The solution to reducing dependence on foreign fuel might be found in a restaurant's deep fryer, two Chesapeake High School graduates told environmental sciences classes there yesterday.
Former Pasadena residents Christo Corsaut and Danielle Stinson have taken a semester off from college to travel across the country in their RV, a converted school bus that has been modified to run primarily on waste vegetable oil. The pair have logged thousands of miles, with reduced particulate emissions thanks to recycled grease.
"We accepted the quest to inform as many people as we could," Corsaut said. "We realized it really was an opportunity to promote a healthier way to travel."
Corsaut and Stinson discovered vegetable oil technology while looking for a cheap, comfortable way to get to a festival in northern California.
The two 20-year-old psychology majors purchased a $3,000 school bus at an auction this year - the first vehicle they have owned. They and several of their friends at Texas A&M University brought it to Missouri-based Greasel Conversions Inc. over spring break to install the system's tanks and filter. They and their friends also joined the company as interns.
Stinson and Corsaut visited Ginny Barnicoat's three environmental science classes at Chesapeake yesterday. The teacher learned about the bus from Corsaut's younger sister, who is enrolled in Barnicoat's Advanced Placement class. The two college juniors showed the bus to nearly 30 of Barnicoat's AP students yesterday afternoon.
From the outside, little sets it apart from a traditional school vehicle. Inside, however, most of the seats have been removed and others moved into a banquette with a removable table. They also added two queen-sized platform beds and cabinets.
Installing the waste oil system cost about $3,500. Along with the cost of the bus and engine repairs, the pair say they have spent about $10,500.
Corsaut and Stinson opened the hood and showed how the filter and oil lines connect to the engine.
Conversion does not change the engine itself. Rudolf Diesel, who in the 1890s invented the engine that now bears his name, experimented with peanut and other vegetable oil fuels, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Diesel engines now typically use petroleum-based fuels.
