Giant Panda leaving a smaller footprint

Roots-reggae band converts tour van to run on vegetable oil

Democrat and Chronicle
April 23, 2009

By Troy L. Smith

With the push of a button, Rochester’s most prolific touring band is doing more than it ever has to help save the world.

Following the lead of environmentally conscience artists like Willie Nelson and Jack Johnson, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad recently converted the engine on its 2005 Dodge Sprinter to run on pure vegetable oil.

The members of the band have always prided themselves on being eco-conscious — they recycle and avoid taking long showers while on the road for 180 shows a year. However, the move to a vegetable oil-fueled van ended a contradiction the band had been living with for a while.

“We were essentially living the driving life of a trucker,” says bassist James Searl. “You’re supporting the horrible companies who are selling you the gas, and then you would go onstage and try to deliver a completely different message to fans.”

The installation of the vehicle’s new system was done by V.O. Tech, a fuel systems company in Mahopac (47 miles outside of New York City) for $5,000. The system uses heat from the engine — which warms up on diesel fuel — to heat the vegetable oil. Once the vegetable oil reaches 180 degrees, the driver can literally push a button on the dashboard to switch the engine from running on diesel to running on vegetable oil.

Changes to the van aren’t all that visible, except for a plain looking steel tank in back and temperature gauges above the dash. Searl says most of the modifications were done underneath the vehicle.

In addition to its environmental benefits, the retrofitted van offers big financial benefits. Searl estimates that Giant Panda could save nearly $12,000 in a given year by almost eliminating the use of diesel fuel, which costs around $2.27 per gallon, the national average, according to the American Automobile Association.

Drummer Chris O’Brian says most of the vegetable oil the band uses for fuel previously was used by Chinese and chipotle restaurants. (Band members have to run the oil through a filter first so crumbs don’t get into the engine.)

“A lot of these (restaurants) have to pay people to unload the stuff, so they’re all about it,” O’Brian says. “Revision, a band we know out of Ithaca that runs on vegetable oil, has a card with English on one side and Chinese on the other when they go into Chinese restaurants. It explains everything.”

Giant Panda currently is playing an East Coast run of shows, including a free outdoor performance at Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday, April 24. The next major stretch of running on vegetable oil will come this summer when the group travels the country with stops that include Michigan’s Rothbury Festival and the popular Reggae on the Rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.

“This is all about the six of us doing our own part, day-to-day, for 180 shows per year,” O’Brian says. “It’s really amazing what you could do when you put it on a bigger scale.”

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