While pundits and politicians debate the feasibility of ethanol, switchgrass, and other alt-energy sources, Los Angeles-based Lovecraft Biofuels is busy making cars run on vegetable oil. The autohouse will convert any diesel engine in an afternoon, for about $700. They also have a handsome fleet of converted Reagan-era Mercedes Benzes for sale, going for about $6,000 each. Forget any preconceptions of flubber-like complexity: Lovecraft's engine conversions are driven by founder Brian Friedman's imperative to "simplify, simplify, simplify." And business is brisk: the company performs about four conversions a day.As for fuel, a nationwide network of biofuel stations already exists: grocery stores. New vegetable oil is available in bulk (around $2.60 a gallon at Costco; cheaper if you buy expired stuff). Those willing to forge friendships with deep-frying restaurateurs can fuel up for free, collecting used cooking oil and filtering it at home.Friedman's ambitions include developing a conversion kit for every kind of diesel engine, and he talks about a future fueled by vegetables-with vegetable-powered farm equipment harvesting crops, vegetable-powered machines turning those crops into oil, and vegetable-powered big rigs taking that oil to consumers. An utopian vision, yes, but with gas prices creeping ever skyward, it is also beginning to seem elegantly sensibleLEARN MORElovecraftbiofuels.com
While pundits and politicians debate the feasibility of ethanol, switchgrass, and other alt-energy sources, Los Angeles-based Lovecraft Biofuels is busy making cars run on vegetable oil. The autohouse will convert any diesel engine in an afternoon, for about $700. They also have a handsome fleet of converted Reagan-era Mercedes Benzes for sale, going for about $6,000 each. Forget any preconceptions of flubber-like complexity: Lovecraft's engine conversions are driven by founder Brian Friedman's imperative to "simplify, simplify, simplify." And business is brisk: the company performs about four conversions a day.As for fuel, a nationwide network of biofuel stations already exists: grocery stores. New vegetable oil is available in bulk (around $2.60 a gallon at Costco; cheaper if you buy expired stuff). Those willing to forge friendships with deep-frying restaurateurs can fuel up for free, collecting used cooking oil and filtering it at home.Friedman's ambitions include developing a conversion kit for every kind of diesel engine, and he talks about a future fueled by vegetables-with vegetable-powered farm equipment harvesting crops, vegetable-powered machines turning those crops into oil, and vegetable-powered big rigs taking that oil to consumers. An utopian vision, yes, but with gas prices creeping ever skyward, it is also beginning to seem elegantly sensibleLEARN MORElovecraftbiofuels.com