Harper Gavin D. J. - Run your diesel vehicle on biofuels: a do-it-yourself guide

Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels

Run Your Diesel Vehicleon Biofuels

I can remember the first time I met someone with a vegetable oil ride. A classmates boyfriend had done a full waste vegetable oil (WVO) conversion of his decade-old F-150. I honestly couldnt believe what I was hearing. I must have grilled him about it for half an hour. How dirty is the exhaust? Can you start it in cold weather? How do you have to prep the oil? How long did it take you to get it up and running?

And finally, after hed answered all those questions for me, and I was satisfied that waste vegetable oil was both a viable and environmentally friendly option, I asked him whether he could make one for me. Unfortunately, this was the one question I asked that had an unsatisfying answer. He didnt have the time to make WVO cars for other folks. And so, to this day, Im driving a regular, old boring gasoline car.

But the possibilities of WVO-powered travel are considerably more mouth-watering than the fried food responsible for the fuel itself. I may want a chicken nugget every once in a while, but I want free gasoline every single day of my life. And dont make a mistake, thats what were talking about here free, clean fuel, straight from the trash. And while I never had the expertise (or a willing friend) to build a biodiesel vehicle for myself, now Jon and Gavin have provided a guide for us all.

But dont mistake, youre not going to be one of billions traveling on this fuel. There simply isnt enough waste oil out there to power much of our current fleet. The path youre about to go down isnt going to solve the worlds energy crisis, but it is an important step. Simply noticing that this valuable fuel has been treated like toxic waste for the last 50 years is a great step on the path to a more efficient world. Its people like Gavin, Jon, and (hopefully) you who can identify the profligate waste of our systems and use it to their own advantage, and who will teach the rest of humanity how to behave on a finite planet.

HANK GREEN

Editor-in-Chief/Founder

EcoGeek.org

Hank Green is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of EcoGeek.org, the largest environmental technology publication on the Internet. If you want to learn about the thousands of waysin which the worlds smartest people have committed themselves to growing our civilizationwithout destroying the planet, you should check it out.

The authors would like to thank the following people who have contributed to the development of this book.

A massive thank you to the two Peters: Hampson and Jackson, of City Yacht School, UK. Peter Hampson was especially invaluable in sharing his knowledge about diesel engine tech- nology, and kindly let us include pictures of some of his diesel engine teaching aids, and an eclectic collection of diesel engine parts and tools, in this book. Geoff Harper helped to source diesel pictures and put us in touch with the right people. Hearty thanks to Charles J. Melton and Steven Charles at Cummins Inc. for their help in sourcing diesel engine cutaways for the chapter on diesel engine technology.

Gavin would like to thank Willie Nelson for giving him a platform in his fabby little book On the Clean Road Again a must read. A massive thanks to Annie Nelson, Bob and Kelly King, and all the folks at Pacific Biodiesel for their warm welcome to the 2007 National Biodiesel Conference these folks champion the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (SBA; www.sustainablebiodieselalliance.com ), which aims to keep a bit of integrity in the biodiesel industry by keeping it green, clean, local, and free from GM, nasty additives, colors, sweeteners, and artificial flavors. Without the invite to the SBA, Gavin would never have met Frankie Abralind, editor of the truly awesome BiodieselSMARTER, a smashing little quarterly, for which you can find a discount coupon in the back of this book.

An especially big thank you to Amanda Starbuck, Jons wife, for the financial and emotional support and the beer. Thanks to Robert Starbuck, Jons brother, for his photos and prompt responses to emails. Big thanks to Greenpeace, especially Timo for the desk space and the coffee, and special thanks to Gesche for keeping Jon hydrated. Thanks to the city of San Francisco for hosting Jon while he typed the manuscript and cycled about like a maniac in a futile attempt to work off the burritos.

A few people in the UK biofuels community have been especially helpful: big thanks to Jon and Dan at Golden Fuels (Oxford, UK) as well as Jan at Sundance Renewables (Swansea, UK); thanks also to Patrick Whetman of Goat Industries, and to Daniel Blackburn of www.vegoilmotoring.com for the UCO and for dressing up as Elvis.

The great people at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), Wales, introduced the authors; thank you to the folks of the CAT kitchen, especially Yvonne, Natalia, and Dave, for the smashing chickpea curries that will always hold a special place in Gavins heart.

Thanks to the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California, especially Ashley Schaeffer and Pete Huff for putting Jon and Amanda up and showing them about, and John Schaeffer for the delicious breakfast.

Thanks also to the following people: Andrew Morris in Oakland, California, for showing Jon his set-up; Maria Alovert, aka Girl Mark, for her book on biodiesel that is probably the best homebrew book available; and Graham Laming, for brilliant ideas and a ton of free, high- quality information on the web (if you find any of Grahams information useful please make a donation to Cancer Research UK; details in the back of this book).

Our thanks to the people of Machynlleth and the Dyfi Valley who are dear to both the authors, and to Ben Robinson (whos filling up a truck in ) and all at Dulas for letting Gavin take pictures of their big plastic tank.

Thanks to Roustabout Ltd, especially Geoff. Thanks for the letters and see you at Burning Man.

Thanks to Spanner Films and The Age of Stupid go see it.

Remember, open source not secret source!

This book was brought to you by the letter B and the number 100.

A Do-It-Yourself Guide

Jon Starbuck and Gavin D. J. Harper

Copyright 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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