- Journey Toward a Sustainable Future -
BioTour is a cross-country journey into America that aims to enliven the sustainable energy movement while exploring the depths of America—the people, land and culture. BioTour educates about peak oil, global warming, renewable energy and sustainable living, bringing people to together for discussion, exploration and celebration. BioTour demonstrates a different way of living and conceiving of energy, one in which human civilization exists in balance with the natural world.
BioTour visits colleges, high schools and community events demonstrating a tangible example of renewable energy technology while educating and facilitating discussion about sustainability and which policies and practices are required for society’s shift away from fossil fuels. BioTour is also a cultural exploration America, a vast land of economic, social and cultural diversity.
Join BioTour for exploration and catalyzing the renewable energy and sustainable living movement!
After traveling for three months, logging more than 10,000 miles, and exploring 23 states and our nation’s capital, the Spring 2007 Tour ended July 10th in San Francisco. BioTour gave presentations to universities, high schools, middle schools, political events and festivals across the nation. A host of honorary crew members added to the adventure as the crew explored the big cities and the hidden towns. Thank you everyone who engaged us in conversation, invited us into your homes for food and drink (and hot showers), and provided financial support as we upgrade our bus and improve our organization. A special thank you to PrairieFire BioFuels and Coulee Region BioFuels of Madison and Blair, Wisconsin for donating time and labor to upgrade our vegetable oil conversion system. Another special thank you to the American Council on Renewable Energy in Washington, DC for support and guidance into the non-profit world.
To read about the many characters we met, the renewable energy and sustainable living projects we encountered, and the adventures that found us along the way check out the BioTour Vagabond Journal.
Does That Bus Really Run on Vegetable Oil?
Yes, it really runs on vegetable oil. The diesel engine was designed to run on a variety of fuels and its inventor, Rudolf Diesel, was running his engines on peanut oil a hundred years ago. Modern diesel engines can run on vegetable oil when the oil is thinned.
There are two ways to thin vegetable oil. The first is to make biodiesel, which is chemically thinned vegetable oil. (Read more about biodiesel below). The second way to thin vegetable oil is to heat the oil before it reaches the fuel injection system and the engine.
The BioBus starts and warms up on biodiesel and then switches over to the straight vegetable oil, the primary fuel source, when the engine reaches 170F. BioTour fills up on waste vegetable oil used in restaurant fryers across America.
Biodiesel and vegetable oil provide great lubricity protecting and adding greater life to an engine. At lower speeds, the added lubricity provides better fuel mileage. There is a slight reduction in mileage at higher speeds because vegetable oil contains less energy than petrodiesel. There is reported to be a slight reduction in power, which is unnoticeable in our experience. In addition, vegetable oil is much cleaner for your health and for the environment. Click here to read details of how the bus and photovoltaic system works.BioTour Energy:
Biodiesel: Biodiesel is
vegetable oil that has been chemically altered using methanol (or ethnol) and lye (KOH or NaOH) to decrease the viscosity so that it can fuel an unaltered diesel engine. Biodiesel is often mixed withleum diesel and the percentage of Biodiesel is indicated by the number (B20 is twenty percent biodiesel and eighty percent petrodiesel, B100 is one-hundred percent biodiesel, etc.).
Biodiesel oil provides great lubricity protecting and adding greater life to an engine. At lower speeds, the added lubricity provides better fuel mileage. There is a slight reduction in mileage at higher speeds because vegetable oil contains less energy than petrodiesel. There is reported to be a slight reduction in power, which is unnoticeable in our experience. In addition, vegetable oil is much cleaner for your health and for the environment. Use this map to find biodiesel stations across he country. Biodiesel can also be brewed at the local level in cooperatives.
Straight vegetable oil (SVO): Vegetable oil for fuel can come from farms or from fryers at restaurants. BioTour recycles waste vegetable oil (WVO) that was used to deep fry food in most restaurants. SVO can be used to power a conventional diesel engine
if the oil is clean and heated to the appropriate temperature. Properly filtering waste vegetable oil is crucial for extending fuel filter life and lowering the price of fuel to pennies per gallon.
Vegetable oil provides great lubricity protecting and adding greater life to an engine. At lower speeds, the added lubricity provides better fuel mileage. There is a slight reduction in mileage at higher speeds because vegetable oil contains less energy than petro-diesel. There is reported to be a slight reduction in power, which is unnoticeable in our experience. In addition, vegetable oil is much cleaner for your health and for the environment.
Photovoltaic system:
Photovoltaic power systems convert photons from the sun into electricity.
The BioTour Bus has array of photovoltaic (or solar) panels mounted on the roof that transfer electricity through wires into two deep-cell batteries. The batteries power the bus stereo and lights. Electricity is also converted from 12v DC (direct current) to 110v AC (alternating current) by passing through an inverter. The inverter is connected to typical electrical outlets in your home that allow our crew to power cell phones, laptop computers, our vegetable oil transfer pump, and various electronic devices.
