I'm Going Green (Or Greener), Again
I know, I'm such a hippie. We recycle everything we can. My 4 and 2 year old even ask which trash can to put something in before they throw it away. My wife makes really cute clothes for my kids (she loves to sew). She even makes bags and purses out of old plastic bags (Little trendy, but that's ok). I make shelving out of bamboo poles and weave shelves onto them. We bike ride whenever we can. Every time we go to the beach I take my kids and we walk up and down the beach and pick up as much trash as we can carry or fit into a small trash bag. We even have a worm composter (that's right, thousands of worms) for all our uneaten food - its great for the garden. We have a garden and 5 different fruit trees (hopefully more soon) including an avocado tree (YUM!).
Not only does all this stuff save a lot of money, but I believe that part of being healthy is having a healthy world to live in.
That brings me to my first new year resolution ever. BE GREENER! You may be thinking how is that possible.
I have found a way to bring being green to the next level. (Some people think I've gone over the edge).
I'M GOING TO MAKE MY OWN GAS!
Isn't that so cool? Besides being green, I have ulterior motives.
Ulterior motive #1 - It's cheap. What I have to do is get old waste vegetable oil from a restaurant and then convert it into diesel gas - not an easy task, it takes a fairly large contraption (which I built myself :-) ). I figure it will cost about 70 cent to 1 dollar for a gallon of gas. Not bad!.
Ulterior Motive #2 - I believe that we are far too dependent on other countries (ones that don't like us very much) for our energy needs. So in doing this I feel like I am helping to get our country a little more energy independent of foreign oil.
Ulterior Motive #3 - We have to buy a diesel car. Diesel cars get about 30% more mpg than a regular car of the same size. The diesel car that we are getting is actually a van. Its a dodge sprinter. You may have seen them around, they are the big ugly delivery vans, or utility vans. They get great gas mileage and get this, I get to turn it into the ultimate surfing and camper van! AWESOME! My wife is the greatest! I'll post pics of that when I'm done converting it.
Ulterior Motive #4 - It brings out
the mad scientist in me.
Here is a picture of my biodiesel processor with my first batch of gas being made. I would not recommend taking up a task like this unless you are very dedicated to being green and chemically inclined (I have over a year in organic chemistry to help me).
My neighbors give me weird looks when they drive by our garage. Maybe they think I'm making drugs or something. I've had a lot of passersby stop and ask questions. Once I explain it they think its really cool. I've even had people thank me for being so green.
Now that's cool!