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Rising
fuel costs have caused an upsurge in interest in alternative
fuels like ethanol and in hybrid cars. Hybrids used to be
of interest only to eco-nuts and aging hippies but have become
au courant among young middle-class people trying to
save some money. There is another option: converting a diesel
car to run on used vegetable oil. Readers may have read news
stories about these donut-shop-scented cars. While it's easy
enough to go out and buy a hybrid car (if one is willing to
wait a few months), few are willing to make the commitment
to convert a diesel car to run on used vegetable oil. A diesel
car, a conversion kit, and a filtering system are all necessary
components, along with the embarrassment of asking the local
taco stand for their used oil.
In Greasy
Rider, journalist Greg Melville takes on this task and
then takes it one step further by driving the car across country
with a friend on a kind of Thelma and Louise ecological
fact-finding mission to see what Americans are doing to preserve
natural resources.
Along
the way, Melville and his colorful friend Iggy stop at various
ecologically famous locales, like Google's solar-powered headquarters
in Mountain View, California; the Greasecar factory; and the
American Coalition for Ethanol. Melville tells readers some
interesting factoids such as the number of birds killed by
wind turbines versus the number of birds killed by cats. The
duo have mildly humorous interactions with fast food restaurant
managers along the way as they explain over and over again
why they want used oil. They discuss Arbor Day. They bicker
and curse. The car behaves suspiciously. They make a pilgrimage
to Al Gore's house, which is huge and lit like Times Square.
The reproduced
conversations seem very forced and fake. While readers may
buy the town history and highlights offered by the woman at
their first stop (a hotel in Waterloo, NY), other conversations
seem to have too much expository dialog, such as the time
when Greg breaks his plan for the trip to his wife. "I want
to drive the Mercedes to California. I'm gonna do it all on
grease. When can you let me leave?" Does anyone talk like
that?
Readers
may be a little shocked that Melville takes off while his
wife is in medical school, leaving her with two young children
and a heavy course load. Granted, he did arrange it around
her schedule, but most women probably wouldn't even considering
doing the same to her med student husband. But Melville never
claims to be a feminist or even an environmentalist. He decided
on the fry car on his wife's suggestion. He wanted a pick-up
truck.
The logistics
of the fry car are not too well explained beyond buying the
Greasecar conversion kit. What readers will discover is that
after spending over $4,000 on a used 1985 Mercedes diesel
station wagon, the family sinks another $5,000 into it to
convert it and buy the necessary filtering equipment, along
with making some other necessary repairs. This fry-car business
is not cheap.
Probably
the most interesting section of the book is their visit to
the Pill family in Burlington, Vermont, just a short drive
from where the two start their adventure. The Pills have their
own wind-turbine energy generator, and their custom-built
house, designed by David Pill was the first in the US to receive
platinum certification for Leadership in Energy and Environment
Design, the highest certification given by the U.S. Green
Building Council (Al Gore's retrofitted house only received
gold certification). They're currently paying $150/month for
utilities—less than the average household in Vermont—including
the cost of the loan for the $27,000 windmill.
Greasy
Rider is full of interesting factoids and will definitely
be of interest to people looking to learn more about current
trends in environmentalism. It doesn't completely work as
a narrative, but that doesn't detract from its core message
of asking readers to reduce their carbon footprint.
(October,
2008)
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