Valley motorists find kinder, gentler ways to get around. Got grease?

 

First Henry Ford raced a 26 horsepower auto in 1901. Then the American auto industry ran rampant with muscle cars and four-barrel gas guzzling carburetors when the price of gas was in the low double digits sometime last century. Recent environmental concerns about carbon footprints, renewable and sustainable energies and the soaring gasoline prices have a few Wet Mountain Valley residents searching for alternative vehicles of transportation.

Don Pearson drives a 1985 Mercedes turbo diesel sedan with a biodiesel conversion kit in which he uses waste vegetable oil (WVO). He calls it his “grease car.” Not too far fetched from Rudolf Diesel’s first engine that ran on peanut oil at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. In 2005, Pearson first saw an article about using waste grease or WVO and found a whole underground society. Pearson’s dad was a mechanic, so he’s always had the gear-head head.

He bought a kit for $750 which consisted of a gas tank and tubing with a switch to go from one fuel tank to the other. B & D Automotive installed the conversion kit for him. Pearson said there were no other mechanical changes needed for the conversion. The only consideration is that the viscosity of the grease is less than diesel fuel, so in cold weather, there’s a heating system for the WVO. Otherwise it clogs up. Under the hood of Pearson’s grease fueled Mercedes, there’s a device that switches the fuel from WVO to diesel and a purge position to get all the grease out of the line so it doesn’t clog up. The 15 gallon fuel tank is in the trunk.

There’s plenty of free used vegetable oil from restaurants but one has to be careful not to get hydrogenated vegetable oil because it solidifies. There were other things to consider. In the Denver area, Pearson found plenty of WVO from Fat Burger, but they wanted him to commit to picking up all their oil,so they wouldn’t have to pay to dump it. He couldn’t use that much, so he gets his grease in a five gallon bucket from Marian at Sangrita Restaurant and in the past has used grease from Rancher’s Roost Cafe.

The biodiesel conversion hasn’t changed the gas mileage on the Mercedes and is not exactly convenient. He calls the “grease car” his “proof of concept.” His vision was to transfer all the family cars to grease. “I’m for renewable energies and grease is not the answer,” said Pearson. The oil still comes from vegetables that have to be grown, and that takes energy in the farming process. The concept is valid, however, and there’s plenty of free used restaurant grease out there for an ambitious individual.

Denny and Karen Rosenberger drive a little white and red 1968 V.W. Beetle converted to electric. It has a 10 horse motor that they drive 4-5 miles before they plug it in. It could go longer, but they don’t push it. “I think it’s one mile from here to the bank and two blocks to work,” said Karen.

Karen Rosenberger is assistant office manager at Cliff Lanes. Denny works there on weekends in the pro shop. He didn’t see the sense in driving the Chevy Trailblazer such a short distance every day. He bought the V.W. locally and got it on the road New Year’s Eve 2008.

There’s no maintenance at all on the vehicle. No spark plugs, no tune-ups, no oil changes, no belts or hoses. There are six 12-volt batteries and  the motor.

Altogether, the transformation cost about $3,000. Denny wasn’t sure if this experiment would work, so he opted for the cheaper batteries. “He’s a smart guy,” said Karen. “He never did anything like this before.” She said he studied diagrams night after night until he had it all figured out.

The electric motor and batteries weigh about the same as the old engine, so there’s not much difference there. There’s no compression like in a regular engine, so it’s necessary to use the handbrake to keep the little car in place. Another battery system up front under the hood runs the lights and heater. The solenoid gets power from the key in the ignition which completes the circuit and starts the motor. Denny figured it costs abut 3-4 cents a mile to run the car. Compare that to about 8 cents a mile on a vehicle that gets 30 miles per gallon at $2.50 per gallon of gasoline.

A lightning bolt decorates the back of the engine hood Denny fashioned from a frying pan in which Karen had burnt something and threw away. They call the car their “lightning bug.”

Vernon Roth was studying the affects of water on health when he stumbled on the idea for using H2O for power. He invented a hydrogen unit for gas motors. It increases gas mileage, boosts horsepower, causes no strain on the engine and not only doesn’t releases emissions but will actually pick up unused exhaust from other autos and burn that. He tests the units on oil rigs in California because they run constantly and has been testing them for five years.

Roth went to college at age 12 for electrical engineering and mechanical design and went back to school at age 22 to study physics and chemistry. He doesn’t think he’s that much smarter than others. He thinks anyone can do anything if they put their minds to it. It was during his research on H2O molecules that he put his mind to the concept of using water as an energy system on an engine. He uses a non-toxic organic based chemical to separate the “h” from the “o” with electricity from the alternator.

The units are assembled in Westcliffe by Roth and his family. One of Roth’s “Hydrogen on Demand” (HOD) units sells for $800 plus installation. Roth drives a 2003 Saturn Vue. He said the mileage went from 24 miles per gallon to 40 m.p.g. with the HOD unit. “I love learning and creating,” said Roth. For more information, he can be reached at 783-0310 or earthsransom@yahoo.com. 

Paul LeBlanc sports around in something that looks like about half a car. The blue 2008 Mercedes-Benz Smart Car runs on gas and has a 70 horsepower motor, a rear engine and rear wheel drive. The sporty vehicle has a 5 speed automatic, 1 liter, 61 cubic inch motor. While LeBlanc’s car is blue, Smart Car manufacturing is totally green with emission-free powder coated paint panels, and no formaldehyde, CFC or asbestos in assemblage.

These economical little roller skates on wheels come in all sorts of cool colors that can be switched out just by changing car panels which only makes sense because originally, the Smart Car began with Nicolas Hayek, the man who invented Swatch watches. In fact, “Smart” is an acronym for “Swatch Mercedes Art.” LeBlanc did switch his panels from red to blue. The car is rated to get 36-46 miles per gallon and top speed is 90 miles per hour. LeBlanc said he gets 46-48 m.p.g. and has had it at top speed. He drove it to Westcliffe from Fla. after he bought it last March. Yes, it’s small on the outside but plenty roomy on the inside.

The base model sells for as low as $11,990 according to John Amos of Mercedes-Benz in Colorado Springs. He also said the electric model should be available in the U.S. in the next few years. Those babies might cost more but would operate for about 1 cent per mile. One would only need a charging station within a 60 mile range.

By that time, the way technology is going, there’s no telling what else will be available. There could very well be a solar electric charging station next to the hitching post behind the Amish furniture store. From horses and buggies to energy from hydrogen molecules and biodiesel from french-fry grease, it’s nice to know that folks are out there trying new things, using renewable energy and brain cells to create fuel cells.

– Jacque Keller