By Heather Miller
With the flip of a switch, Lafayette’s Marc Henry can transform an older model pickup truck designed to run on conventional diesel fuel into a cleaner burning, gas-saving vehicle that emits carbon dioxide levels akin to a cornfield.
Henry, an assistant manager at a CC’s Coffee House in Lafayette, has worked in restaurants for the past decade and always did notice “a lot of extra [vegetable] oil,” he says, but it wasn’t until Hurricane Rita washed ashore in 2006 that Henry started self-educating on the benefits of alternative fuels.
“When a bunch of the gas stations ran out of gas and we were all panicking, I thought, ‘This isn’t going to happen to me again. I’m going to be self-sufficient,’” he says. “Four or five years ago there were a lot of programs on TV about biodiesel and green energy. I tried to make biodiesel in my dad’s garage, had all the beakers and ethanol and everything, but ... then I got to straight vegetable oil.”
The end result for Henry is an additional tank in his 2003 GMC Sierra, a tank filled with waste vegetable oil that’s used along with traditional diesel fuel to get Henry around town.
The truck uses diesel fuel to start the engine, which in turn warms the extra tank of vegetable oil to its proper temperature. At this point, all that stands between Henry and his ultra-green fuel is a switch.
The cost savings of converting diesel vehicles to vegetable oil aren’t easy for Henry to calculate, as he admittedly doesn’t do much driving. The more miles the vehicle drives, the more money that’s saved in fuel.
“It all depends on how much you use your vehicle, but since I run it off of vegetable oil, the emissions are a lot less than diesel and gasoline,” he says. “And in the end I think I do save a little money.”
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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