Here’s a great lede from today’s News & Observer:
The Big Green Bus is encountering a few inconvenient truths on the road to environmental change.
Among the inconvenient truths associated with the 37-foot vegetable oil-powered bus:
“The bus breaks quite often,” said Elysa Corin, a Dartmouth College graduate and Chapel Hill native.
And …
Lauren Wang, 21, an environmental studies major who graduated in
June, called the past seven days the most stressful week of her life.There
was the breakdown on the way to Washington. The crew discovered holes
in a radiator hose, which kept the vegetable oils from heating properly
and overheated the engine.A temporary fix of duct tape and
clamps left the wide-eyed travelers less than confident that their fuel
system would make it. They turned the heater up full blast to
sufficiently warm the vegetable oil and spent the five hours to D.C. in
a sauna.
If that’s not enough …
[B]ecause the fuel is an inexact science, crew members have been
getting their hands dirty. Contaminants in the vegetable oil sometimes
make it through filters and clog and damage engine parts.
This bus is designed, of course, to convince people to use alternative energy sources.
For a more sensible take on energy, see Daren Bakst’s recent research on the topic.
