Gas and go? Not in the Green Grand Prix
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) - May 12, 2008 Literally.
His 1988 Isuzu Trooper was powered by wood chips in the only
road rally for alternate-fuel vehicles and hybrids in the United
States, sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America.
"We were going to have a wood-powered, supercharged Mercury
Cougar XR-7 in it this year, but it's not ready," said Beam, whose
nickname is, yes, "Chip."
As the price of gas continues to climb toward $4 a gallon, the
event attracted a record field of 46 cars - hybrid and
flexible-fuel vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell cars, as well as some
powered by biodiesel, electricity, liquid propane, compressed
natural gas, even vegetable oil.
The goal: to preach energy independence, reduce greenhouse gases
and educate the public about alternative fuels. It doesn't hurt to
have a good time doing it at the place road racing came of age in
America 60 years ago.
The rally is the brainchild of Bob Gillespie, a retired art
teacher and lifelong car aficionado.
"There are more people buying hybrid cars and they're excited
about them, but they didn't have a way to celebrate the
technology," said Gillespie, who drives a 2005 Toyota Prius with
82,000 miles on it. "I was thinking these people deserve a
sporting event of their own. So many people think these cars are
efficient, but they're not fun to drive."
Beam's contraption smells like a backed-up wood stove when he
fires it up, and then is pretty much emission-free. Even though it
has a top speed of only about 45 mph, Beam figures it goes about a
mile on a pound of wood, which is pretty economical when you crunch
the numbers. At $225 a cord around here - which can be about 4,000
pounds of wood - Beam could go around 4,000 miles. With gas at
$3.75 a gallon, a car getting 25 miles to the gallon would use 160
gallons of gas worth $600.
The car holds 500 pounds of wood and he can tow a trailer with
2,000 pounds more, stopping once an hour (at 25 mph) to refuel.
At today's prices, that's as efficient as any hybrid on the
road.
"People just go nuts when they see it," Beam said. "They just
can't believe you can run a car on anything but what they're used
to seeing. When we tell them we're running wood chips, they kind of
get a feeling that there's some hope, that there's other people
looking at alternative answers to high fuel costs."
Beam and partners Larry Shilling and Aron Lantz have formed a
startup company, Beaver Energy, based in Williamsport, Pa., and
hope to produce liquid fuel from wood waste and other organic
materials for under a dollar a gallon. The Trooper just helps
spread the word.
"It's definitely an obscure thing," Beam said.
Similar systems were used during World War II when gasoline was
a precious commodity.
"The Germans didn't let any of their people have fuel because
they needed it for the war machine, so they had to figure out
another way to run their vehicles," said Beam, a specialist in
computer-aided design and drawing. "They actually ran them on
charcoal, which is kind of an expensive process. The system I've
got actually turns wood into charcoal, and then turns it into
hydrogen and carbon, which then runs in the car."
The core of the Isuzu's power plant is protected in a steel
jacket because the temperature inside approaches 2,400 degrees, hot
enough to turn any organic material into hydrogen and carbon.
"It all happens in the car," Beam said. "When the car's
running, it's making fuel. We're not adding carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere. We're just recycling it."
The only byproduct is the water vapor and a trace of carbon
dioxide that come out the exhaust.
That's music to the ears of Gillespie, who counts conservation,
innovation and education as hallmarks of the Green Grand Prix.
"It's a perpetual motion machine," Gillespie said. "We don't
want him to cut down any trees, though."
Not to worry: The plan is to use the 7.5 million tons of wood
waste generated in Pennsylvania each year. The partners also are
seeking grants to build a plant to convert it and other organic
material into liquid fuel.
The inaugural Green Grand Prix four years ago was a simple
display of eight cars on the county courthouse lawn. It has morphed
into a bona fide race in which competitors vie in two categories:
fuel economy and the traditional scoring system used in SCCA
rallies. When they start, the drivers and their navigators have no
idea where they're headed. The event is on public roadways, and the
whole point is to arrive at the finish line when you're supposed to
- not too early and not too late - by obeying speed limits and not
making any wrong turns.
"It's not just a parade of cars. It's a full competition, and
they run a strenuous course," Gillespie said.
Two years ago, Tom Lyon of Carlsbad, Calif., won the
miles-per-gallon category, averaging 76.1 in a 2000 Honda Insight
over a 78-mile course around Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes
that stretch across the central part of New York.
Last year, competing against a field that included a 1908
Stanley Steamer, a Honda Accord hybrid sponsored by the IndyCar
Series and a bright red 1934 Ford pickup truck propelled by liquid
propane, Jory Squibb's Moonbeam Microcar had the best overall
mileage of 100 miles on a gallon of gas.
On Saturday, a biodiesel-powered Harley-Davidson motorcycle
ridden by New England Biodiesel founder Bill Bolch took top fuel
honors at 89 miles per gallon, while a Chevrolet Equinox powered by
a hydrogen fuel cell was second overall in the road rally.
Perhaps Gillespie's proudest moment came when six elementary
schools - five from New York and the other from Salt Lake City -
received awards for alternative fuel vehicle design in a contest
limited to students from fourth through seventh grade.
"Ultimately, the goal of the Green Grand Prix is to encourage
students that are interested in renewable energy and sustainable
economy issues to pursue careers in those fields and stay in the
Northeast," Gillespie said.