Riding The Big Green Veggie-Oil Bus

(From The Hartford Courant -- By Clarisa Ramirez)

THE BIG GREEN BUS is running on the stuff restaurants use to deep-fry food -- VEGETABLE OIL.

Restaurants pay people to dispose of their waste vegetable oil, but vehicles with modified engines, such as THE BIG GREEN BUS, can use it as an economical and environmentally friendly fuel.

The bus is part of a grassroots environmental project organized by 15 recent DARTMOUTH COLLEGE graduates with two missions -- transporting an ULTIMATE FRISBEE TEAM around the nation and educating people about the benefits of using recycled waste vegetable oil as an alternative to fossil fuels.

THE BIG GREEN BUS gets 7 to 8 miles to the gallon on the waste oil, although it uses diesel oil to start up the engine. After 13 days of driving from HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, the bus made it to CALGARY Tuesday (shortly after a minor breakdown when a heater hose blew, causing a piston to deform). It stopped for fuel three times -- at DARTMOUTH's DINING SERVICE, WENDY's in BUFFALO, NEW YORK, and THE OUTBACK SALOON in PORTAL, NORTH DAKOTA.

"Most of these places have to pay to give their oil away, so everyone wins," says DOUG HANNAH of SIMSBURY, CONNECTICUT. "We get free fuel, and they save a lot on money."

MICHAEL BEILSTEIN also of SIMSBURY is amazed at the hospitality he's encountered at every stop, including free milkshakes, pizza and food.

"People actually care about this project," Beilstein says. "Whether it's mechanics or getting parts or random people asking for advice, it's phenomenal."

The idea behind THE BIG GREEN BUS started a year ago, when a team of 15 ULTIMATE FRISBEE players (all close friends) discussed their post-graduation plans.

All the friends are "evangelistic" about the game, Hannah says, which is a fast, high-endurance sport consisting of seven people throwing a disc to the end zone on a rectangular field, slightly smaller than a football field.

"Ultimate combines the athleticism and skills of other sports, like rugby," Hannah says. "They call it the 'beautiful game.'"

The players are equally passionate about spreading environmental awareness through THE BIG GREEN BUS.

"Everybody put in a tremendous amount of time in their own way," Hannah says. "For some people, working on the project meant working under the bus, raising money, planning the route."

Although the idea germinated in the spring of 2004, the group started working in earnest last winter.

"We heard about a group from MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE who'd taken off on a school bus running on vegetable oil, but they didn't really promote it," says CLIFF ORVEDAL of OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT.

Inspired, THE DARTMOUTH GROUP decided it wanted to "bring about change and raise awareness."

The friends raised money to purchase their 1992 school bus, and Beilstein and Orvedal, the engineering majors, "gutted the whole thing, took the seats out and cleaned it from stem to stern," Beilstein says

The two worked on the bus, parked at Orvedal's mother's barn in OLD LYME, from December to April while waiting for registration and insurance. (Because THE FRISBEE TEAM is A DARTMOUTH ORGANIZATION, the school owns the bus.)

Orvedal estimates he and Beilstein invested more than 100 hours working on the vehicle, combining online resources with instructions from other waste vegetable oil enthusiasts.

The converted fuel tank is an old 18-wheeler's 75-gallon diesel tank rebuilt with used parts Orvedal and Beilstein found in junk yards. Also, the interior of the bus was refurbished with plywood floors, bunk beds, a couch, shelving units and three dinette sets.

"We learned a ton about diesel engines, and now we know exactly how to fix it every time we have a problem," Orvedal says. "Everyday we do minor repairs (to the bus) and trouble-shooting."

In between ULTIMATE FRISBEE GAMES, the group gives informal tours of the bus and how-to presentations on converting car engines to run on the waste oil.

"Hopefully we will inspire people to make small changes -- if nothing else, to do something a little crazy and fun," Hannah says.

So far, THE BIG GREEN BUS has stopped at THE ANN ARBOR GREEN FAIR in MICHIGAN and has played at NO SURF in CLEVELAND and HO-DOWN THROW-DOWN in SASKATCHEWAN, CALGARY. The most anticipated stop is in SEATTLE for POTLATCH the largest ULTIMATE FRISBEE TOURNAMENT in the world, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The tour is expected to end August 3rd in HANOVER. But before continuing their educations and looking for work, the friends plan to drive around the nation in the same bus, this time without a set agenda, Beilstein says.