Biodiesel Adventure

June 30th, 2008 by Bryan

A Japanese team of three friends recently embarked on a year long journey to drive around the world, fueling their vehicle only with biodiesel. Shusei Yamada, a professional Rally driver and photojournalist, spent ten months designing and building a special machine which converts used cooking oil into biodiesel. On top of that, he emphasises that he is not a scientist, nor are his two friends travelling with him. “If I could do it, anyone could do it.” The machine fits into the back of their Toyota Land Cruiser, and is the smallest of its kind in the world (so far). Along the way, the group is making many stops to help inform and educate the world on the benefits of biofuels and accept donations of used cooking oil to maintain their journey.

They began in Japan, and then came to Vancouver to begin their trek across North America, heading south to Arizona, then east to Atlanta before going north to New York. Next they shipped the car to Portugal, and then headed south to Africa. Now they are in Europe making their way towards Asia.

You can follow their journey on the Biodiesel Adventure website, blog, or on the map.

Filmmaker Benjamin Arseguel, who is producing a feature-length documentary about the alternative fuel movement of biodiesel — from waste grease to genetically-modified algae, caught up with the crew in Austin, Texas as they were preparing a batch.