University students were introduced yesterday to a bus that runs on vegetable oil and saves enough energy to project film by using solar power modules, in addition to having a climbing wall on one of its sides.
The bus is part of a nationwide tour sponsored by the National Outdoor Leadership School, which offers worldwide courses that range from one week to a full semester. Students can study a variety of outdoor technical skills including backpacking, canoeing, caving, rafting, snowboarding and wilderness medicine.
“We want students to know that we teach technical outdoor skills and outdoor leadership skills,” Ashley Lewis, a NOLS member, said. How did this bus become a spokesvehicle for a cleaner environment? For about $1,200 and less than a week’s labor, the NOLS crew was able to convert the engine of the 1992 Thomas tour bus to use a more efficient and safer fuel. The bus has a diesel tank that warms up the engine for five minutes; then, with a simple flip of a switch, vegetable oil transfers to the engine to make it move.
“Diesel engines were originally built to use peanut oil,” Nate Kratz, a member of NOLS, said. To prove his point, he said he configured his own 1975 Mercedes 300D to use vegetable oil. He added that his modified Mercedes gets 30 miles per gallon.
The bus doesn’t have access to regular gas stations, but Lewis said it hasn’t been hard to refuel.
“We go along — some places have people who want to help us with grease so they give us extra or show us where we can find some,” she said.
The bus’s solar array, composed of three separate solar-powered modules, can store up to three
days of power if it is sunny for half
a day. That energy is used to power the NOLS office, which includes three work computers and a
projection screen for NOLS
presentations.
“I think it’s cool, and (conversion to) biodiesel is an amazing program,” freshman Katie Goldberg, a general science major, said.
Students who join NOLS can learn more than one technical skill in a semester. According to the NOLS Web site, NOLS/University of Utah college credit can be earned through 400 colleges and universities nationwide, and many offer their own credits to students who take the courses. Students in the program range in age from 14 to 70, Lewis said.
NOLS also offers 15 full-tuition scholarshipsthrough SpinCo Medical Products. Lewis said scholarship applicants must be 14 to 22 years old and cannot have guardians who earn more than $90,000 per year.
After taking a river kayaking course for a semester, Lewis said she joined the nationwide trek on the bus to introduce students to NOLS.
“It was so surreal being outdoors because it made you feel really small,” Lewis said. “It gave me
a real appreciation for outdoor
conservation.”
More information about NOLS can be found at www.nols.edu, and a Web log that details news of members’ countrywide
bus tours is available at nols.blogs.com. Information about using vegetable oil
fuel can be found at
www.journeytoforever.org.

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