These days we want everything to be eco-friendly. So after eco-friendly cars, now we have an eco-friendly bike. A bike that runs on fuel made from bacon grease and gives you an extremely good mileage as well. A food company from Minnesota named Hormel Foods collaborated with a biodiesel firm to convert this idea into a reality.
‘We actually had the grease from our Rochelle, Illinois plant so it is all 100 percent Black Label,’ brand manager Nick Schweitzer at Hormel says. The bike gives a mileage of 75-100 miles i.e 121-161 km in one gallon of bacon grease, which is available for $3.50 (£2.10). Economical, eh?
According to Scott Schraufnagel from the advertising agency behind the venture, there won’t be any hazardous emissions as the bike runs on B-100 bio diesel. So all its going to give out are some meaty fumes.
One gallon of fuel can be generated from one pound of bacon grease. According to what the team told The Washington Times: ‘If there were a bacon biodiesel tanker spill in the ocean, the fuel would be safe and mouth-watering fish food. This bacon biodiesel is nearly carbon-neutral, meaning it contributes almost zero emissions to global warming.’
Bacon is not the first one in this business, McDonalds did the the same thing, powering vehicles, with chip fat. According to them, they would be saving 1650 tonnes of carbon every year that is like taking off 2424 family cars off the roads for a year.
The inedible fats have also been used for this purpose, that included surplus lipids from the liposuction department, but this practice is now banned. The bike is supposed to be featured in a documentary, where a man embarks on a journey to meet meat lovers on his way from Austin, Texas to San Diego, California. The plan is to meet people who are really passionate about bacon on their travels.
The motorbike will arrive in San Diego in time for the city’s annual bacon festival, where the documentary will be shown. And it is expected to be in display at the Spam Museum in Minnesota, later in the year.