Daniel P. Flanagan and Jacob Lawrence

Flanagan and Lawrence wanted to do something to increase students' understanding of alternative fuels and renewable energy. Their "Going Green: Understanding and Using Alternative Fuels" program does just that by converting waste vegetable oil collected from the school's cafeteria and a nearby diner to alternative bio-fuel that will power demonstration vehicles, a small school maintenance vehicle and a golf-cart-style vehicle used for hallway security. Forty students in grades 10-12 will learn about renewable and alternate forms of energy via hands-on exploration and real data collection and will become ambassadors of "green change" in the school and local community. They will also build bio-diesel engine compartments that will enable certain gas-powered vehicles to alternatively use bio-diesel fuel that has been mixed by a Fuelmeister Bio-Diesel Mixer. This project provides students with an opportunity to gain applied, authentic experience working on alternative fuel vehicles which may very well be the wave of the next decade. Their understanding of the growing industry of renewable and bio-fuel systems will increase their career opportunities, simultaneously invoking change in the community by showcasing actual solutions to some of our current environmental problems.