WeEarth

Dr. Alan Bittner runs a liposculpture clinic in Beverly Hills that has recently been shut down due to his unorthodox practice of using his patients’ leftover fat as fuel for his car.

At the doctor’s site, http://lipodiesel.org/, you can read all about the Dr. Bittner’s interest in green activities as a long-time member of the Sierra Club. The site reports that starting last year, as part of his efforts to get off fossil fuels and use alternative energy, he began using some of the fat from his liposuction patients and turning into biodiesel for his SUV. He calls it LipoDiesel.

According to Dr. Bittner, "My patients universally love the idea of converting their unwanted fat into fuel. Not only do they get to lose their love handles or chubby belly, but they get to take part in saving the Earth. Patients really like the idea that the fat can be used for something helpful and good. The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel - and I have more fat than I can use. In fact, some of my staff has begun to buy diesel vehicles so that they can use the fuel too."

Dr. Bittner estimates that he removes about 2000 gallons of fat from his patients every year, some of which he disposes of as medical waste and some of which he saves to process into fuel for his SUV. He reports that he gets 10 miles to the gallon.

He processes the fat in his own lab and tests it to make sure it works by testing it.

While lipodiesel may seem like a good idea on some levels, especially when you also take into consideration the nation’s rising rates of obesity, it also seems completely icky on other levels, like contamination.

It has been reported that Dr. Bittner’s Beverly Hills clinic has been shut down by the Medical Board. And as plastic surgeon Dr. John Di Saia, among others has pointed out, biodiesel likely violates laws about disposing of biological waste.

Although burning biowaste leaves a large carbon footprint, it seems that until laws are in place making fat into fuel will have to wait.

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