The Crimson White March 8, 2004

R.O.S.E. seeks to promote energy conservation

Group held 5K race this weekend on UA campus

By Rhesha Smith

Staff Reporter

Helping the environment by promoting the conservation of energy is a task that members of Project Recycled Oil Saves Energy, an offshoot of the College of Engineering, embrace.

Project R.O.S.E. members and other members of the UA community gathered early Saturday morning for the seventh-annual Run for the Roses, a 5K run on the UA campus to raise money for the cause.

Project R.O.S.E. was founded in 1977 and seeks to facilitate the recycling of used motor oil. The organization is part of the chemical engineering department and funded by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Science Technology and Energy Division.

“I want to help educate the public about the importance of recycling used motor oil,” said Charlotte Nix, who has been the assistant coordinator for more than five years.

Recycling used motor oil has its benefits for any community, R.O.S.E. members said.

Most drinking water comes from lakes, and if people continue to have a place to dump used oil, it can stay out of lakes and makes is easier for water treatment plants to purify drinking water, said Gary April, head of the chemical engineering department and founder of Project R.O.S.E.

Sheri Powell, head coordinator of R.O.S.E. said recycled motor oil makes for valuable energy elsewhere.

“The recycled oil is mainly used as a fuel in the industrial industry to burn down materials to make cement,” Powell said.

Statistics from an Environmental Protection Agency handbook state that one gallon of used oil can make a million gallons of fresh water undrinkable. A million gallons of fresh water could supply the needs of 50 people for an entire year, according to the EPA.

R.O.S.E. has recycling stations at several oil-change centers in Tuscaloosa.

In the more rural parts of Alabama, the group has set up 275-gallon tanks for communities that cannot get to a recycling station on a regular basis. The organization has more than 600 sites in Alabama and at least one in every county.

R.O.S.E. facilitates the recycling process by providing a pick-up service that allows residents and students to put their used motor oil on the curb so a recycling service can dispose of it properly. R.O.S.E. also has an outreach program that has educated community residents in various workshops.

“We are a service organization, and part of our outreach is to represent the University in any kind of workshop,” Powell said.

The group has given presentations to the Tombigbee Council, Girl Scouts of American and Cahaba Council during the Cahaba Girl Scout Math and Science Fair help at the corporate headquarters for Alabama Power.

Powell said R.O.S.E. has had a real impact on several community members.

“It’s surprising at who is paying attention,” Powell said. “It was obvious that students at the Morgan County science fair researched out Web site.”

Jeff Turner, a sophomore electrical engineering major who ran in the R.O.S.E. race Saturday, said the group has a big impact when considering all its efforts, such as the recycling stations at local oil change businesses.

“They make small differences, but they add up,” Turner said.