Debbie Benefield
| Vehicles eschew gas, eat vegetable oil |
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John Ingold, Denver Post Staff Writer
DENVER, CO -- A group of college students out to show the nation that making Earth-friendly changes is easier than it looks rolled into town this weekend. They intended to show off their green gear to Colorado legislators Sunday.
The only problem was that the vegetable-oil-burning Big Green Bus that is the centerpiece of their cross-country tour would roll no more. A busted fuel pump left it stuck Sunday outside the Cherry Hills Village home where the 11 students from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire were crashing.
"It had a long, good life before we ever got ahold of it," said Brent Butler, one of the students. "These things happen."
No worries, though, because the students had a backup: a Volkswagen Jetta that also runs on vegetable oil. So on Sunday, in the parking lot of the state Capitol, the students detailed the Jetta's greener features. The car can burn both diesel fuel and filtered vegetable oil, which the students get for free from greasy-spoon restaurants that normally have to pay to have the oil taken away. The car burns diesel only long enough to heat up the oil, Butler said, meaning that most of the time the Jetta emits far fewer pollutants than other vehicles.
The group converted the car with a $1,300 kit they bought on the Internet. (Installing the kit voids the car's warranty, though.) The students said they hope their project will inspire people to find clever and simple ways to help the environment. "We're just trying to get people to think creatively, to be innovative," student Frances Vernon said.
"I think it's a great hope," Benefield said afterward. "It's exciting."
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State Rep. Debbie Benefield, D-Arvada, peppered the students with questions Sunday, then called a mechanic she knows to see if he could help fix the bus. Benefield said she has long been interested in whether it's feasible to run public school buses on vegetable oil.