Twelve students from Middlebury College in Vermont trekked their way to ASU in a school bus run on bio-diesel fuel, taking a semester off to advocate the fuel and other alternative energies during a three-month nationwide tour.
Bio-diesel fuel is made from vegetable oil and other ingredients and works in any diesel engine without modifying the engine in any way, said Joe Overman, an environmental studies senior at Middlebury, who helped create the bus.
The miles per gallon a car gets from bio-diesel fuel is not very different from diesel, though bio-diesel is much less harmful to the environment, Overman added.
"There's definite stigma in the U.S. about the diesel engine because the fuel is so bad, but it's really a great engine," he said. "It's a lot more efficient than an internal combustion gasoline engine."
Overman said bio-diesel fuel would be particularly useful on large campuses where there are many service and utility vehicles, because, he said, large state schools produce a lot of waste and use a lot of fuel.
Taylor Jackson, a biology junior and president of Students for Environmental Action, an ASU group that organized the event, said it is important for people to be educated about alternative fuels.
"I think that people are generally interested once they understand what it's all about, but it's difficult to get people out of the mindset that cars run on gas," Jackson said. "That's one of the things that's really good about [the bus], because it's such a visible symbol of the power of alternative fuels."
Overman said he does not see bio-diesel as taking over diesel or petroleum fuel; he sees it as a supplement.
"Hopefully, in the next 10 years, we'll see all of our diesel fuel with 20 percent bio-diesel in it," he said.
Psychology graduate student Jessica Tartaro, who viewed the bus, said she was glad to see an attraction on campus that was environmentally oriented.
She said the commitment the students made was "incredible" because they took a semester off to advocate bio-diesel.
Tartaro said she is searching for a vehicle that is more environmentally friendly and was thrilled that the Bio Bus was raising awareness on ASU's campus.
"Just to hear the word [bio-diesel] for the very first time, then it's less scary the next time," she said. "That's how awareness is raised and horizons are expanded."
Reach the reporter at shaina.levee@asu.edu.
