Sustainability in Action follow-up

On 9 June 2008, I wrote a blog entry about how a local computer repair firm retrofitted its automotive fleet to run on used fryer oil. In that post, I called on ASU's President, Dr. Michael Crow, to retrofit ASU's gasoline-powered fleet so it runs on used fryer oil.

This afternoon (24 June 2008): I received the following response by e-mail (excerpted):

In response to your blog post of June 9 suggesting that Arizona State University implement the use of biofuels, some years ago the university did this on a trial basis with some of the heavy trucks in its fleet. Some mechanical difficulties resulted which meant that alternative options needed to be considered. Since then, the university has increased its usage of electric vehicles and bicycles and scaled back its fleet program, encouraging members of the university community to take advantage of the Zipcar program and intercampus shuttles.

Exciting, no?

Anyway, I applaud the University for working around the difficulties of retrofitting automobiles to run on used fryer oil. The process is very expensive and sometimes doesn't always work the way you want to, but it's a start.

Perhaps ASU will try this in the future when the technology is better.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen