Big Green Bus Runs On Oil - Vegetable Oil

It all started with a bunch of Dartmouth students who wanted to attend an Ultimate Frisbee championship, but didn?t want to take five separate cars from New Hampshire to Seattle.

They thought a road trip would be much more fun, not to mention cost-effective and environmentally friendly--especially when they figured out a way to run the old Vermont school bus on leftover vegetable oil from the nearest greasy spoon.

"It started out as 'Let?s get a bus.' And then it became, 'Let?s run the bus on vegetable oil,'" said Brooking Gatewood, one of the 14 new Dartmouth graduates behind the "Big Green Bus" project now rolling through America.

The students each chipped in $50 and bought a 1992 International diesel-powered school bus. The engineering majors in the group then went about converting their new vehicle into a poster-child for alternative fuel sources.

After painting it green, they were ready to roll.

Wednesday, the crew has been on the road for weeks, making their way from the top of the country to the bottom. And they haven?t stopped at a gas station once. Instead, they?ve filled the tank of their old school bus with used vegetable oil begged from the back alleys of restaurants.

If all goes well, the Big Green Bus will be rumbling into Washington this weekend.

They made it to Seattle and the big Ultimate Frisbee tournament, just like they wanted. But they found a better focus for their travels--bringing awareness to alternative fuels and the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels.

So how exactly does an old school bus get around on the leftover fryer grease from your last meal of super-sized fries and chicken nuggets?

The vehicle must have a diesel engine in order to work. The Dartmouth students added a second fuel tank for the vegetable oil to their school bus, made some copper coiling and rerouted the engine coolant line.

The vegetable oil has to be heated up to work, so the bus is started on diesel fuel, which in turn warms the oil.

"We really do go to restaurants and ask if we can raid their oil bin," Gatewood said as the bus rolled through Illinois one afternoon this week.

The bus left New Hampshire on June 15, three days after 14 of the 15 project members graduated from Dartmouth with degrees in engineering, environmental studies, psychology, geography and linguistics. One crew member is still a Dartmouth student studying filmmaking. He?s documenting the cross-country trip for the crew.

So far, the bus has traveled through New York, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Missouri. On Thursday, they plan to be in Tennessee. Late Friday night or early Saturday, they?ll be rolling into DC for a few days before heading on for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and finally back home to New Hampshire.

If they don?t get delayed, you can catch the bus and its creators at the H Street Farmer?s Market from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday. You might spy them playing Ultimate Frisbee on the Mall later that afternoon and Sunday.

"You?ll know if we?re there," Gatewood said. "You can?t miss the bus."

However, the bus has experienced a few breakdowns along the way, mainly due to hot conditions throughout the country. And sometimes the group can?t get out of a town because so many people stop to talk and take tours of the amazing green machine.

"It?s kind of funny, we can?t get anywhere without getting stopped," Gatewood said. "People are really interested, especially with gas prices the way they are now. That?s exactly why we?re out here, to promote an alternative to fossil fuel."

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