Hershey Lodge Cooking Waste to Power Holiday Lighting

Hershey Lodge will use biodiesel made by recycling its used cooking oil from its four restaurants and convention center to power some of its outdoor lighting this holiday season.

The Pennsylvania-based resort is working with local attorney Gary Lysaght, who started a small local biodiesel co-op several years ago to produce off-road biodiesel. Lysaght collects the used cooking oil from Hershey Lodge and converts it to biodiesel through a chemical process. The Lysaght co-op then returns the biodiesel to the Lodge to be blended with diesel fuel and used in generators and other off-road uses.

"The Lodge will keep over 200 tons of recyclable material out of landfills this year, not including the 3,000 gallons of cooking oil," says Bill McCorkel CEOE, director of engineering for Hershey Lodge.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, biodiesel is safe to handle as it is made from cooking oils and alcohol. If it spills on the ground, it will quickly degrade into natural organic residues. Biodiesel also reduces nearly all forms of air pollution. When compared to regular diesel, pure biodiesel can reduce cancer risks by 94 percent; biodiesel blended with regular diesel can still reduce that risk by as much as 27 percent. These biodiesel blends also reduce the soot and smell of diesel exhaust.