While it’s just used cooking oil, maybe it will be a mindset

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April 10, 2009

Anonymous The Moultrie Observer Fri Apr 10, 2009, 10:11 PM EDT

It seems that when gasoline prices go do down, so does the talk about alternate energy sources. And that’s not a good thing.

Of course there are still efforts going on out there to produce alternate sources, there just isn’t a national mandate.

Some stories do keep cropping up, however, giving us hope that myriad concepts in this venue of energy are alive and well.

For instance, at Sinclair College in Dayton Ohio, much of the campus maintenance equipment such as lawn mowers are powered by used cooking oil. Forgive them if their maintenance barn smells like French fries, but college officials note that this is a way of keeping alternate fuel concepts on the burner. As well, it keeps a greasy waste out of the sewers, it burns clean, is environmentally friendly and is a great teaching tool.

Several colleges around the country are doing similar things.

Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., produces 50 to 150 gallons of biodiesel each week to power campus lawn mowers, a garbage truck and farm equipment.

At the University of Kansas, biodiesel fuels lawn mowers, backhoes, front-end loaders and other construction equipment. It is also used as a solvent to clean parts and tools and to heat a motor-pool building.

When the school began making biodiesel in September 2007, two people were involved. Now there are 25.

Now we should not be naive to think that used cooking oil will be a big player in alternate energy pursuits. But biodiesel can be made from any oil seed crop. And some biodiesel is available in various markets, including Moultrie.

While its mile-per-gallon rate is lower than fossil based diesel, it has its advantages on the environmental side and it is renewable.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the used cooking oil projects around our college campuses is that perhaps it will help develop a mindset among those students of exploring and examining various alternate energy options.

While it appears we may not see a national mandate or initiative in this regard, perhaps the concepts will evolve along with our younger generations. Let’s hope we can wait that long.

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