This motor oil is replacing traditional oil and will be easier to safely dispose of because it is made from beef tallow (or fat), is biodegradable, and contains no hazardous components (Car&Travel June 2009.) This should make me happy, however, the thought of a bottle of beef fat is kind of gross to me just not for the reasons you may be thinking.
I am stuck thinking about how much of our potable (drinkable) water a cow consumes per day (6-30 gallons depending on the cow’s purpose) and how much grain during that same time (dairy cows eat 100 lbs of feed per day).
What will they do to get enough beef fat in order to make this product? I can’t help but think of veal in cages with tubes going down their throats, force-fed. Ducks used for fois gras have a similar life but with mashed corn instead of milk tubed in to fatten their livers.
Beef Fat in a Bottle
I want to know how production of this product helps versus hurt the environment? How much petroleum will be used to produce one bottle as compared to a bottle of motor oil and folded into that -what is the environmental impact of growing beef to run our cars?
From their site Green Earth Tehnologies states
“G-OIL is made with American-grown renewable animal fats. These saturated fats, whose molecular single-bond carbon chains are similar to common petroleum oils, have no harsh effects on the environment, and drastically cut our dependence on foreign oil. Consider that it takes three barrels of crude oil to make one barrel of motor oil, but it only takes one barrel of animal fat to produce one barrel of G-OIL and thus will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
I missed the line about how many barrels of oil used to produce the barrel of G-Oil. I am not criticizing. Yet. I just want the information. I have to admit that the less transparent the company, the more likely I would be to criticize. An admission that ‘we are not perfect, but here is our best effort so far’ is great. Pretending to be something you are not… well, that’s another story.
Keep in mind I am not yet fully opposed to this, although I am sure my vegan and vegetarian friends won’t like it. I feel like I need more information. It seems, up front, to be a better alternative to traditional motor oil, but could go either way. I just want to know if this is greenwashing or a good option.
