Off the Road...

Last night, I finally arrived in Indianapolis and unloaded Minnie!

This past weekend, I was in Golden, CO attending the Local Biodiesel Conference on the Colorado School of Mines campus (a very pretty campus, btw...).

When I attend conferences, I am usually content if I learn one new thing, or make one good contact, and I generally expect to be bored most of the time. At this conference, I had a blast, learned so much, I was afraid my head would burst open a few times, and I feel that everyone I met is a new friend. I can't say enough good things about this conference - If you are interested in biodiesel (using it, distributing it, making it, looking at it, or drinking it), or are interested in the biodiesel community in general, I highly recommend attending next year's local biodiesel conference.

The next few days

I'm currently in Boulder, CO, staying with my uncle. That's right: Minnie made it over the continental divide at 7,000 feet:


I'll be attending the Local Biodiesel Conference this weekend, and then going on to Lawrence, Kansas and Indianapolis, Indiana (where Mary is beginning her intern year).

I've decided to stay in Indianapolis and try to join the biofuels (or enviro-tech) industry there. I still have several posts to write (...and interview footage to edit), so this blog will remain somewhat active as I explore the enviro-tech scene in Indianapolis.

Grease Kings

A big part of driving this far on vegetable oil is finding good sources of fuel. My emergency filtration kit is okay in a pinch, but there's no way I can filter 40 gallons through it without going nuts. This led me to visit the Grease Kings.

Searching the SF bay area for a source of Veg Oil on fillup4free.com, I found GreaseKings - a company that makes and installs Vegetable Oil kits, and handles all things vegetable oil in Sacramento, CA.

I called Rich (Grease Kings' owner) and asked if I could get about 35 gallons of oil, and headed up to Sacramento to fill up Minnie. On my way out the door, my phone rings again "hey, are you that guy driving around the country - on the National VegOil Board website?" That's right I experienced my first (and only) moment of web-celebrity!

When I arrived, we chatted briefly about his work with Grease Kings before he dashed off to a meeting.

It looks like the Grease Kings shop manufacturers all their conversion kit equipment in-house (their heated filter housings look very cool), which allows them to maintain high quality control. Their kit is a single-tank system with coolant heating.

As I've mentioned before, I really like single tank systems for their simplicity, and I wish Minnie had one, but (having driven Minnie through a Wisconsin winter) I'm worried about extreme cold weather (below zero F) performance. But for West Coast (and even 10 months of Wisconsin), driving, a single tank system is so much better than the headaches of a dual tank kit!

So, if you happen to be in the Sacramento area, go check out GreaseKings and say hello to Rich for me!


Rich, Minnie, and me.

Sequential Biofuels

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, on Wednesday morning I visited Sequential Biofuels' gorgeous flagship fueling station located at 86714 McVay Hwy in Eugene, OR. I realize I just called a gas station gorgeous, but if you go there, I think you'll agree - compared to the traditional fueling station next door, this one looks awesome!

The station is unique for several reasons:
1. Only biofuel and biofuel blends are sold:

• 10% ethanol (90% gasoline)
• 85% ethanol (15% gasoline)
• 5% biodiesel (95% diesel)
• 20% biodiesel (80% diesel)
• 99.9% biodiesel (0.1% diesel)

2. 30-50% of all electricity consumed by the station comes from the solar panels installed as sun shades above the fuel pumps.
3. 4800 plants make up the "living roof" over the convenience store to control rainwater runoff and keep the building cool in the summer.
4. The snacks in the convenience store attempt to be as local and organic as possible.
5. Sequential also operates a 1 Million Gallon/year biodiesel plant in Salem.

When I arrived, I was greeted warmly by Helen and Allen (who filled Minnie up with B99.9 manufactured in Salem, OR). We chatted about the company, the fueling station, and the Governor's visit before I headed down the road to the SF bay.

Photo courtesy sqbiofuels.com.

Catching up

I'm in Corvallis, OR where I just finished visiting the folks at Greaseworks, purchasing some Viton [pdf] fuel lines and 22 gallons of vegetable oil.

I also attended a monthly meeting of the Northwest Biodiesel Network.

I'm currently headed back to the SF Bay area for S & O's wedding on 7/8.

