Department of Environmental Conservation

University of Rochester

Two separate Earth Day events in Rochester focused on vehicle emissions but in different ways.

On Buffalo Road in Gates, the Department of Environmental Conservation looked for trucks emitting harmful diesel fumes. It was part of the DEC's clean-air initiative, a program started last year in New York City that is now being implemented throughout the state. The idea is to cut down on diesel emissions in urban areas.

“It exacerbates lung diseases, it's a highly carcinogenic substance particularly the quantities that result in a failure for these tests. It's a lung, throat and bronchial irritant," said DEC police officer Beth Haag.

Other vehicle violations are often found when conducting these emissions tests. Violators range from large trucking firms to the independent driver.

DEC officers say while sometimes the violations may be intentional, many times they are not.

"It can sometimes be a company that's not maintaining its equipment but forcing their drivers to go out and drive substandard equipment,” Haag explained. “In other cases it’s a case of a piece of equipment malfunctioning."

Fines for first time violators can range anywhere from $300 to $1,400.

**pic**While the DEC was cracking down on diesel emissions, students at the University of Rochester unveiled their green bus. It runs on biodiesel that is made from discarded vegetable oil.

This project began three years ago when four undergraduate students wrote a business plan for an entrepreneurial competition. They say it was a very simple idea that helped create the first eco friendly shuttle bus on campus.

"Take waste vegetable oil from campus dining centers, convert it into biodiesel and put it in a bus to really serve as a billboard for the U of R's commitment to sustainability,” said Eric Weissmann, a UR junior working on the project. “After that it really just grew."

The students say it takes about three days to convert the vegetable oil to biodiesel using a processor they built. By using other discarded resources from campus makes this a rather inexpensive project.

"With the access that we have to laboratories, we use methanol that has been redistilled from laboratories at Strong. And we use sodium hydroxide or lye which has also been remade from Strong,” UR senior Dan Fink explained. “So it's extremely economical for us as it is for other people who choose to do it independently."

Nazareth College is doing a similar project using discarded vegetable oil.

Students from the U of R say they collaborated with those from Nazareth sharing information and techniques that will help make both campuses more energy efficient.

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