- Blazing a trail with whisky and cow poop

TV show crosses U.S. without using gasoline

30 different vehicles in series starting Tuesday
Apr. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
SHERRYLL SOBIE
SPECIAL TO THE STAR


What do cow poop, actor Daryl Hannah, a custom Chevy S10 pickup and Froot Loops have in common? Answer: Coolfuel: Roadtrip, a 13-part television series debuting on OLN, hosted by Australian adventurer Shaun Murphy.

The series follows the 39-year-old Murphy and his crew, which includes three humans and one scene-stealing canine, as they cross the U.S. using 30 one-of-a-kind vehicles and 12 varieties of alternative fuel.

In eight months, they cover 25,750 kilometres and 30 states using bio-diesel, pure vegetable oil, corn whiskey, hot rocks (thermal energy), and, yes, cow dung and Froot Loops. Just about anything but gasoline.

Along the way, Murphy and sidekick Sparky, his Jack Russell, collect fresh Wisconsin cow poop to power an Electra Cruiser (an electric-powered Harley-Davidson style motorcycle), hang with Hannah on her fully sustainable Colorado ranch, score some Canadian hemp oil for the Chevy S10 and concoct a breakfast of champions (Froot Loops, marshmallows and more) for a voracious stretch limo Hummer.

"At the start we were going by the seat of our pants. We really weren't sure if we could make it," says Murphy, a well-known TV personality in Australia, who has produced and hosted National Geographic and Discovery wildlife, travel and adventure shows for the past 10 years.

They began by calling and emailing prospective owners of alternative energy vehicles, Murphy says, and the response was tremendous.

Soon word-of-mouth took over and people were offering up all sorts of interesting vehicles like a 1996 BMW Z3 Roadster that runs on 100 per cent corn whisky, a bio-diesel grass car (a 1982 VW Jetta covered in AstroTurf), a T-Zero (the fastest electric car in the world), and more.

"We were three Aussies, a New Zealander and a very cute dog (Sparky) running off our personalities, hoping to hell that these people would lend us their vehicles and point us in the direction to get or make some fuel," says Murphy, who lives in Sydney and drives a Land Rover that runs on bio-diesel.

In episode four, Murphy and the gang are in Wisconsin — America's Dairyland. The state is known for its milk and cheese, but what really gets the cool fuel connoisseur's mouth watering are the mountains of cow manure.

"Cow poop produces methane," says Murphy. "So all we had to do was find farmers who were producing electricity from methane gas in the cow poop. And, lo and behold, we found a bunch."

The poop is collected and placed in an anaerobic digester where it decomposes with the help of bacteria. The decomposed material creates methane, which Murphy uses to charge up the Electra Cruiser's 10 12-volt batteries.

In the episode prior to the cow pies, Murphy rides around on an El Chopper ET motorcycle with Daryl Hannah (Blade Runner, Splash, Kill Bill). The El Chopper's motor can be operated at 24, 36 or 48 volts and 400 amps. Its performance ranges from 48 km/h to 96-plus km/h.

Hannah has a truck that runs on soybeans, and in Murphy's words, also has "some other really groovy things going on at her ranch." To find out more, though, you'll have to tune into the show.

Another truck featured in the show, and one that will appeal to truck enthusiasts who like a little bling, is the Chevy S10 pickup. Sporting a helicopter turbine engine and two exhausts that blow flames, the souped-up S10 spirits Murphy and Sparky across Alabama on hempoline.

And the hemp oil, which is the major ingredient in hempoline, comes courtesy of Canada.

"Up to that point, the Chevy had never used anything but diesel. In the show, we run it on 80 per cent Canadian hemp oil and 20 per cent bio-corn whisky.

"When it starts up it sounds like a chopper, like, Woo, wooooo!'" Murphy mimics. "Anyone who's near it goes, `What the heck is that?! That thing is going to take off!'

"It goes 160 m.p.h. (257 km/h). It absolutely goes like the clappers. It flies!"

Now from hemp oil to another multi-purpose fuel source — Froot Loops. It only makes sense that the neon-coloured, sugar-coated cereal is reserved for the finest of vehicles travelling through California, the most glamorous of all American states.

But the H1 Hummer stretch limo, at 9.75 metres long with a 6.5-litre diesel engine, has the appetite of a hefty linebacker. So Murphy feeds it with five different fuels.

"The purpose of the mixed concoction was to give it an extra punch — like a vitamin shot. Its base fuel is bio-diesel with an ethanol booster at the back, which pumps the power up. To get extra muscle and mileage, we also had a gasifier that vapourizes food to provide fuel, plus 10 solar panels on the roof that produced electricity to create hydrogen, and a hydrogen converter," Murphy says.

Something a little more utilitarian is the 1989 Ford Econoline van that Murphy and Sparky drive through Texas on straight peanut and veggie oil.

"They are true fuels that you can run a diesel engine on," Murphy says.

In fact, Rudolf Diesel, who invented the diesel motor in the 1890s, designed it to run not on petroleum, but on peanut oil.

How is it done? First Murphy collects used veggie oil from greasy spoons and then filters it using an old T-shirt. After that, it's poured directly into the tank.

"As long as the temperature is above 70°F (21°C) you can run any diesel with two tanks, on straight veggie oil. We would start one tank on bio-diesel, let it run for five minutes to allow the veggie oil to heat up and then switch it over," Murphy says.

It sounds like an elementary science experiment. But would it be so simple for the average car owner to make the switch?

Murphy thinks so.

"We have a choice of gasoline engines or diesel engines. For normal, everyday gasoline engines, you can run on 90 per cent gasoline and 10 per cent ethanol. You can do this right now. Diesel engines can go bio-diesel with 80 per cent vegetable oil and 20 per cent ethanol. We can stick that in any existing diesel engine, no modifications required."

Aside from environmental benefits — which are major — switching to a cleaner burning alternative fuel also means saving lots of money.

A 20-litre bucket of used veggie oil costs Murphy nothing. Compare that with 20 litres of gasoline: at an average of $1 per litre, the cost is $20.

What's stopping us from making the switch? According to Murphy it boils down to education. And from there, it's a domino effect.

Once the education comes, he says, there will be demand and then there will be infrastructure.

Murphy says the push has already begun.

"Demand for ethanol has grown tremendously over the past two to three years, and the amount of ethanol plants has doubled in the last five years.

"There's no doubt about it. You can grow your own fuel," he says, adding, "How cool is that?"

So adopting the cool fuel philosophy is not a far-fetched or strange thing.

"No matter where you are in the world, everyone has farmers. Sugar and corn farmers are looking for an extra income — and fuel could be an answer. It's a match made in heaven. It's bizarre that we haven't totally gone there yet."

Maybe soon. In the meantime, what's next for Murphy, Sparky and the crew?

"We're planning on doing a series in Canada where we run vehicles on beer, poutine, Screech and wheat."

Now that's cool.


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Coolfuel: Roadtrip, a 13-part series, premieres Tuesday on OLN at 8 p.m. For more info, see http://www.coolfuelroadtrip.com