OUR VEGGIE VAN - good for the planet, and good for our bottom line.
In 2007, our BC vans purchased and burned over $5,000 worth of fuel, emitting about 11.5 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Concerned about the effect this was having on our atmosphere, we set out to make some changes. We did some research into alternative fuels, the first and most obvious option being biodiesel. However, biodiesel is dogged by controversy, mainly due to the fact that forest are being chopped down to plat biofuel crops, and food crops are being diverted to biofuel use, thus exacerbating global food distribution issues. In search of a better alternative, we came across Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) as a fuel system.
WVO fuel systems mainly run on the used deep fryer oil that local restaurants throw out. With some help from our friends at Escape Adventures, we were put in touch with the folks at Golden Fuel Systems in Missouri, USA. Burning garbage? It sounded too good to be true. But lo and behold, Escape Adventures and thousands of other people were using WVO systems with no problems whatsoever.
In early 2008, we purchased a mint condition 2003 Ford E-350 van (newer models don't work well with the system), outfitted it with a pimpin' stereo and DVD player, and ordered the top-of-the-line WVO system from Golden Fuel Systems. The system has 2 tanks - this allows you to use the system in winter as the 1st tank heats up the oil before it goes to the 2nd tank for further heating and filtering. To see how the system works, check out the video below.
The system has been up and running for 2 months now, and is working better than we could have expected: the engine has plenty of power (more than when it uses diesel it seems), gets great mileage, and has created no problems with our engine whatsoever. Harvesting oil in Fernie is easy: there are lots of local restaurants with lots of used oil to give away, giving us free fuel for years to come!
The numbers
Cost
Fuel System: $4500
Shipping: $800 including taxes and duties
Installation: $2100 (although this will be much lower for the next person in Fernie who installs this system, as the mechanic had to do a lot of research)
TOTAL: $6400
In 2007, we burned approximately 4,000 litres of fuel. The WVO system reduces our use of diesel fuel by about 90% (we still have to use regular diesel to warm up the engine and for cool-down). An employee making $15/hour can harvest and filter approximately 100 litres an hour, at a cost of 15 cents/litre (versus $1.25 for a liter of diesel at Sep. 2008 rates).
So at current rates of fuel consumption, we will save approximately 3,600 litres of diesel fuel (remember that we still use about 10% regular diesel). We'll pay 15 cents/litre in labour costs for each litre of waste vegetable oil we harvest, plus about 8 cents/litre in filter costs (each filter costs $15 and can filter approximately 200 litres), for a total of 23 cents/litre. Our total cost of using a WVO system is:
400 litres regular diesel @ $1.25 = $500
3600 litres waste vegetable oil @ $.23 = $828
TOTAL: $1328
This represents a savings of about $3672 Cdn per year. This also assumes that our rates of consumption will remain constant. In 2008, we ran 20% more trips than 2007, so our savings would actually be even greater. At this rate, our system will pay for itself in under 2 years. After that, we'll be saving over $5000/year in fuel costs! On top of that, we'll be lowering our carbon emissions by over 10 tonnes per year - good for the planet, and good for our bottom line.
