Summer 2007, while driving cross-country home from the South East we began to feel an intense sense of responsibility for the enormous carbon footprint(s) we were leaving in our wake. We began the search for an alternative fueling option that was right for us. After a year of research (and saving) we settled on purchasing a new (to us) diesel Ford Econoline van and converting it to run on vegetable oil. (i.e. used grease from restaurants.)

As you may or may not know, alternative fueling is not a one size fits all solution. Ultimately, vegetable oil was the right method for us because of the amount of long distance driving we are doing. We believe in using a fuel that is environmentally friendly, truly recycled, and domestically sourced (no need to go to war for veggie oil!) We are very excited about our very own veggie van.

Since our purchase we have toured the U.S. using veggie oil in both summer and winter months. Watch out for a tour-vlog/our expierence-using-veggie documentary that's in the works. In the meantime...

To read more about veggie oil and it's many benefits, visit www.greasecar.com, or check out this fun story about grease cars from the BBC.

We had a contest to name the van last year, and had many lovely submissions. The winning one? VITA! How appropriate...