Biodiesel
Do any of you use/make biodiesel? After watching An Inconvenient Truth (http://www.climatecrisis.net/) I've become further deterred from driving another fossil fuel-powered vehicle. There's a little Volkswagen Rabbit for sale just down the road from my parents' house that I'm thinking about purchasing when I return to work this April. It's a 15-20 minute drive back and forth to the park where I work, and when I'm not biking there or hitching a ride with someone else, I need a vehicle (especially for returning home in the evening, I don't like riding on the highway in the dark). I found this site on how to make your own biodiesel (biodiesel-mastery.com) but I'm wary of its legitimacy, since they want $50 for the manual. The site is very much akin to the sites of get-rich-quick scams, so I'd like to do some research before investing any money in anything. Have any of you heard of it? They mention that multinational oil companies are sending threats their way, trying to shut the site down.. which is not hard to believe, but also a good way to get your money quick--"buy now because we'll be shut down soon." They also tell you that the articles are free when you sign up by email for them--the cost doesn't rear its head until they have your address (I use a separate 'fake' account for things I'm dubious of).
I'm sure, with some searching, you can find everything you want to know about making biodiesel here on the net for free. I really would not send a company that sounds like they are going out of business "tomorrow" any money"today" (if you know what I mean). :o
Here's a few I found for you:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/biodiesel.html
http://www.schnews.org.uk/diyguide/howtomakebiodiesel.htm
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago101.html
I'd try these myself, but I'd probably blow myself up :P!
There is a guy that lives around here that does make his own and I sometimes see him with this big plastic tank in the back of his truck around town. If I get a chance, I'll ask him about it. He does like to talk about (and from what hear, brag about) his biodiesel business he has going on.
Great Idea!
Good Luck
-Dave
You might also consider converting your diesel car into a grease car. See http://www.greasecar.com/
My brother and his wife have converted both of their diesel VW Jettas into greasecars. Basically, you install a second tank, in which you put regular vegetable oil (they filter the used fryer oil from their restaurant). You have to start and stop your engine on regular (fossil) diesel, but once it's warmed up, you switch tanks and it runs on the veggie oil. My brother was going to make biodiesel, and even went so far as to buy the equipment to make it, but never found the time. So, he donated the biodiesel equipment to a local college and went the greasecar route instead.