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The search for alternative fuels has been around for many years. As gasoline prices rise and global issues come to the forefront, people have begun to rethink fossil fuels. Waste Vegetable Oil has become a recycled commodity in the fuel market and the "science of this fuel" has come to Northern Michigan.

Please read the article below written by Journalism student Mike Brines of Petoskey High School on the history of the Veggie Mobile.

Creating Environmentally Friendly Alternatives

By Mike Brines - Petoskey High School Journalism

When asked what the vegetable car was, Dmitry Kogan (08) said, “well it’s like an alternative source of power, which would be good, in order to help stop or prevent global warming.” Everybody seems to have heard of the “vegetable car”, but not many people know the logistics behind the production. Stewart McDonald, a Harbor Spring High School student, decided to help the environment in a small but meaningful way. At the age of 17, he and his friend; Steve Schultz, came up with the plan to convert an old diesel car, into a vegetable car. By converting his car’s fuel system, to run on vegetable grease, he would eliminate environmentally harmful fossil fuels. Stewart’s idea was planned and executed during the 2005-2006 year. After the instillation, the car ran accordingly, however, it was a very basic system and had a few minor flaws. Meanwhile, Lance Bailey was in the market for a similar diesel fueled car. He too wanted to convert a car to vegetable grease, within his Physics class. Once Stewart’s dad; Mike McDonald, put the car up for sale, things seemed to be falling in place for Bailey. Bailey contacted McDonald, who was gracious enough to donate it to PHS. McDonald said, “I really liked the idea of kids getting involved, in a hands on effort, to help the environment.”

Bailey’s goal was to have his Honors Physics class, Tom Och’s Honors Chemistry class, and Adam Hausler’s Autos II 
class, work together to make this car more practical and finely tuned. Kyle Tauzer (08) acted as a primary component 
in the success of this project. When asked what exactly he did he said, “Mr. Bailey has me basically go check the math 
and the physics.” Within the Physics class, students were to compete to create the most efficient plan. They were to take
 the existing car, and modify it, using computer technology. Similarly, the Chemistry class would create proposals for 
alternative energy forms. Hopefully, creating a fossil fuel free, environmentally sound, vehicle. The best plan from each 
class would then be selected and executed by the Autos II class.

When asked how the car works, Bailey said, “You turn it on and off using diesel, but there is a switch to convert it to vegetable oil once the car is running.” But why can’t it simply run on vegetable grease? Vegetable oil is unable to combust when it is at such low temperatures. Therefore, the car would not be able to turn over using vegetable oil. To fix this problem, diesel fuel is burned initially, creating extra heat, which will then warm up the vegetable grease. This process usually takes about ten minutes, and then a switch will convert the fuel to vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is used because it does not give off harmful bi-products. Josh Lycka (08) commented, “ I think the vegetable car is a wonderful idea for a few people to have, but it’s not a plausible solution to fix our energy problem.” Although it may not be the best solution to global warming, it is still a very good start. If more alternative fuels are found, less fossil fuel will be used. The result will be a much healthier earth.

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