They're doing some fun things with grease down in Monroe, Ga. Would you believe that waste chicken fat and discarded french fry oil can be turned into fuel to run trucks and cars and tractors? Then it's called BIODIESEL, and I think that's cool.
We're on vacation in the Southeast right now, and a couple days ago my mom and dad took me on a field trip to a new biodiesel plant. I liked the shiny tanks and gauges and dials everywhere. Our host, Rick, explained the process of how grease is turned into fuel with some complicated chemistry, which even my dad, who has a minor in chemistry, said he has trouble following.
Here Rick shows us the computerized readout of all the tank's gauges. The biodiesel company is called Down to Earth Energy, and one of the neatest things they do is using a large solar hot water array to provide much of the heat needed during the refining process. You can read a bit about their mission in the Down to Earth Foundation brochure
here.
Down to Earth's plan is to serve the biodiesel demand within 100 miles of their facility, and while they haven't sold any fuel from the new plant yet, they are in final product testing mode and hope to be doing so soon! I wish them the best of luck, because biodiesel is one of the fuels of the future, and grease is so cool!!!
To "round out" this post, let me tell you about a carousel ride Dad and I took in Chattanooga -- ha, catch the pun? Our steed was golden brown and had big, scary teeth, so I sat well behind its head and hung on tight to its golden pole. We galloped round and round at a rapid pace. Faster than a trot, although perhaps not a gallop. Dad made faces every time we passed Mom with her camera, but I was just doing my best to hang on!
We're on vacation in the Southeast right now, and a couple days ago my mom and dad took me on a field trip to a new biodiesel plant. I liked the shiny tanks and gauges and dials everywhere. Our host, Rick, explained the process of how grease is turned into fuel with some complicated chemistry, which even my dad, who has a minor in chemistry, said he has trouble following.
Here Rick shows us the computerized readout of all the tank's gauges. The biodiesel company is called Down to Earth Energy, and one of the neatest things they do is using a large solar hot water array to provide much of the heat needed during the refining process. You can read a bit about their mission in the Down to Earth Foundation brochure here.
Down to Earth's plan is to serve the biodiesel demand within 100 miles of their facility, and while they haven't sold any fuel from the new plant yet, they are in final product testing mode and hope to be doing so soon! I wish them the best of luck, because biodiesel is one of the fuels of the future, and grease is so cool!!!
To "round out" this post, let me tell you about a carousel ride Dad and I took in Chattanooga -- ha, catch the pun? Our steed was golden brown and had big, scary teeth, so I sat well behind its head and hung on tight to its golden pole. We galloped round and round at a rapid pace. Faster than a trot, although perhaps not a gallop. Dad made faces every time we passed Mom with her camera, but I was just doing my best to hang on!
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