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My friend has just converted a car to run on waste oil. There is no smell, and it burns and runs just like diesel basically. I realise that it isn’t going to be carbon neutral but it seems to be a decent alternative to gas given the situation we may soon face.

Any thoughts on this?

I have mixed feelings about biodiesel. The plus is that waste oil is being used to fuel something where it would have otherwise been disposed of, so it is reclycling.

Also, burning biodiesel produces 47% less Carbon Dioxide than regular diesel, however it creates 10% more NOx (nitrus oxide) which is what contributes to smog and acid rain. At the same time it eliminates sulfates, drastically reduces particulates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and much more.

Its not end all answer, but I would say its still better than just throwing out the old oil and burning regular diesel.

Here is a nice fact sheet from Biodiesel.org
http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/emissions.pdf

Is there really no smell? I would worry too much that I’d leave a trail of burger smell of fries as I go down the street….. lol. There do seem to be some advantages. How well does a car run on it-is it slow?

As far as my friend informs me, there is no smell. She said that if you really got within inches of it you might smell something, but that for normal use there is nothing-its not like you will leave a trail of burger and fries smell wafting behind you.

Just tell your friend not to advertise what he is doing, because he may just get fined.

here is the article: Government attacks Bio-Fuel Users

Yea you should always check the legality of things like that before going out and trying to spread your ideas. Just have him keep quiet on it for now and there should be no problems.

I have read that some people have taken old oil from restaurants and used as fuel but they said that there was a smell.  I didn’t realize it was illegal to use bio-fuel.

Using the waste oil from fast food joints for fuel seems like a good idea when I first read it but my thought was how would a person refuel or would they just take short trips.

There are fast food places everywhere. Probably more than there are gas stations.