July 11, 2005
Monday

Ketchikan, Alaska - Something's cooking in place of gasoline for Joseph Prows' Chevy greese car! Prows is just one of a small growing network of drivers who are responding to environmental concerns, rising gas prices and dependence on foreign oil by finding ways to steer clear of gas pumps.

Prows, a resident of Ketchikan for the past year, recently converted his diesel Chevy pickup to utilize waste vegetable oil as fuel. Prows said he obtained this waste vegetable oil that only days before made French fries sizzle from local Ketchikan restaurants.

The conversion of the Chevy to a veggi powered greese car was done by Prows using a conversion kit. The conversion kit which includes a fuel tank for the oil, hoses and some other miscellaneous items costs around $1100-1200.

Prows said he starts his engine on diesel fuel to let the engine warm up, then he switches over to the vegetable oil - also called BioDiesel. When it's time to shut down, he said he again switches to diesel fuel for a few minutes before turning the engine off. Prows said if vegetable oil is hard to come by on a certain day, the diesel fuel is his backup.

Prows left Ketchikan on July 9th to attend medical school in New Orleans and he planned to traveled the entire trip powered by veggie oil.

On the Web:

Willie Nelson Biodiesel - Source of Farm Fresh BioDiesel
wnbiodiesel.com

 

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Ketchikan, Alaska