While many Ohio University students spent their spring breaks tanning on the beach, a group of four students drove more than 1,400 miles to New Mexico in a car powered by vegetable oil.
Ohio students Rachel Ackerman, Sam Bailo, Badger Johnson and Josh Philipps took the trip in order to visit environmentally friendly places in the country as well as other sites in the West.
We wanted to take an alternative spring break
said Philipps, who is studying wildlife biology. We went to see friends for personal reasons and to see the Grand Canyon.
Not only was the drive long, the students also had to take time to prepare the oil for the car at every stop.
There is a time-intensive process involved said Johnson, who is studying ecology.
First, the students had to alter the 1990 Mercedes-Benz with a turbo-diesel engine so it could run on alternative fuel.
Any vehicle that has a diesel engine can be modified to run on vegetable oil
with some modifications needed
said Sonia Marcus, sustainability coordinator at OU's Office of Sustainability.
A tank separate from the diesel tank must be installed to run the oil. Then, the oil can be heated by radiator fluid to run the motor, she said.
(Waste vegetable oil is) a way of capitalizing on a waste product
Marcus said. That's why it's greener.
People allowed the students to use their homes to prepare the oil.
We would use people's kitchens to heat the oil on stoves in order to filter it
Philipps said.
Restaurants, such as O'Betty's Red Hot!, provided the group with free fryer oil.
We never throw (peanut oil) out
said O'Betty's co-owner Bob Satmary. If the students made the investment to convert their cars to using vegetable oil as fuel
then I support that.
The four students said they were appreciative of the help they received.
We were taking what other people saw as trash or useless commodities
Johnson said. It's the healing rift between technocratic society and nature.
In order to find free food, the students went dumpster diving and were surprised with the results.
We once found 20 loaves of bread
Bailo said.
While in New Mexico, the students lived in voluntary poverty
