Waste for Fuel Road Trip

This June, Glenn Weinke and Nicholas Pisca embark from Wisconsin on a 6,000 mile trip to raise awareness about waste vegetable oil as an alternative to fossil fuel. The two Los Angeles-based friends and amateur mechanics have been perfecting the art of long low-emissions journeys since they developed a stable vegetable oil fuel system for their 1998 Volkswagen Jetta. Previous trips, including one from Los Angeles to Anchorage and back, were captured in photos and logs on their Waste Vegetable Oil website and forums like Frybrid. Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, their next vehicle conversion, road trip maintenance and repairs will be caught on film. “Nick and Glenn’s Cheap and Eco-Friendly Road Trip Documentary” is part how-to resource and part road trip documentary, or environmental advocacy meets FUBAR .

While Nick and Glenn are avid tinkerers and alternative fuel enthusiasts, they don’t claim that waste vegetable oil is a viable fuel for everyone or even that it is scalable. The point is to make alternative fuels accessible and interesting, and to offset demand for petroleum resources. You can see their conversion schematics, tank design, and step-by-step installation here. They have also posted their route through North America and welcome donations of waste vegetable oil and contributions to the documentary.

Story suggested by Elizabeth Marley.

Image by jurvetson on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing