Our Eco-Bus on the South Fork American River

How we Reduced Carbon Emissions 80%!
Using solar power is one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Not only do rafts “leave no trace”, they rely on the Earth’s “hydrologic cycle” to provide the cascading whitewater currents we ride down the river. It is the sun that drives this cycle and rafting is truly solar powered. There is no doubt that paddle rafting is one of the most ecologically responsible ways to enjoy the natural world.

The challenge posed by our Greenhouse Gas Action Plan (GAP) in 2006, however, went far beyond utilizing solar power to propel our rafts. Our goals are to reduce the carbon emissions of this eco-friendly “gravity” sport even further by achieving a stepped series of reductions from our 2006 baseline as follows: 20% by 2012, 40% by 2040 and 80% by 2050. So how can we achieve these objectives?

Solar power is clearly one of the best answers, and vegetable oil is a renewable resource resulting from solar energy converted by plants through photosynthesis into liquid form. The problem with vegetable oil, alcohol, methanol and all biologically based bio-fuels is that large amounts of hydrocarbons are currently used in the process of producing them. For example, in the case of alcohol the petrochemicals used to fuel the farm machinery to grow, fertilize and convert the raw vegetable matter into alcohol and then transport it to the point of use all generate carbon emissions. In the case of corn-based ethanol these exceed the amount of carbon emission from using petrochemicals alone by 140%! There are no savings from a greenhouse gas perspective. This process also diverts land from agricultural production for food, driving up prices as well as destroying the ecosystems that are cleared to bring new areas into production.

How then is using vegetable oil as fuel a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions? The key is to use “waste” vegetable oil (WVO) exclusively. By reclaiming WVO from restaurant garbage we will be reusing something that has already been grow, manufactured and transported to the restaurant. Under normal circumstances it would either be burned and produce carbon dioxide emissions, or be fed to livestock where it would produce methane which has many times the greenhouse gas effect of carbon dioxide. Finally, an added bonus is that vegetable oil produces fewer air pollutants than either petroleum diesel or gasoline. Using WVO reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions simultaneously!

So why doesn’t everyone use it? By reading on you will see many of the reasons the average person does not have the time, money or motivation to use “grease” to power their vehicle. Another key reason is that the supply is limited and always will be. WVO is a boutique, non-scaleable solution that will not solve the world’s energy crisis. Nevertheless, it is here now and is relatively affordable. What follows is the story of Mother Lode’s odyssey into the arcane world of WVO. You will learn how we will use it to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% while waiting for NASA to invent an electric fuel cell powered bus we can run from photovoltaic electrical energy, and then teaches us how to afford it!

Step 1: Collecting Vegetable Oil.
To maximize the environmental benefit we need to get our waste vegetable oil locally to reduce the cost in carbon and our time. My partner, Aaron Root, invented a clean and efficient collection system involving plastic barrels and quick coupling devices. We also successfully made arrangements with local restaurants to collect the oil. (photo#1)

Step 2: Returning to the Farm: Making Bio-Diesel
Dr. Diesel’s purpose in inventing the diesel engine in 1897 was to allow farmers to use 100% vegetable oil to run their farm machinery. Today, high vegetable oil content in bio-diesel is the exception, not the rule and American auto manufacturers even limit the amount you can burn. For instance, my 2005 Dodge Ram pickup with a Cummins turbo-diesel can (supposedly) accommodate only 5% vegetable oil! We plan to prove them wrong.

Methods of making bio-diesel also vary widely. While many recipes are complicated and call for using sodium hydroxide (toxic) or methanol (toxic with a high carbon cost), Aaron had a better idea. He installed a 55-gallon drum on the roof of a retired MaLode bus and used gravity to mix 70% vegetable oil, 25% Diesel #2, 5% gasoline and the octane additive Cetane to make bio-diesel. This fuel worked well in our unmodified 1986 Ford diesel gear truck. (Photo #2)

Unfortunately, this method involved losing at least 30% of the environmental benefit due to the use of petrochemicals, as well as dealing with nasty chemicals. To use vegetable oil to full advantage we needed to commit to using it 100% pure. Anything less and we would be diluting its beneficial effects.

Step 3: Refining 100% WVO: Accept No Substitutes to the Edible, Non-toxic Solution.
Refining 100% WVO with our gravity-powered system was not possible due to its viscosity. Our solution was to purchase a sophisticated refining system which includes electrical heaters to thin the oil, three electrical pumps to move it, two steel barrels to contain it, an aluminum canister housing a bag style filter, and a centrifuge to extract the last bit of water, all from the vendor “Fryer to Fuel”. Incredibly, this complicated system came with no directions. A call to the company revealed there weren’t any. WVO is the Wild West folks! Aaron began inventing again, and soon we were refining the 100% WVO seamlessly in “Moby Dick”, the retired CBOC bus.

