The oil we use in our furnace is edible, practically non-volatile, readily available, great for the environment — and free! In fact the sources of this oil are grateful that we take it away from their premises.
Used vegetable oil — our fuel — contains no fossil elements. It is not drilled from ancient beds; has no risk of oceanic pollution from sunken tankers; no pipelines are necessary to deliver it from Canadian shales across a critical water supply or caribou migratory route. It will never explode because it can only be ignited by a special process. And, best of all, no wars are fought over this fuel, the kind recently extracted from vegetables.
Our family has chosen to heat our home with used cooking oil because we fear the threat of climate change that is increasing exponentially, largely as a result of fossil fuel use. Of course the absence of fire hazard, and the near, or at, zero cost of the product are also big incentives. (Used cooking oil is free, but we offer 60 cents per gallon to the restaurant where we pick it up because their used oil is particularly clean.)
By now most folks who follow reliable sources of information know about the fuel capacity of vegetable oil, so this is old news. Recently, however, the use of this material for heating has evolved, and updated burners are being developed.
My wife and I had always heated with wood, but we were inspired to explore the idea of vegetable oil fifteen years ago from an article in the Valley Advocate. We were also questioning the effects on the environment of burning wood. I became friends with a local scientist who was one of the early manufacturers of biodiesel, made from used cooking oil, in our region. Since then, I have, in a sense, apprenticed with him, and we installed one of his veggie oil heating systems in our basement.
This experimental stove has gone from functional to near-marketable. We are currently testing our newly reconfigured system. The designer has been working with us. He already has several of these systems operating at full capacity in his shop.
Used vegetable oil is not the only alternative fuel. According to David Blume almost anyone can make fuel that does not pollute. In his beefy volume, “Alcohol Can Be A Gas,” he explains how ecologically sustainable ethanol can be made from virtually anything containing sugar. He convincingly demonstrates that with the copious amount of sugar in food waste (in the U.S. we throw away 40% of our food!) this is another cheap, safe, clean, abundant source that can be used to heat a home, replace gasoline and even generate electricity.
If it came to globally using these abundant, available resources in place of petroleum products I believe that the rise of global temperatures could be abated, international economies could thrive, many potential wars might never begin, and our grandchildren could have a better chance of survival.
Besides the evident avarice of the oil industry, the price of fossil fuels might also be based on the great risks involved in handling and storing, refinement and transporting; extreme, and ever increasing, risk to life on Earth by pollution; and the enormous death toll from international conflicts perpetuated by the imbalanced worldly distribution of crude oil deposits. Considering all of this gasoline might justifiably go for $1,000 per teaspoon. Yet we demonstrate our disconnect by being outraged when the price surpassed four dollars a gallon.
Be bold and brave; if we don’t break away from Big Oil it will kill us.
I plan to be at the Greenfield Energy Park on EARTH DAY, Friday, April 22, at 4:30 to 6 p.m., one of the 20 tables of groups actively working on sustainable life changes — here and now? Other participants demonstrate a full range of options, from Land Trusts to solar installers, from an electric car to school resources. You can find the Energy Park at the end of Miles Street, across Main Street from the Green Fields Food Coop. See you there!
Sonny Crawford lives in Shelburne Falls.