Bart Comiskey teaches a small class in his basement

Tag : Fuel Oil Gas

"When gas prices got to $2 a gallon, Bart was done,'' Atha saidabout their choice to look into alternative fuel sources about fiveyears ago.
Biodiesel is made mainly from waste vegetable oil combined withother substances such as lye and methanol.
The Comiskeys "got off the pipeline,'' as Bart likes to say,believing biodiesel offers cheaper and cleaner fuel and lets themavoid participating in money spent for foreign oil.
They have also made a business out of it. They are dealers for asystem that makes biodiesel called FuelMeister II with theircompany C & E Biodiesel.
The Comiskeys mainly sell in Tennessee and surrounding states andhold workshops at their home. Colleges, businesses are customers
The FuelMeister II unit makes biodiesel at considerably reducedcost for those who use diesel fuel in many trucks, furnaces,generators, lawn and farm equipment, a nd cars.
Several colleges, including Middle Tennessee State, Austin PeayState and Tennessee State universities, are among schools that havepurchased the processor to make diesel fuel and as a teaching toolfor students. High schools have also been buyers.
Other buyers include owners of nurseries, small towing companies,farms and other businesses, and those in construction, BartComiskey said.
The couple said they have had record sales in recent months as fuelcosts have skyrocketed, though they declined to give specificnumbers.
A FuelMeister II is more suited to larger users of biodiesel, butComiskey has seen people who may have only one diesel vehicle andrelatively low use work together to use the system.
"It is an advantage to people who want to get off the pipeline orto go green,'' said Comiskey, 65. "I do it for national securityand to quit dumping trillions of dollars (abroad). If we don't getour act together and come up with alternative fuel sources.&''
Ron King, a resident of the airport area, purchased a FuelmeisterII last fall and makes biodiesel for his car and business. He sayshe saves hundreds of dollars a week.
"It's a big help,'' he said. "It's not that hard, a little timeconsuming."
Dennis Carwile of Nashville helped start the C & E business withthe Comiskeys. He now owns First Fuel TN, a company that sellsmainly biodiesel processors and equipment for large-scalecommercial uses such as farming and construction. The Comiskeys andCarwile don't view themselves as competitors.
"It's about being fuel independent,'' Carwile said.
Bart Comiskey sold his own company that marketed industrial parts,about a year and a half ago to a partner and is now exclusivelydoing C & E Biodiesel.
Atha's background is as an executive secretary for severalcompanies, including Bart's old business.
"People thought we were crazy. 'What are they doing now?' '' sheremembered when the couple first made the jump into biodiesel aboutfive years ago. "People don't think we're so crazy anymore.''