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The Conscientious Cruiser
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and AnnArborAlive are proud to sponsor and assist our friend Amy Grettum as she and Keith Baker work to promote awareness of sane ecological directions for our society.  We will make every effort to expand this website to keep you informed as Amy and Keith launch the Conscientious Cruiser on it’s mission for a cleaner and sustainable future.
 
Contact your Cruise Director at 734-732-5078
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10-20-05  Energy Fest  - 9-4PM  Lansing, MI 
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Biobus exudes sweet smell of success 'Conscientious Cruiser' on the road, thanks to Amy Grettum's efforts

Sunday, August 14, 2005
BY AMY WHITESALL
News Staff Reporter

Amy Grettum hates the smell of diesel smoke, but that just makes firing up her 40-foot, biodiesel-powered bus that much sweeter. Instead of a choking cloud of black smoke, she gets a little puff of white smoke and a lot of satisfaction.

Grettum, a friend of the environment and licensed builder, wasn't necessarily out to prove anything when she bought the bus. She just wanted someplace she could sleep while she renovated her 150-year-old Ypsilanti house. But given her interest in all things Earth-friendly and her enthusiasm for sharing what she knows, it didn't take long for the "Conscientious Cruiser'' idea to take shape.

Grettum was looking at a used camper at Bunky's Trade Center in Ypsilanti Township, weighing what it would take to convert its gasoline engine to diesel, when she looked a little farther down the lot.

"There was my bus, just sitting there waiting for me to buy it,'' she says.

The bus, a flat-fronted Flxible Metro once used by University of Michigan athletic teams, already had the diesel engine Grettum wanted. That meant it could burn biodiesel fuel without modification. It also had a dead battery, a bad alternator and locked-up brakes, but Grettum had a vision.

"She's like a dog with a bone,'' says friend Keith Baker, who helped with the repairs. "She sinks her teeth into it and won't let go. She's not the one who stands there and says, 'What do you mean it doesn't run?' She's the one that goes out and finds out why it doesn't run and goes about making it run. She's very determined. It was always running in her mind, it was just she hadn't done it yet.''

Grettum and Baker replaced the batteries and the alternator, then went to the University of Michigan bus depot where, with the help of a mechanic named Arnold, they discovered that a safety feature had caused the brakes to lock up. Once that was fixed, Grettum drove the bus off the lot.

"You should have seen the look on those guys' faces,'' says Baker. "They thought for sure that bus would never move. I was following in Amy's pickup truck when she drove it off the lot. They were both outside and the looks on their faces were worth a thousand words.''

Inside, Grettum installed bamboo flooring donated by the ReUse Center. She insulated the undercarriage and plans to put in cozy radiant floor heat to replace the noisy old blower. She envisions solar panels on the roof for alternate power and computer screens for educational presentations.

Within the next year Grettum plans to visit schools and universities throughout the Midwest and South, spreading the word about renewable resources and Earth-friendly construction.

Grettum's in the final stages of getting nonprofit status for the Conscientious Cruiser.

"More than anything else this is about opening eyes,'' says George Thom III, who's helping Grettum develop a business plan. "Amy comes much more from the standpoint of 'because it's clean.' I come from the other angle. I don't want this reliance on foreign oil. Why not have an alternate fuel source and why not get more conversion over to it? This is something most people don't realize is possible.''

The bus runs on B99, which is 99 percent vegetable oil mixed with 1 percent regular diesel fuel. Grettum says it gives off almost no exhaust, except for that little puff of white smoke when she starts it up. Sniff around the exhaust pipe and you'll find it smells kind of like fried food. It also idles more quietly than a vehicle that size powered by regular diesel. The only extra work associated with switching from regular diesel to biodiesel was changing the fuel filter in the first couple of weeks after the switch because the biodiesel cleans particulate crud out of the engine and deposits it in the filter.

Biodiesel is processed with methanol and lye, which thins the fuel out so it can go through an engine's injectors. Diesel engines can also run on pure vegetable oil - just like the stuff they cook French fries in - if they're fitted with a heating element, which thins the oil by heating it.

Heating elements vary in method and range in cost from $50 to a few hundred dollars. Grettum says she hasn't decided yet which type will be best for the bus, but she's determined to make the conversion - in part because when she takes the bus out on the road there will probably be times when it's easier to find a greasy spoon than a station that sells biodiesel.

Whenever possible, Grettum takes the bus out where people are so she can spread the word about alternative fuels. She drove the bus in the Ypsilanti Fourth of July parade and hopes to have it in the Heritage Festival parade, too.

"Most people are very interested in it,'' says Grettum. "They wander through, look at the materials I have. They have good questions and they ask them of me. I haven't really run into resistance to the method. There are some who think it's wacky, but most of the response has been very good.''

So far, except for the donated flooring and the donated time and labor of friends, Grettum has paid for all the work on the bus herself, including about $500 just to get it running. She did get her first donations a few weeks ago, though, when a pair of people who visited the bus at the Ypsilanti Farmers Market each gave her $2.

"She really believes in the whole message, that we don't have to drill holes in the ground; we don't have to go to Alaska and drill in a wildlife refuge,'' Baker says. "This may not be the answer, but it is an answer.''

Amy Whitesall can be reached at (734) 994-6842 or awhitesall@annarbornews.com.



 
 
            
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