After that, I'm headed to the Neighborhood Biodiesel Conference in Golden, CO 7/13-7/15.

And I should be in Indianapolis by that following weekend to rejoin Mary and get some sleep. After three months on the road, I can't wait to finally stay in one place for more than two nights in a row...

Also, I nearly forgot: if you're going somewhere this summer, check this guy out - he might give you a ride. Too bad he's not using biodiesel or other biofuels.

Acalanes High School

A few weeks ago, I visited Acalanes H.S. and talked to three classes of seniors.

It was a real pleasure to meet these guys and I wish nothing but success to them as they enter the the next step in their education!

So, I finally developed the film from that encounter and uploaded the photos to the school gallery. Enjoy!

Vegetable Oil Road Trip Schools

Northern California, Oregon, Portland

I am now sitting in the Chance of Rain Cafe in the Hawthorne area of Portland. Minnie made it - the end of the trip!

On Tuesday I drove from Berkeley North along the California coast to Fort Bragg along Highway 101 to the 1 - one of my favorite roads in the world, and camped just North of Fort Bragg (where I glimpsed some harbor seal pups!).


On Wednesday, I drove further up to the Redwoods National and State Parks. Here I am standing next to the aptly named "Big Tree," 1,500 years old and 30+ foot diameter trunk. The little speck in the bottom right is me. I'm smiling.


Thursday evening, I drove into Corvallis, OR, home of Oregon State University. I spoke with D.H., a chemical engineering professor who filled me in on all the amazing biofuels work going on in the area.

...and then this morning, I drove the last 1.5 hours to Portland to complete the trip. I'll post more about Portland once I've actually met people, etc (and done some laundry!).

Rolling wave of obesity?

We often joke that because of the deep fried smell of our exhaust, we are a rolling wave of obesity. It's funny, but deep down, this car creates a dichotomy in my beliefs.

Why, you ask? Well, Minnie uses vegetable oil for fuel. On one hand, this is great because she and cars like her are not dependent on foreign sources for petroleum. However, on the other hand, we are using waste vegetable oil from restaurants that fry their foods.

My internal struggle arises because I am a professional proponent of preventive health measures such as eating healthily. It is my job to advise people to avoid eating fried foods because greasy foods lead to problems such as high blood pressure and obesity, and many associated complications.

A friend suggested that I hand out the book, “Fast Food Nation” as we drive to counter-balance our deep-fried message and smell. ...which leads to another problem: if I were wildly successful and everyone stopped eating fried foods, where would I get waste vegetable oil fuel for Minnie?

Lovecraft Biofuels, Los Angeles

I have to admit that I had been looking forward to visiting Lovecraft because their components look so cool - I love the tatoo-style pierced heart logo on everything. I'm not going to wade into the controversy over whose VegOil conversion kit is better, but I do wish that the components for the conversion kit installed in Minnie looked this cool.

In the hipster Silverlake district in L.A. lies Lovecraft Biofuels. We had a chance to hang out and talk to people in the office, installers, and founder Brian, shooting an hour of video in the process.

Lovecraft's technology varies from most conversion kits available in the US in that their system uses only one tank (Minnie has a two tank system installed). This means that cars running Lovecraft's system start on VegOil. To accomplish this, feat, Lovecraft installs hotter glow plugs and alters the Glow Plug Relay so it uses the glow plugs for longer than standard diesel engines. This creates enough heat to start the engine on straight veggie oil - once started, the engine runs normally with no noticeable differences. Without knowing the exact technology used in each kit, it sounds like Lovecraft uses a similar design as Elsbett's single tank system, but with a more robust fuel filter design.

Lovecraft is located at 4000 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. They also have a (just opened) shop in Portland, OR located at 1261 Division Street. If you have any questions about vegetable oil as a fuel, or diesel cars in general, I highly recommend stopping by.

Berkeley Refueling Notes

We just filled up at the BioFuel Oasis in Berkeley, CA - a startup business of five women selling 100% biodiesel out of a workspace on the west side of Berkeley.

