If only they'd had Greasecars...

Thinking back on the fuel protests and crisis in 2000, I'm struck by the irony of an entire country that's known for its fried food -- fish and chips -- being dependent on foreign oil, when we have the technology to run our vehicles on filtered, used grease/fat. There's a company in Florence, MA, called Greasecar that sells conversion kits for diesel engines, so that just about anyone with a mechanically injected diesel engine can run their vehicle on straight vegetable oil -- even re-used cooking grease/fat.

You'll get about the same mileage from using grease for fuel, plus the engine runs cleaner, and you don't end up a slave to foreign oil. Of course, you'll need a smidge of diesel to start your car on cold mornings (the oil gels at cold temperatures like we have in New England), but once you get going, you can drive the same as you would with diesel.

The implications of this are incredibly dramatic, especially if you're sensitive to the hazards (both domestic and international) of our reliance on foreign oil. There are so many, many reasons to convert to SVO (straight vegetable oil), I can't even begin to say.

Check out their site and seriously consider this, folks. It's time. We have the technology. We can do this better!