Sunrise 5:56 am: Change the fuel, change the world

The Dawn Joggers, accompanied by the female DJ's college roommate, Chris Cullen Wallace, headed off this morning in search of The Big Green Bus. They'd read it was going to be making a local appearance as one of the participants, Brian Hendrickson, is from Menlo Park, and sure enough, there it was parked in front of his parent's house. During the female DJ's and Cullen's college era, a big green bus powered by vegetable oil would have been considered a hippie bus. But today it's a serious endeavor by a group of 12 Dartmouth students "committed to promoting the use of alternative energies through education and example." The 10,000 mile journey across the U.S. is fueled by waste vegetable oil that they pick up from restaurants on the road. The SunPower SPR-215 solar panel, mounted on the roof of the bus, helps power a fuel warming system, required to keep the oil from thickening in the fuel lines. The solar electricity also charges the student's laptop computers and digital cameras. The Green Bus team is believed to be the first using solar technology in this type of application. The bus will be in the Bay Area through July 13. More details can be found here.