Tales From The Cooler: It Seemed Like A Gouda Idea: Utah State Students Build Car Powered By Cheese Waste

Virgil Hilts
by Virgil Hilts

I don’t think Bertel would have gone for my original headline:

It Seemed Like A Gouda Idea. Colby Was A Dip But Knew He Curd Build The Car. He Was Not A Whey Nacho Man Nor A Whiz At Car Building As His Wife Brie Reminded Him On Those Nights She Got Grilled On Kahula And Cream While Sitting On A Brick In Front Of Their Swiss Cottage In Monterey, Jack Baruth Being Her True Love. Colby Was Becoming A Basket Queso In His Quest To Get His Kraft In Front Of Auto Writer Csaba Cheddar: Utah State Students Build Car Powered By Cheese Waste

The website domesticfuel.com reports that a Utah State team has built and tested the world’s first biofuel vehicle powered by cheese. The watery fuel is actually a yeast blended with waste material from a local cheese processing plant.

Powered by a one-liter two-cylinder diesel motor, the blue dragster-like single-seater débuted at the Bonneville Salt Flats where it shredded the world land speed record in its biofuel class, topping out at 64.3 MPH. According to onlookers, the car’s exhaust smelled like, “fresh-baked bread.”

Utah State biochemistry professor Lance Seefeldt says this technology could come to market in as few as five years. One obstacle to growth might be if the EPA catches wind of the cheese and steps up regulation of the use, storage and transporting of discarded cheese waste.

Kudos to Utah State. If this technology is used on cars that burn corn ethanol we would have a cheese/corn hybrid!

Virgil Hilts
Virgil Hilts

More by Virgil Hilts

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 4 comments
  • DemosCat DemosCat on Oct 02, 2012

    So the big cheese didn't go for the original headline? A pity. Colby was more of a dip than Brie knew; he'd had an affair with Wensley Dale.

  • Tatracitroensaab Tatracitroensaab on Oct 02, 2012

    This article was painful to read, in a good way ;)

  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Where's the mpg?
  • Grg These days, it is not only EVs that could be more affordable. All cars are becoming less affordable.When you look at the complexity of ICE cars vs EVs, you cannot help. but wonder if affordability will flip to EVs?
  • Varezhka Maybe the volume was not big enough to really matter anyways, but losing a “passenger car” for a mostly “light truck” line-up should help Subaru with their CAFE numbers too.
  • Varezhka For this category my car of choice would be the CX-50. But between the two cars listed I’d select the RAV4 over CR-V. I’ve always preferred NA over small turbos and for hybrids THS’ longer history shows in its refinement.
  • AZFelix I would suggest a variation on the 'fcuk, marry, kill' game using 'track, buy, lease' with three similar automotive selections.
Next