Aaron’s system worked so well we decided to permanently install it in the bus, which would also serve as our storage facility. With the help of Richard Palmer, our Zen Master electrician, we soon had a breaker panel, 3 timers and an overhead lighting system, which were ultimately all run by a RV style electrical hookup. “Moby” was now self-contained, a vegetarian, and ready to go on tour to the next World’s Fair. There was only one problem, the steel barrels rusted almost instantly. Another call to Fryer to Fuel elicited a shrug. The solution would have to come from another source. (Photo sequence#4)

Step #4 The Right Bus
There was still one other very big problem; we had the WVO, but not the diesel bus! “Project Eco-Bus” had been underway for months without success. I knew exactly where the right bus was; I just couldn’t get my hands on it. Our driver, Ron Gfell, had identified her as the best bus in a lot of eight Gillig Phantom buses that was to be auctioned by the Chino Unified School District. Inexplicably, the auction date for “our” bus kept being delayed. Finally, we discovered the reason. The California Highway Patrol had chosen this bus and planned to use it to transport their Academy cadets.

We were flummoxed. Not only had we missed a great bus, we had lost over six months pursuing it. Then, suddenly, the CHP changed its mind and the bus reappeared at auction. Jim Stepp, our head driver, and I went to Los Angeles and outbid several disappointed fellows whose vision was a mobile condo in Mexico. We christened her “Eco-Bus” and drove 400 miles north to Coloma. Thanks Ron and Jim! This fall the bus got a paint makeover by the “Mystery Painters” in MaLode earth-tone tan and forest green and she looks great. Photo #4

Step #5 A 100% WVO Conversion to Believe In
Unlike a Mercedes or Volkswagen, “big rigs” are not easy to convert yourself. Each system is customized to the vehicle that uses it and the two major vendors are both located east of the Rocky Mountains. In another stroke of luck, I was referred to Rich, a former U. S. Navy sonar technician, in nearby Sacramento. Rich sounded very professional over the phone and had an impressive website. I made a deposit and scheduled our conversion.

In a driving rainstorm, Jim and I ferried the bus in to meet Rich for its conversion to 100% WVO. As I arrived I wondered if I had made a mistake. It wasn’t clear the bus would even fit in the shop’s yard, which was filled with assorted metal junk and empty veggie oil containers. I needn’t have worried, though, as Rich’s knowledge and dedication to his craft soon became obvious. Not only did each piece of “junk” have a purpose, the vegetable oil containers meant he was the real deal. As we spoke Rich’s enthusiasm for WVO was obvious and infectious. He explained that, unlike my Dodge, our bus would handle the greater viscosity of 100% WVO exceptionally well because of its mechanical fuel pump and its mechanically driven “unit” fuel injectors. He showed me the switching valves he would use that were borrowed from rocket fuel systems. I realized I had stumbled upon a kind of “alternative energy mad scientist” quietly inventing sophisticated counter-current exchange, heated, precision welded aluminum, 100% WVO systems that are efficient, reliable and operate well at all temperatures. Based upon what I knew about other systems, I was amazed to learn our bus would transition to WVO within two minutes or less of engine start-up, thus keeping our use of “Dino-diesel” to an absolute minimum. Rich also educated me to how we could obtain a permit to handle the oil and avoid getting afoul of the authorities by paying the 50 cent/gallon State and Federal Taxes. Oops! (Photo #6 to follow)

As I began to leave Rich’s shop I noticed an aluminum barrel with a conventional water heater element welded into it. No rust, better heating, and made from a discarded old barrel from a brewery. A light went on in my brain and Rich will be replacing our rusted barrels in old “Moby” ASAP. He also showed me a centrifuge made from an old juicer that worked more efficiently than mine and was a fraction of the cost. “Fryer to Fuel”, you are fired!

Step #6 Fast Forward to the year 2050
With the Eco-Bus up and running, it was time to find the way to use it most efficiently to reduce carbon emissions. The Chili Bar Run was an obvious choice because it does not involve the use of a jet ski to tow the boats over Folsom Lake as on the Gorge Run. The combined effects of Eco-Bus’s 30% better mileage than our current gasoline bus, its 20% larger passenger capacity allowing consolidation of multiple trips into one put-in shuttle, and 100% WVO’s profound carbon emissions reduction, resulted in an estimated carbon savings on Chili Bar of 80% from our 2006 baseline! This means we can meet the 2050 goals of our GAP on the Chili Bar Run in 2008, approximately 42 years ahead of schedule!

The Eco-Bus project is only one aspect of Mother Lode’s overall effort to complete our GAP. Nevertheless, it is a very encouraging start and if you take a shower at our camp this season the hot water will come from a solar “box” heater, photovoltaic power is on its way, and many other changes are anticipated as elements of our evolving Sustainable Practices Institute- but that’s another story.

There is more good news to report; those letters many of you wrote to SMUD in 2006 mean that we are already certain we have plenty of water this winter to guarantee great South Fork flows- from January 2008 until Memorial Day 2009. This is historic! We cordially invite you to take this opportunity to reconnect with Nature, have fun, and enjoy an exciting whitewater adventure with your friends and family.

We look forward to seeing you on the river.
Scott Underwood and the MaLode Extreme Green Team
Aaron, Allen, Ron, Jim, Richard, Greg, Rich, the Mystery Painters, and Charlie the River Dog

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