Conscious Choice Seattle: Fueling a Revolution

September 2004 | Evergreen Citizen

Fueling a Revolution

by Emily Garland

This month’s Evergreen Citizen, Dan Freeman, has been selling alternative fuels through his business, Dr. Dan’s Alternative Fuel Werks, for more than eight years. The only Seattle-based outfit that sells both biodiesel and natural gas, Dr. Dan’s provides fuel for about 800 customers in the Puget Sound area and averages eight new accounts a week.

Freeman’s professed obsession with alternative fuels began long before the doors of his business, now located in a small neighborhood two blocks from the Ballard Bridge, opened in 1990. Growing up in Ballard during the fuel shortage of the early 1970s, Freeman remembers walking past the lines of cars waiting for gas on his way to junior high.

He recalls poring over Hot Rod articles touting alcohol as the fuel that would save the world. By age 12 Freeman was testing alcohol’s effectiveness as a lawnmower fuel.

Freeman’s business began as strictly an auto-repair shop, until he installed a compressed natural gas (CNG) refilling station in 1996 and began selling biodiesel in 2001. Compressed natural gas, which has been used as fuel since the 1850s, is the safest, cleanest and cheapest motor vehicle fuel, Freeman says. It sells for $1.37 a gallon at Dr. Dan’s. Mileage is comparable to a car running on gasoline. All car manufacturers make natural gas vehicles, Freeman says, but the actual fuel is harder to come by. Natural gas is ideal for fleet vehicles and in-city drivers.

Biodiesel, which typically comes from refined vegetable oil or fat with the glycerin removed, is easier to find. Dan’s version (obtained from Iowa) is currently priced at $3.47 a gallon, a competitive rate, considering most customers report getting 40 to 50 miles per gallon, and some claim as much as 60. Plus, biodiesel, which can be used in any diesel machinery without modifications, is nontoxic, biodegradable and doesn’t contribute to global warming.

Between fill ups, the Doctor shared his thoughts with EM on his area of expertise: alternative fuels.

The evils of gasoline: “If gas were the new fuel, there would be no stinking way. The most dangerous thing people do is fill up their car. Diesel is hazardous in all forms — liquid, vapor and exhaust. And gas is even more hazardous. Instead of people waiting for hydrogen or getting a hybrid, they should be using natural gas, especially natural gas from renewable resources, and biodiesel.”

The future for alternative fuels: “It’s big. We have just basically been responding to demand from the huge grassroots movement. During the war it was all we could do to answer the phone. A good chunk of customers never want to use petroleum again for social, political, economical and environmental reasons.”

Rising cost of gas: It’s created some curiosity [in alternative fuels.] I think people think they are being manipulated and taken advantage of. But by my estimation, the cost of energy in the states is too cheap; it doesn’t reflect the true cost of fuel. We waste too much of it.”

For further information about Dr. Dan’s, visit www.fuelwerks.com.

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