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DEL.ICIO.US“Biofuel Believer”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you stand near Ben Cowart’s Ford truck when it’s running, you just might smell a big whiff of french fries.
Cowart powers his 2005 Superduty F-250 with vegetable oil. Used vegetable oil. The Duluth resident - who dabbles in real estate, builds houses and “buys and sells stuff” - also fuels his military-style Humvee the same way.
And he’s satisfied with the performance, as pleased as he’d be with a Big Mac combo with extra cheese.
Biggie-sized, of course.
“I read up on the technology and I said. ‘You know, I have plenty of friends who have restaurants and obviously, I go to them,’ ” said Cowart, 42, poking fun at his heft. “All I do is filter out the french fries and get out a little water. The oil’s fine, and it’s free.”
Cowart’s F-250 typically averages about 16 miles to the gallon. “I drove 500 miles down to South Georgia and it cost me about $10,” he said, referring to the amount of money he spent on petroleum to make the fuel mixture.
His 6.2-liter Humvee carries two fuel tanks - one for diesel and one for vegetable oil, which is either canola or peanut. The diesel fires up the engine. Once it’s humming, he pops a switch to draw from the vegetable oil tank.
Hot water from the coolant heats the fuel line and fuel filter so that the oil, which needs to reach about 160 degrees, can flow and burn properly.
He eventually wants to install a two-tank system in his truck. For now, though, it runs on a mixture of diesel (20 percent), gas (3 percent) and veggie oil (77 percent).
According to my research, vegetable oils have properties similar to diesel fuel and gasoline. Differences can be overcome.
Those in the know call vegetable oil used as fuel straight vegetable oil (SVO); oil discarded from a restaurant is called waste vegetable oil (WVO.)
When it comes to veggie power, Cowart is a “WVO” man.
“It burns very clean,” he told me. “It runs the same, the exhaust smells like french fries and it’s good for the environment. I heard that McDonald’s plans to run its tractor-trailer trucks on the stuff.”
With gasoline prices the way they are, I would be surprised if more individuals don’t switch to biofuels - some governments already have.
On Friday, the AJC Gwinnett News ran a story about Lawrenceville city government using biodiesel for its fleet of garbage trucks. City Hall expects to save about $12,000 a year.
Cowart says he’ll pocket some money, too. “I’m going from spending about $5,000 per year for gas to about $1,800 this year,” he told me. “Next year I want all my trucks working on a two-tank system.”
For now, he’s trying to convert others.
“(Duluth Mayor Shirley Lassiter) is a friend of mind,” he said. “She put me in touch with the city maintenance guys, and they’re running their equipment on it.”
It’s just like Cowart to try something new, somewhat edgy, something wacky. I first wrote about him nearly two years ago when he was selling military-style Humvees.
At the time, the UGA fan had about 70 of them - some at his residence in Duluth, the rest at a location he wouldn’t divulge. He and a partner had purchased the vehicles at an auction in Atlanta. They had a falling out, hence the explanation for the secret hideaway.
Well, Cowart’s still in the Humvee-selling business. “Moved about 20 a month ago,” he told me.
“Got 10 left.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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By jim d
September 20, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this
Let’s see here now. Fords are built in Mexico. Hmm, must be another phase of the “Mexican Plot”