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CNN Sunday Morning

Seattle Man Powers Car With Lunch Grease

Aired March 16, 2003 - 07:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: There is one man in Seattle who is not worried about the rising cost of gasoline. Linda Brill of CNN affiliate KING explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA BRILL, KING CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are what you eat. And Joseph Sheedy drives what he eats. Today a chicken tostada was on the menu, nice and greasy.

JOSEPH SHEEDY, BIOFUEL MAKER: Grease man, I got quite a bit.

BRILL: The 26-year-old computer programmer goes restaurant hopping. He enjoys a good lunch, and then he collects his lunch's grease. It's what powers his 1982 diesel Chevy Chevette. Now to the garage, the lab where Sheedy brews his own bio fuel. It's a simple process. First, the spent grease needs to be heated. Then it's put through a strainer, a four quart sauce pan and a big old coffee filter. That's as high tech as it gets.

SHEEDY: My primary reason is the environmental reasons. There's no petroleum products powering my vehicle whatsoever. There's no burning of foreign oil.

BRILL: For Joseph, two hours of straining gives about 19 gallons of fuel. It's slow, it's tedious. So let's jump ahead.

(voice-over): Ah, golden vegetable oil. It's not diesel, it's griesel. Sheedy has been making his own fuel since November, saving him hundreds of dollars. He gets 40 miles to the gallon and some puzzled reactions from some people driving behind him.

SHEEDY: And so I have oil from a Mexican restaurant. Smells like burritos or something. I have oil from a Vietnamese bakery that smell like donuts. Those are the good ones. There's oil from pubs, smells like French fries. Yes, it's quite obvious when somebody pulls up behind a vegetable burning car that it's not burning standard fuels.

BRILL: In Seattle, Linda Brill, KING 5 NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired March 16, 2003 - 07:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: There is one man in Seattle who is not worried about the rising cost of gasoline. Linda Brill of CNN affiliate KING explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA BRILL, KING CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are what you eat. And Joseph Sheedy drives what he eats. Today a chicken tostada was on the menu, nice and greasy.

JOSEPH SHEEDY, BIOFUEL MAKER: Grease man, I got quite a bit.

BRILL: The 26-year-old computer programmer goes restaurant hopping. He enjoys a good lunch, and then he collects his lunch's grease. It's what powers his 1982 diesel Chevy Chevette. Now to the garage, the lab where Sheedy brews his own bio fuel. It's a simple process. First, the spent grease needs to be heated. Then it's put through a strainer, a four quart sauce pan and a big old coffee filter. That's as high tech as it gets.

SHEEDY: My primary reason is the environmental reasons. There's no petroleum products powering my vehicle whatsoever. There's no burning of foreign oil.

BRILL: For Joseph, two hours of straining gives about 19 gallons of fuel. It's slow, it's tedious. So let's jump ahead.

(voice-over): Ah, golden vegetable oil. It's not diesel, it's griesel. Sheedy has been making his own fuel since November, saving him hundreds of dollars. He gets 40 miles to the gallon and some puzzled reactions from some people driving behind him.

SHEEDY: And so I have oil from a Mexican restaurant. Smells like burritos or something. I have oil from a Vietnamese bakery that smell like donuts. Those are the good ones. There's oil from pubs, smells like French fries. Yes, it's quite obvious when somebody pulls up behind a vegetable burning car that it's not burning standard fuels.

BRILL: In Seattle, Linda Brill, KING 5 NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com