Shepard Students Create Biodiesel Generator
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Starting next week, Shepard High School science students will use solar power to turn used cooking oil into clean biofuel.
Podcast
Students Michael Peretz and Maddy Kachold came up with the idea of a biodiesel generator.
It turns the waste into fuel with the help of donated solar panels.
AP physics teacher Brian Sievers estimates the refinery, located in the Crestwood Public Works Department, will convert about 120 gallons of used cooking oil into 80 gallons of biodiesel.
It could potentially save Crestwood some $3,000 annually in fuel costs.
Sievers says the solar-powered refinery project has taught the students everything from fund-raising to the fundamentals of combustion.
