Reasons for Converting to Straight Vegetable Oil

This will probably change some, some of these reasons also apply to Biodiesel users, however SVO has the added advantage of not dealing with Methanol and caustic soda or lye and further heating, using more energy..)

-- Decreasing our dependence of foreign oil. (The latest stat was that we rely 65 % on foreign oil, or 13.2 imported barrels a day)
http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20050720134711-47263.pdf

-- Diversification and de-centralization of energy sources (The potato blight or great Irish famine taught, or should have taught all of us that planting one crop, or putting your eggs in one basket is not a sensible, sustainable, survival strategy, same with energy sources, diversification is the key to long term survival, preferable using sources that decrease our harm/resource footprint)

-- Recycling waste restaurant oil makes sense (this stuff has a lot of energy in it, I get pretty much the same mileage and power from this as from regular dino diesel) Some folks would add that running on waste oil saves them money, this would primarily apply to people with large daily commutes. I have invested about 1500 dollars in the setup and use the bike several days in the week as well as telecommute one day out of five. Also not counting buying an old diesel truck, so I don't see it making money any time soon)

-- Recycling waste heat from the engine to make the oil thinner, or lower it's viscosity (so that it gets close to that of diesel and prevents coking or gelling). I read somewhere that the engine produces enough waste heat when running to heat a house, this is very inefficient, so re-using this waste heat makes sense.

-- 50 + percent reduction in particulates

-- Carbon Neutral, doesn't contribute to global warming.

-- No sulfur (the stuff that causes acid rain and cancer and is bad for your health)

-- sulfur is added to diesel for lubrication, well, vegetable oil lubricates even better and doesn't need it added. (when I switch to vegetable oil, I hear a reduction in engine knocking, it just seems to go a bit smoother, some folks say it is less noisy, perhaps someone can do an audio test)

-- Help the local farmers grow canola or rape seed as a rotation crop and an extra source of income (again not putting all the eggs in one basket seems to be key in survival), it doesn't have to replace food crops, and rotation crops help retain the precious top soil, a clear win-win for the farmer and the land, assuming the farmer is using sustainable practices. If I were a farmer I'd add some windmills and or solar panels, fast growing living fences that are harvestable, as well to generate additional income on those windy hills. Basically diversification.

-- Re-using existing diesel vehicles to create a hybrid is cheaper than buying a new hybrid that is still dependent on fossil fuel. In other words, if you can't afford a 20 thousand dollar vehicle, but still want to have a hybrid, this is the cheapest route. If you have a gasser, you could still have a hybrid, take the car half way to work, and bike or walk or take the bus, that cuts your fuel costs in half, and feels good physically. You can then throw out the gym membership as well, as now you get your exercise when going and coming to work.

-- Re-connecting with other members of the community, with the farmers that grow our food and fuel, re-learning to share equipment and resources, rooted in an understanding that we are in this together and that we're not so separate as we have been conditioned to think, this has nothing to do with some romantic notion, it is key to long term survival and increasing wealth to many, rather than concentrating it for a few at the cost of others. Everyone has something unique to contribute to this world but few realize their potential and their right to inhabit this world and be respected as much as the next person. Much of our conditioning is still based on the fictious concepts of class/color/gender etc.. separations, certain people are special and the rest are "lesser" who need to be put into complacency. It is easier to control others and disempower humans when you have convinced them they are of lower value to the world.

Below are some thoughts and reflections that seem to want articulation and that may or may not be of interest, for what it's worth..

If one slows down, and looks around, one can see beauty all around. An obvious example is when you stand on a mountain in the desert and you look at this display and sharing of unconditional beauty. But as Joe Campbell used to say, seeing it in the mountains is easy, seeing it in the slums of Detroit is a bigger challenge.

The birds sing their songs regardless of who is listening, the mountains show their beauty and play with the light and clouds, why can't we humans too, share ourselves unconditionally? Is any flower or mountain exactly the same? No, they all have something unique and can be appreciated for that, so we too can share our uniqueness unconditionally. Value judging ourselves, and consequently others, has created a big boundary that I believe keeps us from walking on the "pollen path" as the Navajo call it. What is the pollen path? You're on it...................However, your sight might be obscured, clouded, covered up.

I believe running an old polluting vehicle and transforming it into something less harmful, without building new vehicles is a nice way to make the transition to a sustainable lifestyle, and re-use what we have. Transformation of oneself into something that is less harmful seems to influence those things around us that were also the products of the state of our minds at the time. If you change your relationship to yourself and the world, the world inevitably starts reflecting this different relationship in small but noticeable ways (some would argue that it takes transcendent endurance to see the changes, but I don't think it is that bad).

It is therefore logical to see what is around us and what we have created as a reflection of our own inner state of mind. Thoughts are seeds that when cultivated and watered in our minds crystallize outward. It doesn't take much reflection to realize the implication of responsibility we have for our own thoughts and their resulting consequences that ripple outward. I don't believe in a distinct right and left, I believe we all want happiness, the trick is finding out an imperfect but workable win-win route for all parties involved, this is a process fraught with trial and error, hard for the perfectionists in ourselves, but doable with some patience and creativity and perhaps most important of all, humility.