Couple to Cruise Cross Country in Veggie Oil Car Using No Gas

First posted on 07-11-2008

With gas prices soaring and an economy plummeting, “green” expert Debra Lynn Dadd and her husband, Larry Redalia, decided to take a big step to help reduce global warming and the drain to their wallets when they converted their 1978 diesel-fuel Mercedes Benz into a vehicle that runs on used vegetable oil. Now Debra, who has been speaking and writing about green issues for more than 20 years and has been called the “Queen of Green” by The New York Times, is planning a cross-country trek with her husband in a dependable car with no gas bills.

Says Debra, “The car runs on just straight vegetable oil that we get from local restaurants. Of course, my husband does go to have lunch when he picks up the oil, to give them a bit of an exchange, but he gets about $40 worth of nonpolluting fuel for an $8 lunch that he would have bought anyway.”

Larry bought the car last year for $835, with the intent of converting it. He researched conversion kits and found one to fit his car for $250. According to Larry, the conversion process was easy. It only took a few hours, and now he owns a car that gets about 27 miles per gallon (about the same as diesel fuel), runs on straight vegetable oil and “doesn’t produce any carbon waste.” Oh, and he loves driving by gas stations and waving as they sell patrons gas at more than $4 a gallon.

For the past four months, Larry has been driving the car throughout the Tampa Bay area. Recently, however, he drove the car from Florida to California to meet Debra. On July 14, the couple will begin a cross-country trek back to Florida, with stops in Las Vegas, NV; Boulder, Co; Topeka, KS; Kansas City and St. Louis, MO; Nashville and Chattanooga, TN; and Atlanta, GA.

The couple is looking forward to the drive and has planned a kickoff event in Pasadena, Calif., to get things rolling. “It should be a great trip and a great way to encourage people to do more for the environment,” says Debra.

Hailed as the “Queen of Green” by the New York Times, Debra Lynn Dadd is a green expert, speaker and author of Home Sweet Home and Really Green. She is available to discuss many green issues including how she and her husband converted their car to run on used vegetable oil, how to keep your home safe from toxins, how to know if the products you’re purchasing are really green and much more.

To learn more about the veggie car, check out the Web site with trip journal/blog at http://dld123.com/veggiecar123/. In addition to her veggie car Web site, Debra also maintains Debra’s List, one of the most comprehensive Web sites of truly green products at http://www.debraslist.com.