Students

producIngbiodisel
--
ByMIKE McKIBBIN
The Dai~ Sentinel

CARBONDALE - It's not.

cooking oil used to. make Mc-
Donald's French fries that runs
a .pickup at Colorado Rocky
Mountain School.
It's better, according to stu-
dents.
The private boarding and
day school outside Carbondale
has had a biodiesel after-school
work program for the last four
years, where students gain
ha)lds-on experience to make
the alternative fuel. 'l'hey get
their oil from Mi Casita restau-
rant in Carbondale.
"We get some pretty high
quality fuel if we do it right,"
said student Claire Noone of
Glenwood Springs. "I think it's
huge that a boarding school like
this would start this."
Biodiesel is a combination of
diesel fuel and used or new veg-
etable oils or animal fats. It con-
tains 20 percent methanol and a , MIKEMCKIBBIN/The
Dai~Sentinel
small amount of lye. Biodiesel LESUEDOYLE, MICHARCHOCK ANDClAIRENOONE discussbiodieselfuelissueswithColoradoRocky
exhaust is often described as
MountainSchoolinstructorSmithMaddrey. TheCarbondale schoolletsstudentsmakethe alternativefueland
smelling like French fries or
donuts. . hasinspiredtwograduatesto setup biodieselplantsinWisconsinandthe Phillipines.
Proponents claim a modern
diesel vehicle that uses biodie- initiative to see how a program
produced 100 percent coconut Bjorkman said he learned of
sel can get. better mileage and diesel fuel. The 156-gallons-a- the plan to set up a biodiesel like this works," he said. "It
cleaner emissions, without a day plant is the. Philippines' facility in Sharon on a biodiesel gives us some personal pride
loss of engine power. second producer of biodiesel Webblog. and passion about something
Eight students work annu- fuel. It employs four people. "We got it going and they as students. Smith was really a
ally in the nrogram, overseen by "I decided to help out in the started producing about 100 to role model to a lot of us."
faculty member Smith Maddrey. Philippines because my father 200gallons per day,but they had Graduate Michael Chock of
Last year, he won an "E-chieve- spent some time there, and he the same problems we did in Carbondale said the program
ment" award from 'National told me the islands are swim- and others at the school allowed
Carbondale," he said.
Public Radio's syndicated "E- ming with coconuts," Bowers Fire and electrical code con- him to learn a lot about the en-
Town" program for the school said. "I told him there's no formance issues caused both vironment "and the doomsday
program. reason why biodiesel couldn't to cease production to address news you hear. about global
"It's such a tangible solution be made out of coconut oil." them. warming and stuff. It's neat to
to things like air pollution, espe- The Southeast Asian market Biodiesel gels in cold weather, take .an active part in maybe
cially in places like Third World also includes the world's largest so the school program is shut helping the environment."
countries," Noone said. biodiesel plant, currently under down during the winter, Mad- Student Leslie Doyle is from
Glenwood Springs native and construction in Malaysia. drey said. At its peak, the New Orleans, La., and she said
2005 graduate Dustin Bowers Alumnus Garret Bjorkman's program has produced ap- people in her hometown had
used his freshman summer never heard of biodiesel.
senior independent project was proximately 30 gallons a week,
break from Reed College in Port- to help start a biodiesel produc'- he said. . "I think they're getting inter-
land, Ore., to establish a biodie- tion plant in 'Sharon, WIS., a Bjorkman appreciated. the ested," she said. "Things like
. sel plant 10,000miles away. small town near the WISCOnsin- chance the school's program this make this school really
Bowers set up DB Coco Diesel Illinois border. He's currently gave him and Bowers. intellectually stimulating. It's
in the northern Philippines a freshman at Montana State "Just having that program
town of Taytay,- Palawan, that not something you'd find at any
let me and Dustintake some ~otherschool:" I
, University in BOzeman. .
I