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Veggie-powered bus ferries Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee team into Southern California! A Better Community For All (ABC4All), Huck-Fin Environmental Education (HFEE) and GreenZap Support Innovative Dartmouth College Graduates creating awareness of alternative fuels! |
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Working
together, the students themselves purchased and converted the school bus
to run on unmodified waste vegetable oil, a substance discarded by the
gallon at fast food restaurants. Unlike the well-known fuel
biodiesel, which is produced by chemically modifying vegetable oil in an
expensive and time-consuming process, The
Big Green Bus runs on unmodified
waste vegetable oil already used once. To use the oil, the students added
a second fuel tank to hold the vegetable oil. The bus starts on normal
diesel fuel and uses the heat from the engine to warm the vegetable oil,
lowering its viscosity and allowing it to flow through the engine.
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Among
the project’s sponsors are Dartmouth's Thayer
School of Engineering and the Environmental Studies Program.
Many of the students involved in the project are majoring in engineering
sciences and/or environmental studies.
According
to the project's head of outreach, senior Andrew Hoffman, "A simple
and plentiful resource fuels the bus. At present, restaurants across
the nation discard it every day. We reuse the waste, shaping
society's waste into social energy. The world's increasing
dependence on fossil fuel consumption necessitates research in and a
quick transition to alternative energy sources. The Big Green Bus shows
that fuel alternatives are available for use right now."
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The
group, composed of fourteen graduating seniors and one junior, remodeled
the bus's interior as well as its mechanics. They stripped the interior to
fill the front half with tables and chairs and outfitted the rear with
sleeping accommodations. The tour plans to leave Hanover in early June for
its circuitous route to the July 2 tournament in Seattle and then to
continue spreading the word until their end date in early August.
The
project's organizers are relying on the nationwide community of Ultimate
Frisbee players to connect the tour with hosts and sponsors at each stop.
In addition to presentations at Ultimate Frisbee tournaments, the Big
Green Bus will promote alternative fuels through environmental action
fairs, local alternative fuels interest group meetings, and other similar
community gatherings.
Their
website can be found at www.thebiggreenbus.org.
With
such a dynamic, creative and innovative group, A Better Community For
All (ABC4All) has offered the Big Green Bus community support in
Manhattan Beach (Los Angeles County) and San Diego, CA via Huck-Fin
Environmental Education (HFEE)! Additionally, through the ability of
GreenZap.com to support nonprofits worldwide, the combined efforts of
ABC4All, HFEE and GreenZap are aimed at creating virtually unlimited
support for these and other worthwhile causes. Anyone joining GreenZap
(FREE!) will support this effort: http://greenzap.com/abc4allteam.
Huck-Fin
Environmental Education (HFEE) has been working in the San Diego area in
the largest high school district in the US, the Sweetwater Union High
School District, for over 20 years. In collaboration with ABC4All, a
community-based program, Community Health, Exercise and Nutrition for All
(CHEN4All) will be underway at the Castle Park Middle School in Chula
Vista, CA (San Diego County) in September 2005: http://ABC4All.net/CHEN4All.htm.
About
GreenZap
GreenZap
is a fun, simple, low-cost way for people to send, spend, and receive money
online. GreenZap account holders can send money to anyone around the world as
long as they have an email address. Members can spend money purchasing goods and
services from other GreenZap members & merchants or from other popular
sites, including eBay® and Yahoo® Auctions. Members can load money to their
GreenZap account for spending or earn money by telling others about GreenZap.
For
more information, please visit http://greenzap.com/abc4all.
About
Huck-Fin Environmental Education (HFEE)
Huck-Fin
is a non-profit corporation, teaching Environmental Education through fishing in
schools and communities throughout San Diego, California. Huck-Fin wants to
reach as many kids as possible by expanding the program throughout the nation.
Our expansion would mean that more, opportunities, hopes and wishes would be
fulfilled for today’s children and tomorrows leaders.
For
more information, please visit http://www.huck-fin.com
About
ABC4All
A
Better Community For All (ABC4All) has as its mission, "Maximizing
Charitable Contributions on and off the Internet."™ Through the
establishment of its nonprofit arm, the Foundation of A Better Community For All
(FABC), a National Heritage Foundation, ABC4All aims to create, under FABC, the
Millennium Endowment Fund (MEF) which will eventually match, or double,
charitable contributions generated via the participation by the Friends of
ABC4All in any of its programs.
CONTACT
A Better Community For All (ABC4All) http://ABC4All.net
Burton Danet, Ph.D., Co-Founder
P. O. Box 1624
Manhattan Beach, CA 90267-1624
(310) 712-5477 Phone
(888) 310-1661 Fax