Resident uses vegetable oil to heat home
By Angela Greiner Community Reporter

PHOTO/ANGELA GREINER Steve and Sandy Feitelberg with the vegetable oil they plan to convert to bio-fuel and then use to heat their home this winter.

Shrewsbury - Both businesses and residents are scrambling to conserve energy and convert to alternative sources as gas and oil prices continue to climb. But, Shrewsbury resident Steve Feitelberg did not wait for gas prices to hit over $4 a gallon before he began his education and conversion to alternative fuels.

"I began my research about two or three years ago when gas prices began to hit $3 a gallon," he said.

With winter only months away, Steve is not sweating the $4.50 per gallon cost to fill his 275-gallon oil tank because he has a plan that should cut his heating bills in half. This winter, he explained, he intends to use vegetable oil he has collected for free from restaurants and has converted to bio-fuel to partially heat his house.

"Bio-fuel is a great alternative energy," he said. "... I thought it might be cool to try."

The method of converting oil to a form of diesel fuel has become increasingly more popular, especially when used as alternative fuel for cars.

"I did not invent this system ... I simply go to local restaurants, collect their used oil ... then I convert it to fuel," Steve explained.

"The oil everyone uses to heat their houses is really diesel fuel number two," he added. "So when the vegetable fuel is processed into bio-fuel, it becomes a diesel fuel ... I am going to use it to heat my house."

Although he explained the bio-fuel made from cooking oil is a little bit thinner than home heating oil, with some basic modifications to the heating system it can used in place of oil for heating homes.

In lieu of modifying his heating system Steve said that he plans to mix the homemade bio-fuel 50-50 with regular home heating oil.

"This winter is going to be a tough winter. It would have cost me around $1,200 every other month to fill my 275-gallon tank to heat my small 1,200-square-foot ranch," he said.

Steve's wife, Sandy, supported the conversion to bio-fuel. She explained that they were in fact considering pursuing a future business in the alternative fuel industry.

"We are in desperate need of getting off our oil dependency," Sandy said.

As part of Steve's commitment to the future of alternative fuel, he, along with his friends David Ritscher and Ben Provan, ran a workshop for 200 students at Oak Middle School. With plans to return again for the 2008-2009 school year, Steve said that the kids were really into it and asked great questions.

During the presentation, Ritscher, who showed up in his vegetable-oil-run 2005 Jetta, presented slides demonstrating how he converts vegetable oil to bio-fuel in his basement. Steve and Provan also outlined for the students several alternative vehicles soon to be on the market including the Hybrid Aptera, which gets 300 miles a gallon.

"It is important to educate children about alternative ways to think and do things," Steve said. "… Looking forward, there is only a finite supply of fossil fuel."