Forego Gas

By Elizabeth Hashagen

We've all felt the burn of fuel prices!

Sometimes I think I'm in shock and our new reality hasn't quite sunken in--

I keep expecting one day for things to just go back to the way they were (I remember gas being 99 cents), but unfortunately I know somewhere deep down inside that it won't happen.

But Vitor Garcia doesn't share my sentiments these days.

Vitor owns the Downtown restaurant in Mineola and is putting his menu to good use.

He's not only feeding our bellies -- he's feeding his car's gas tank!

He bought a special conversion kit on greasecar.com and had it installed by a mechanic in Coram.

Now his work van has 2 fuel tanks:

One that holds diesel and another that holds restaurant-used cooking oil. (He filters it first!)

That tank has a heating element inside it, because the oil needs to be kept hot to burn.

Since it only took Vitor 1/4 of a tank to drive from Nassau to Montauk--he's saving some serious cash at a time when most of us are shelling out more than ever to fill up.

But the other benefit of his vegetable oil car--it's good for the environment!

I wanted to see just how good this conversion can be, and found that there is no sulfur content in vegetable oil, which eliminates the first major carcinogen associated with diesel fuel.

If you've seen a diesel engine start up you know how dark the smoke can be!

Also vegetable oil plants absorb more carbon dioxide from the air during their growing cycle than is released when the oil is burned, this means that vegetable oil does not produce excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (this is referred to as carbon neutral--you know that carbon footprint people keep talking about-- this keeps us in the clear!)

So if you're like me you may have started to wonder -- how good is the mileage-- do you need to drive around with extra oil in the trunk? Stop along your road trip at Chinese restaurant and ask for oil?

Nope!

Vegetable oil is similar to diesel.

Many diesel cars get 40 miles per gallon, so a tank should take you 600 miles!!

But just know you can't convert your gas car--the system only works with diesel.