While waiting for our turn at the pump, we met Alania (I really hope I spelled that right) a traveling saleswoman for Livity Outernational - an organic clothing company. She was refueling her Bio-Beetle Rental Car with biodiesel. Apparently, she really enjoys renting from them: "The last time I rented from them, I didn't want to give the car back!"

Full disclosure: she gave us organic cotton and hemp (for me) and soy (for Mary) tee-shirts to try out (Thanks!). We have to admit that we're hooked - we both loved the silkscreened pattern, material colors, feel, and fit. And we also thought that it is very cool that all the materials were made from organic sources...

I believe that you can purchase their clothes online or at Whole Foods stores.

What happens next?

It's been a busy few days, here are a few quick updates:

We're currently in Visalia, California (just South of Fresno) meeting an old friend of Mary's.

This morning we interviewed people at Lovecraft biofuels - a company building and installing vegetable oil conversion kits - very cool stuff (they gave us some VegOil - thanks!). We shot about an hour of footage, and we also met D.O., the man who originally talked us into visiting LA (he also gave us some VegOil - thanks!), and saw his sweet ride - a 1983 Mercedes Benz 300D - Minnie's younger sister.

Unfortunately our still camera met an untimely death in the Grand Canyon, so no more photos until I can get an inexpensive replacement. See Mary's post for one of its last pictures.

We keep getting this question from people:
What happens after the trip is over? What happens next?

Here's the basic plan:

• 5/30: Mary flies back to Wisconsin to pick up her car and drive to Indianapolis and begin her intern year there.
• Next: I drive to Portland to complete the road trip.
• After that: I wish to enter the biofuels industry. I have training and experience in chemical engineering and project management. I hope I can find some opportunities there. Yes, please consider this a request for networking assistance...
  

The website and this blog will not be going away.
The website will continue to be a resource for biofuels and pollution health. I hope to extend the number of articles available and I will continue to blog here about my experiences in looking for an opportunity for myself within the biofuels industry (I'm certain that my job search will involve more vegetable oil powered road-tripping and speaking with biofuels pioneers if nothing else).

Also, I have something like 15 hours of video to go through and edit. I plan on making a series of web-ready films to post - those will be interesting - we've talked to a lot of very interesting people on this trip.

On the road again (Grand Canyon)

After getting Minnie back from the mechanic, we headed for the national park. The first test was getting Minnie up the dreaded Nine Mile Hill on the west side of Albuquerque. She made it up like a champ but we pulled over to let her cool down a bit before driving through the desert.

Slowly the scenery changed from desert to forest and the sun set behind the canyon as we neared the park. The stars were emerging as we set up camp at the Kaibab National Forest just south of the Grand Canyon. This was the first night we would finally get to test the ultralight tent we put together from tarps, bug net, ground cloth, stakes and strings purchased from R.E.I. After setting the tent up, it look sturdy enough but would it stand the entire night? It sure did, and we were surprisingly warmer than if had been in our old tent.

At sunrise, we entered the national park ground and made reservation for the night in Mather Campground. Then, we were off to get our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. It was a jaw-dropping sight. The canyon spread before us as far as we could see and the 4,000 foot walls contained layers of history. This was a great way for us to begin our descent into the canyon. We hiked 1,000 feet down the canyon on the South Kaibab trail on a gorgeous partly cloudy and cool day. Each time we rounded a bend, we had to stop to take in the incredible, ever changing landscape.





The National Park System epitomizes environment conservation. Aside from its most important objective of preserving the land, they also have one of the few recycling centers in their area and use solar panels to power the street light and methane-powered buses. Grand Canyon also has buses that shuttle visitors around the Canyon to decrease congestion and pollution.

At the moment, we are in Las Vegas preparing for a visit with a Las Vegas-based eco-tour company and also our track through the Mojave Desert tonight. Wish Minnie all the best luck and more later.

On the road, away from internet

Just a quick note to let you all know that we're (finally) on the road, headed towards the Grand Canyon. We'll be there (and away from the Internet) until Sunday night, when we'll be in Las Vegas, so don't expect anything out of us until Monday.

