Jon Starbuck
Jon Starbuck is the co-author of Run Your Diesel Vehicle on Biofuels, along with Gavin Harper, now widely regarded as the definitive manual for DIY biodiesel production and vegetable oil conversion. This book has everything you need to make the switch from expensive, environment-damaging carbon fuel to cheap (and, in many cases, free), clean fuel for your vehicle. Practical and decidedly apolitical, this unique guide focuses on technical details, parts, and instructions.
In this informal workshop Jon will discuss the various options for running a diesel engine on biofuels; from home biodiesel production to conversion of diesel engines to run directly on vegetable oil. We will discuss how diesel engines work, what the various diesel-biofuels options are, the how to collect used grease from restaurants, how to tell the good grease from the bad. The chemistry of biodiesel, making biodiesel, building or buying a biodiesel reactor, testing your biodiesel, engine conversion, SVO, WVO, one tank, twin tanks. Also discussed will be other, less orthodox, solutions, scams and cons and solutions for non-diesel engines.
About Jon
Jon is a dedicated environmental author and activist, currently based in California. He focuses on renewable and alternative energy systems, and is a respected specialist in the biofuels sector having designed and built site-specific biodiesel reactors, and taught biofuels courses in the UK and USA. Jon has converted several vehicles to run on vegetable oil and has written web sites and taught courses on the subject of vegetable oil and biodiesel. He has a BSc. Physics from the University of Kent and is currently pursuing a Masters in Renewable Energy Systems Technology at Loughborough University. He worked and taught at the Centre For Alternative Technology for five years.
