuels McGrath's car, differs from biodiesel in that a few modifications to the vehicle must be made. The advantage of a Greasecar system is that no preprocessing of the fuel is necessary, except filtering (in the case of using waste vegetable oil!) What's the catch? For now, McGrath says, only diesel vehicles can be converted. However, that could change with new technology. "Just like any industry, there's new innovations being made everyday. That's what NFA Technologies is all about." McGrath bought his Golf TDI after meeting vegetable oil conversion pioneer Justin Carven, of Massachusetts based Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems. The car was converted to demonstrate how practical a modern vehicle, converted to run on straight vegetable oil using Carven's system, can be. The Greasecar kit retails for around $800, and includes a custom aluminum tank, fuel lines, and switching equipment necessary for the conversion. McGrath said the conversion process was "straightforward" and "can be done in about a weekend." McGrath did, however, recommend that the mechanically un-inclined consider having their local auto mechanic install it. The car is also being used as a platform to develop the latest in vegetable oil conversion technology. NFA Technologies has been working with Greasecar to develop a high-tech fuel controller, allowing cars to automatically manage their fuel selection based on temperature and other factors. It features a small display, simple one-button operation, and can be used directly with Greasecar's conversion kit. A working prototype is on McGrath's car. NFA Technologies and Greasecar recently announced that they will be jointly entering the car in the 2003 Tour de Sol (http://www.tourdesol.org). The Tour de Sol seeks to promote transportation that decreases our dependency on foreign oil, and reduces greenhouse gases. Through the Tour de Sol, McGrath and his teammates intend to show that "Vegetable oil is among the most renewable, clean, and powerful ways to fuel a vehicle." A renewable fuel is one whose by-products are required for the production of more fuel. Vegetable oil's chief exhaust emissions are water and carbon dioxide. Since both of those are necessary for the growth of more vegetable oil-yielding plants, it is a largely renewable fuel. In order to sustain widespread adoption of vegetable oil fuel use, we'll need bigger oil sources than the fryers of greasy spoon restaurants, but McGrath thinks that's a good thing. "Adoption means innovation, and we already know that certain algaes can produce 10 times as much vegetable oil [as conventional crops] in the same area. We probably won't be able to produce enough vegetable to completely phase out other fuels. But you can't argue with the facts: every gallon of vegetable oil is better for the environment, domestically produceable, and safer on the roads than petroleum." For more information, contact:
Scott McGrath
The NFA Technologies Website is at http://www.nfatech.com |
Former home of the Vegetables Rabbit