Minnie is working much much better now (she's actually able to climb hills now!), and the technician who helped us out is also feeling much better.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Algae in the desert: CEHMM

About a week and a half ago, we visited the wonderful folks at CEHMM, shot an hour and a half of video, saw their research, and generally had a good time. Here are my notes:

We drove into Carlsbad, New Mexico, a little mining and oil town in southeastern New Mexico surrounded by high desert. This humble location is home to one of the world's few algae-based biofuels research organizations.

CEHMM (pronounced "chem" - the Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management) is a research organization whose primary aim is to protect human and environmental health while advancing economic development of the area. If they are successful in their algae work, they will certainly have achieved this goal.

Producing biodiesel from algae requires 4 basic steps:

1. Growing the algae
2. Harvesting (separating water from algae)
3. Extracting the oil from the algae
4. Processing the oil into biodiesel

1. Growing
Growing algae is the easy part - algae requires sunlight, water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and some way to protect the purity and health of the algae.

30 miles north of Carlsbad, in Artesia, NM, on the grounds of New Mexico State University's agricultural research station, reside CEHMM's test ponds. To protect their algae, they are using saltwater algae in a brine - the brine water protects the algae from intruders and keeps the strain fairly pure.

Here is a photo of test pond #1: the paddle wheel both agitates and aerates the algae - providing it with atmospheric CO2.


And here is a photo of the soon to be completed 1/8 acre test pond:


2. Harvesting
These algae ponds reach about 1 gram of (useful) biomass per liter of (useless) water. Getting rid of the water is a difficult step. There are many methods of harvesting algae (see this Wikipedia article on algaculture for other ideas), CEHMM is using a proprietary technology that involves membranes (think: very fine mesh filters that don't clog) to create a very concentrated mixture of water and algae.

3. Extracting
If harvesting is difficult, extracting is extremely difficult. This step is again proprietary (darn NDAs), and I was only given hand-waving explanations of how CEHMM accomplishes this bit. They are apparently looking at two competing technologies - one is able to produce biodiesel directly from the harvested algae by melting cell membranes, etc. I have no idea what other products are made in this process.

Another process they are looking at involves separating the oil from the cell membranes (which can then be composted, used as fertilizer, fed to animals, etc).

4. Processing
If CEHMM chooses to go with the second of the two extraction methods, they will have to process the resulting oil into biodiesel. In a retired gas station in Carlsbad, NM CEHMM has a small scale biodiesel production facility. Here is where they experiment with biodiesel production techniques (and fill up the local fire department with the resulting fuel).

Here is Terry showing off the second ever batch of biodiesel produced from algae. "A group in New Zealand beat us by a week."


I can't wait to see the fruits of CEHMM's research, it is my hope that in the not too distant future, many of us will be driving around on algae-produced biodiesel.

Further Delays...

Just got a call from the auto shop - Minnie will not be out of the mechanic's till Thursday afternoon. I have to forgive them, because here are the excuses:

• The technician working on Minnie went to the hospital in pain yesterday - turns out he had (has?) kidney stones.
• Minnie's new injector (the old one was cracked - hence the smoky exhaust) can't be found from any supplier - it's getting shipped in from overseas.

That's essentially like saying that you didn't finish your homework because you came down with cancer - I can't possibly be upset; they're obviously doing all they can despite a run of terrible luck.

However, we're now completely out of our allotted slush time - every further delay means we have to cut something from the schedule - we're considering removing the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, L.A., or Fresno from the itinerary. The problem is they're all spaced to make driving easier, so cutting any of them equals a long day of driving in a car with no A/C. And, I keep finding new biofuels companies to visit.

Bumps, Planning, Update

Things have been a little busy lately - we're planning out the final few weeks of the trip (assuming that we get Minnie back by Thursday morning):

• Thursday 5/17: Drive to Grand Canyon
• Sunday 5/20: Drive to Las Vegas
• Monday 5/21: Visit with two companies involved with veggie oil in Las Vegas
• Tuesday 5/22: Drive to Los Angeles - visit with Lovecraft biofuels
• Wednesday 5/23: Drive to Fresno
• Thursday 5/24: Drive to the San Francisco bay area (and try to avoid I-580)
• -visit with the Alternative Energy Oasis

Update on Minnie:
I spoke with the mechanics on Tuesday afternoon - looks like we're waiting for only one part - a replacement for a leaky injector (very quick replacement, when the part is in the mechanic's hand). Hopefully it will arrive by Wednesday, so we can get Minnie all packed up for a Thursday morning departure.

