Home-Brewed Bio Diesel The Next Big Thing

Glenn Swanson
by Glenn Swanson

Okay, we're a couple of days late with this story, but we think chuckgoolsbee would approve anyway. Finally, a high-school class with real-world implications from KPRC: the students in a chemistry class at Dobie High School in Houston, TX are spending their spare time turning donated vegetable oil into biodiesel. Sure, the students could have purchased a biodiesel reactor (processor). But as reporter Courtney Zavala points out "that wouldn't be very much fun." So, they built their own, "piece by piece." Senior Russell Zuber says it's, like, pretty cool stuff: "It's fun. It's interesting. We're working with our hands, learning a lot of advanced science and a lot of like, getting ahead." And according to junior Jennifer Linares, "you get to learn a lot and it also helps you for future careers if you're interested in engineering or the oil industry." The students' goal is to operate a diesel car for one year with the biodiesel they're making in class. Of course not everyone "gets it" when it comes to home-brewing biodiesel. Near the end of TV's station's story, one of the female news anchors turns to her colleague and says: "It strikes me a lot like the airplane, Dominique: over my head." Why are we not surprised?

Glenn Swanson
Glenn Swanson

Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)

More by Glenn Swanson

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 9 comments
  • Juniper Juniper on Mar 20, 2008

    Good for them!! Real education, I love it. Keep it up.

  • Strippo Strippo on Mar 20, 2008

    I'll stick to home-brewed ethanol.

  • Anonymous Anonymous on Mar 20, 2008
    Strippo : March 20th, 2008 at 1:02 pm I’ll stick to home-brewed ethanol. Please just don't put it in your gas tank.
  • IronEagle IronEagle on Mar 20, 2008

    I keep telling my folks they need to invest in one of these. Power the CRD Jeep Liberty. They have great green thumbs already.

Next