The rising price of gas over the past couple of years hasn't bothered 51-year-old Lyle Rudensey one bit.
Rudensey-who taught a Biodiesel Home Brew workshop a few weeks back at the Greenwood Senior Center-is an expert at making his own biodiesel fuel in his detached garage.
He uses the fuel to keep his Volkswagen Jetta wagon running. And Rudensey gets between 40 and 48 miles to the gallon. He estimates the cost of his fuel at 65 cents per gallon.
That's right. In this day of $2.50-plus per gallon of gas, Rudensey makes his own for a quarter of the cost.
"I use restaurant vegetable oil," Rudensey explained. He said his fuel comes primarily from Thai, Italian and Chinese restaurants. "My car smells like chop suey."
Rudensey said he was inspired by Dan Freeman, who started selling biodiesel fuel about six years ago under the moniker of Dr. Dan's Alternative Fuel Works, in Ballard.
"Thousands of people are making their own fuel," Rudensey said. "We are all trying to learn to make it better. I talk to people doing this as far away as Australia."
Rudensey is a complete convert to biodiesel fuel for economic, environmental and political reasons.
"In addition to the savings, it is nontoxic, biodegradable and puts out less pollution than [regular] diesel fuel. It is way, way cleaner," he said with obvious pride.
"I know someone who took their old Mercedes in for emissions testing [using biodiesel], and it didn't register anything," he said. "And using biodiesel gets you off the whole petroleum industry grid, too."
There are some city and county regulations if you make your own biodiesel, but, according to Rudensey, there is no law against it.
"The law is against selling it," he said.
Rudensey added that a biodiesel maker needs a permit if he has more than 5 gallons of methanol (a key ingredient) on his premises.
"I am looking at secondary containers," he said, about storing more methanol.
His workshops, which Rudensey puts on around the city and county, draw more than environmentalists.
"I had a fire marshal come to one of my classes; he thought it was fine. There are no regulations against making it [safely]," he reaffirmed.
Before he began his own personal biodiesel revolution, Rudensey worked for the University of Washington as a health-outreach worker specializing in visiting middle-schoolers.
"I'm [now] developing this career-giving seminars, teaching workshops at least two or three times a month," he said. "I'll also be teaching at most of the community colleges in the area [this year]."
Rudensey starts his workshops by describing what biodiesel is and what it isn't. He talks about the benefits-environmentally and politically-of making and then using one's own biodiesel fuel.
He also points out the drawbacks, which include the possibility of the fuel "jelling" if the vehicle it's used in is exposed to below-freezing temperatures for any extended length of time.
"You need to take precautions if you are going skiing," Rudensey noted.
He also gives students in his classes a chance to make small batches of diesel fuel for themselves.
"People discover that it is just very liberating to make your own fuel. It is one positive thing a person can do," he said.
Biodiesel isn't his only environmental success story.
"We've got solar power for the house-twelve solar panels," Rudensey explained. "On [mostly sunny] days when we are not using a lot of power, our solar meter is actually spinning backwards... We are [then] generating more power than we are using.
"That's a cool feeling," he added.
Rudensey will be holding two workshops nearby over the next few weeks: there will be a "Biodiesel Homebrew Workshop" on March 24 at the Phinney Neighborhood Center from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Visit his Web site to register.
Anyone wishing to learn more about biodiesel can check out Rudensey's Web site at biolyle.com or by calling him at 354-6802.[[In-content Ad]]