A major bump in the road

Minnie was taken to the mechanic last night and just minutes ago, the mechanic called to tell us the bad news. Minnie has several major problems, including the fuel lines, starter switch, valve leaks and more. We don't know how much all this will cost but it could be the end of the trip.

Breathtaking New Mexico

When people think of beautiful vacation spots, most do not think of New Mexico. Some are not even aware that this state is part of the US and some think of it only as harsh desert land. As we drove through the southeastern part of the state, I was amazed by the natural beauty. Minnie was able to witness canyons, high and low deserts, mountains, and an out of place beach.

Our first stop was at Carslbad Caverns National Park, where we hiked into the 8.2 acre cavern called the Big Room. The cool and dark room contained large columns, unique stalagmites and stalactites and draperies. We left this massive cave to hike the canyons around the caverns. The desert contained large cacti, assorted little wildflowers and soaring birds. We were able to set up camp and watched the sun set over the canyon sides. Our pictures could not do any part of the park justice.


We made a stop in the town of Carslbad and Artesia to learn more about algae and research being developed for producing vegetable oil and biodiesel from the algae. Sacha will describe this in greater detail.

We then headed over a mountain to take a peek at Cloudcroft, one of the last existing cowboy town. It was very idyllic and peaceful, unlike the cowboy movies.


Just over the mountain we headed to the most unlikely place for fine white sands. In the middle of the desert just south of Alamogordo, NM is almost 300 square miles of sand dunes of the White Sands National Monument. At one time, a lake covered this area and it left selenite crystals when it dried out. Over time, the crystals eroded to fine grains of sands. This was definitely worth the extra 25 miles of driving to be able to play in the sand.


Our drive continued north and west as we drove along Highways 54 and 380. The view from the car was breathtaking with the desert in the forefront, the mountains in the background and the sun sending rays of light through the clouds. It was incredibly hard to concentrate on driving when all I wanted to do was admire the landscape.

Driving Thoughts

As we drove through the middle-of-nowhere between Texas and New Mexico with only cloud, fields and scattered oil pumps, we have to laugh because nothing about us fits in. We drive Minnie, who is a car powered by vegetable oil and we electronically equipped with a GPS to help us find out way, an Ipod because no radio stations broadcasts clearly here, and a computer to write this post.

DieselGreen Fuels Austin, TX

On a warm, muggy Tuesday evening, we drive to Central Storage, in a slightly run-down neighborhood in East Austin. We punch in a secret code, the chain link gate creaks open, and we slowly drive past worn storage sheds and warehouses, a Metal Band practicing for an upcoming gig and a scooter repair company, to the end of the row where we find a turbodiesel Volkswagen parked next to a huge gray tank, filling up with 99% biodiesel.



This is the world of Austin's vegetable oil and B100 (100% biodiesel) distributor: DieselGreen Fuels. Started in July 2006 by Mike, Elizabeth, and Jason, this scrappy little company is doing a lot to help Austinites drive green, and keep their fuel money within the community (instead of going to OPEC countries):

• Direct biodiesel sales at their East Side location on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings or anytime by appointment - call (512) 24-7-FUEL
• Waste vegetable oil (WVO) collection and processing (they have a Texas State rendering license!).
• Sale of WVO to local biodiesel producer (who then provides their biodiesel).
• Sale of WVO to people with converted diesel vehicles
  
• WVO conversions of diesel engines
• Educational outreach to the community

On top of all this, they're also overhauling their WVO process with a centerfuge to allow for continuous processing of their waste vegetable oil (a very ambitious move on their part).

If you're in the Austin area and are looking for some VegOil, Biodiesel, or just want to learn more about biofuels, you can contact DieselGreen Fuels via their website (DieselGreen Fuels).

We wish DieselGreen success, and hope they are around next time we swing through looking for VegOil (thanks for the fill-up, guys!).

Oh, and P.S.: they're on the lookout for interns. If you live in the Austin area and want a chance to play with waste VegOil, this might be your dream non-job!