SAVING THE WORLD WITH GREASE

Tired of paying through the nose at the gas station?

Angry about how dependent the U.S. economy is on Mideast oil?

Scared about carbon dioxide, climate disruption and global warming?

Get ready to …

take matters into your own hands!

The Grease for Peace Mobile

Meenal Raval, a member of MAGNET and a local Mt. Airy resident, converted her ’91 Volkswagen Jetta, so that it runs not just on diesel but also directly on waste vegetable oil.

Get out!  Running a car on vegetable oil??

Yes, the same stuff that your french fries were cooked in!  The diesel engine was originally invented to run on vegetable oil.  Waste vegetable oil, once it is properly filtered, can burn cleanly and efficiently.

The Grease for Peace Mobile has a second tank for the vegetable oil.  The car starts regularly on the standard diesel.  Engine coolant pre-heats the vegetable oil until it is thin enough to work in the engine.  With a flick of a switch on the dashboard, the car switches over to the preheated vegetable oil for the rest of the trip.  Thousands of cars have been successfully converted over to vegetable oil around the world, but the Grease for Peace Mobile is the first one in Philadelphia!

So, why would I want to do it?

If you care about your pocketbook, two words:

Free Fuel!

If you also care about your money going to the Middle East to pay for wars over oil and funding terrorist organizations, three words:

Support Energy Independence!

And, if you also care about preserving the climate, saving species from climate-induced extinctions, and leaving the earth cleaner for your children and grandchildren, four words:

Zero Fossil Fuel Use!

Can this work for everyone?

Well, yes and no.  You need to start with a diesel car, and then convert it with a readily available kit.  A gasoline-powered car can’t be used—but you can always trade yours in for a diesel, or make your next vehicle purchase a diesel car.  And, with a converted car, if you run out of vegetable oil, you can always use straight diesel or “biodiesel,” which is diesel made from vegetable oil.  You can also, in a pinch, buy bulk corn oil from any supermarket and put it in the tank.  Price it out, it’s not much more expensive than current gasoline prices!

Learn lots more at www.greasecar.com, www.greasel.com, www.fossilfreefuel.com, and www.biodieselamerica.org.

Contact the Mt. Airy Greening Network (MAGNet), which is behind PhillyFreecycle, the Philly Earth Day 2005 fair, and now the Grease for Peace Mobile, at info@mtairygreening.net.