UMass Magazine Online

Spring 2006

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Fill'er Up

Getting There from Here

Full Steam Ahead

Beyond the Bluster

Cashing in Her Chips

The Art & Science of Diversity

Twins Be Nimble

Feature

Fill'er Up, but Hold the Ketchup
Special Section: Energy

—Katy LoConte ’04




	UMass Amherst staff member and UWW student Susanne Hale converted her Volkswagen to run on vegetable oil and gets her fuel from a local co-op. (All photos in this special section, unless otherwise noted, by Ben Barnhart)

INSIDE, IT LOOKS LIKE ANY garage: a man sticks his head under the hood of a car; yellow bins hold dirty parts; tools and tubes are scattered on the cold cement floor. But instead of gasoline and motor oil, the neighbors’ noses detect the distinct aroma of vegetable oil. “Just follow that McDonald’s smell,” they say to people looking for the shop. In here, it’s all about the grease.

For six years people have sought out Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems in Florence, Massachusetts, www.greasecar.com to convert their cars’ diesel engines to vegetable-oil power.

The idea began in 1998 when Greasecar founder Justin Carven worked up his first prototype, based on his senior thesis at Hampshire College. In 2000, Carven converted his first car—a diesel Volkswagen Quantum. Since then, business has grown exponentially with the help of several UMass Amherst alumni employees. As well, a number of UMass Amherst folks own Greasecars.

Lee Briante ’03 first became involved with Greasecar while still a student, when he converted his 1985 Volvo station wagon. “I wanted to reduce my petroleum use. I felt that the war in Iraq, September 11th, and all the rest of the social, political, and environmental mess seemed to stem from oil usage,” he says. After graduation he became interested in the business side of things.

“I was looking for work I could feel good about,” says Briante. “Just then Justin’s business was gaining a lot of speed. His phone was ringing nonstop. As a customer I had familiarity with the technology, so I could jump right on the phone and answer people’s questions,” he says. Potential customers wanted to know how the system worked, if it was for real, and would their car smell like food? He fielded the queries with ease, likening his car’s odor to a “faint barbecue smell,” depending on what had been cooked in the oil.

“When I started out, fuel prices were only about $1 per gallon, but there was a niche group of people who were interested,” says Carven. “As fuel prices have gone up, and vegetable oil waste has become more available, it makes even more sense.”

The Greasecar system requires diesel fuel to heat the engine to 180 degrees, at which point drivers switch over to vegetable oil. With current gas prices, the fuel’s lower cost is attractive, and the fuel is also better for the environment. As well, during their growth, plants used to make vegetable oil absorb more carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere when the oil is burned, another environmental plus. Also, Greasecars are a way to recycle used vegetable oil.

Now there are roughly 2,000 Greasecars in the country, with more than 100 of those traveling the roads of Massachusetts. Greasecar grew from producing 40 to 50 kits a month in 2004, selling for $795 each, to turning out 60 to100 kits a week in 2005.

Josiah Cuneo ’03 started out as welder and fabrication technician making the parts for the conversion kits; now he manages production and inventory. Cuneo studied art, including steel sculpture and welding at UMass Amherst. “Two UMass’ers already worked at Greasecar, and they told me about the welding position,” says Cuneo. He had taken classes in renewable energy at UMass Amherst, and the chance to work at a company like Greasecar seemed right up his alley. “The best thing is, anything we don’t make here is done by local companies,” says Cuneo. “We buy locally whenever we can. It’s part of the Greasecar manifest.”

Michael Garjian ’69 drives a converted old Mercedes. He is listed under “administration” on the Greasecar staff, though he admittedly does a bit of everything given his business degree and experience in the field of biodiesel technology. Right now, he is working with the Pioneer Valley Transportation Authority on converting a bus to run on vegetable oil.

Wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the Greasecar logo, Garjian describes the attributes of the system. “What’s great about it is its environmental benefit through lowered emissions, and the fact that this is a renewable fuel,” he said. A bus running on vegetable oil, compared with conventional diesel, cuts emissions by up to 50 percent.

“Anything with carbon that you burn releases carbon dioxide. But with vegetable oil, it releases only what it already took from the environment,” he explains. “We’re not adding to global warming.”

Garjian also cites socioeconomic interests for working at Greasecar. “This movement decentralizes the fuel supply from oil and big business to small farms, spreading out power and wealth,” he said. “I’m here because my job is to help small business. But more and more, I see it is the way of the future.”

Greasecar owner Susanne Hale works at the Center for Public Policy and Administration at UMass Amherst and is a University Without Walls student with a concentration in sustainability studies and writing.

“I first started thinking about finding an alternative to burning fossil fuels four years ago. The Iraq war pushed me over the edge. I could no longer stomach pumping gasoline into my car; it felt like I was pumping blood into my tank, that that was the true cost of my form of transportation.” A year later, she was running her car on grease.

Hale fills up with vegetable oil at Sirius Ecovillage in Shutesbury. Club members share the duties of collecting used oil from local restaurants and then filtering it. Members fill up for $1.60 to $2 a gallon.

“It’s a multiwin situation,” says Hale. “The restaurants win not having to pay to get their waste oil hauled away; we win with a cheap, environmentally sustainable, war-free fuel source; and the earth wins with zero-net carbon dioxide emissions, and a waste product put to good use.”

Hale says her 1996 Volkswagen Passat doesn’t miss a beat—same mileage, same power, “and I smell like an egg roll!” she says. “I guess I see that as a small price to pay for pioneering a new technology, and the knowledge that I’m living my values in this small way.”

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Fill'er Up, but Hold the Ketchup

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