T
The420Guy
Guest
HAMPTON -- After driving 13,000 miles in three months in a hemp
biodiesel-fueled Mercedes, crammed with three other people, Grayson Sigler
still doesn't call himself an activist.
At best, he said, he's a "reluctant spokesperson."
Two years ago, the Hampton pianist and graphic designer set out on a
round-the-country trip to promote biodiesel fuel made from hemp seed oil.
The Daily Press featured his trip in August 2001, a month after he started.
He estimated that the Hemp Car - as it came to be known - was seen or heard
of by 150 million people, based on the international media attention and Web
site visits it spawned. That certainly counts for promoting the cause, but
Sigler said that since he's returned, his role in the hemp biodiesel
movement has been mainly limited to answering e-mail that comes via
www.hempcar.org and answering phone calls every now and then.
"I wasn't a hempster before doing this," said Sigler, who is 35 and works as
a self-employed Web and graphic designer. "I'm not a Deadhead. It just
seemed like a great idea. And we pulled it off."
The trip - which Sigler made with his wife, Kellie, and friends Scott Furr
and Charles Ruchalski - scored possibly its biggest media hit when the Hemp
Car made the cover of the Village Voice, a well-known alternative weekly
based in New York City. But the Web site continues to draw - Sigler said it
sometimes gets up to 100,000 hits some days. The trip also spawned an
imitator in Japan. A group there took a bus on a similar trip and credits
the U.S. Hemp Car on their Web site, www.hempcar.jp.
The American version started with the car, a 1983 Mercedes-Benz station
wagon - a diesel - "the all-time greatest Mercedes-Benz ever made," said
Sigler of the car's reliability. Mix in the fact that any diesel can run on
alternative diesel fuels derived from peanut, soybean and hemp seed oil.
Finally, add a goal of promoting the industrial uses of hemp. Sigler had
himself a trip.
Production of hemp, a relative of marijuana, is banned in the United States.
But people like Sigler argue that its legalization could provide a needed
cash crop for farmers and the raw material for a wealth of products - fuel,
clothes, rope and food. A study by the U.S. Department of Energy showed that
biodiesel-fueled cars reduced the emissions of air toxins and cancer-causing
compounds by as much as 90 percent and the amount of hydrocarbons by 56
percent.
The car, decked out in colorful sponsors' ads, ran on legally made fuel -
because the hemp used to produce it was grown elsewhere. It got about 27
miles to the gallon - the same as with regular diesel.
With four people inside, the four-door wagon was cramped at times, but the
trip was worth it, Sigler said.
"It was grueling, but it was great," he said, adding, "I haven't had a
burning urge to go out and do it again."
via: RemyC <remyc@prodigy.net> &
EV WORLD.COM : The 'Future In Motion'® Since 1998
Update Version 3.30
Hemp Car Completes 13,000 Mile Journal Promoting Biodiesel
Growing hemp banned in USA because of "war on drugs."
Source: Hampton Roads Daily Press
[Jul 21, 2003]
biodiesel-fueled Mercedes, crammed with three other people, Grayson Sigler
still doesn't call himself an activist.
At best, he said, he's a "reluctant spokesperson."
Two years ago, the Hampton pianist and graphic designer set out on a
round-the-country trip to promote biodiesel fuel made from hemp seed oil.
The Daily Press featured his trip in August 2001, a month after he started.
He estimated that the Hemp Car - as it came to be known - was seen or heard
of by 150 million people, based on the international media attention and Web
site visits it spawned. That certainly counts for promoting the cause, but
Sigler said that since he's returned, his role in the hemp biodiesel
movement has been mainly limited to answering e-mail that comes via
www.hempcar.org and answering phone calls every now and then.
"I wasn't a hempster before doing this," said Sigler, who is 35 and works as
a self-employed Web and graphic designer. "I'm not a Deadhead. It just
seemed like a great idea. And we pulled it off."
The trip - which Sigler made with his wife, Kellie, and friends Scott Furr
and Charles Ruchalski - scored possibly its biggest media hit when the Hemp
Car made the cover of the Village Voice, a well-known alternative weekly
based in New York City. But the Web site continues to draw - Sigler said it
sometimes gets up to 100,000 hits some days. The trip also spawned an
imitator in Japan. A group there took a bus on a similar trip and credits
the U.S. Hemp Car on their Web site, www.hempcar.jp.
The American version started with the car, a 1983 Mercedes-Benz station
wagon - a diesel - "the all-time greatest Mercedes-Benz ever made," said
Sigler of the car's reliability. Mix in the fact that any diesel can run on
alternative diesel fuels derived from peanut, soybean and hemp seed oil.
Finally, add a goal of promoting the industrial uses of hemp. Sigler had
himself a trip.
Production of hemp, a relative of marijuana, is banned in the United States.
But people like Sigler argue that its legalization could provide a needed
cash crop for farmers and the raw material for a wealth of products - fuel,
clothes, rope and food. A study by the U.S. Department of Energy showed that
biodiesel-fueled cars reduced the emissions of air toxins and cancer-causing
compounds by as much as 90 percent and the amount of hydrocarbons by 56
percent.
The car, decked out in colorful sponsors' ads, ran on legally made fuel -
because the hemp used to produce it was grown elsewhere. It got about 27
miles to the gallon - the same as with regular diesel.
With four people inside, the four-door wagon was cramped at times, but the
trip was worth it, Sigler said.
"It was grueling, but it was great," he said, adding, "I haven't had a
burning urge to go out and do it again."
via: RemyC <remyc@prodigy.net> &
EV WORLD.COM : The 'Future In Motion'® Since 1998
Update Version 3.30
Hemp Car Completes 13,000 Mile Journal Promoting Biodiesel
Growing hemp banned in USA because of "war on drugs."
Source: Hampton Roads Daily Press
[Jul 21, 2003]
