How to Green Your...Motor Oil?

About a month ago the blogger at NashVeggie.com asked me,

"What do you think of the use of synthetic oil in your car/boat/ motorcycle/etc in one's endeavors at being green"

I have to be honest, I'd never really thought about whether or not motor oil is green. So first, let's get the rundown and the new G-Oil and then we'll talk about how green synthetic motor oil is...if at all.

A Cow In Your Tank:
Over the last month or so, the green blogosphere has erupted with news--and questions--about this new green motor oil.

TreeHugger.com says,

"Evidently every cow that is slaughtered generates 200 pounds of tallow, which was used for frying and making food products until the transfat panic hit. Now Green Earth Technologies is turning it into motor oi"

HippyShopper.com asked the very interesting question,

"What do you think about using motor oil from beef fat? Can it ever be green (or used by vegetarians??)"

CNET.com's gadget and tech blog, CRAVE, weighed in on it as well,

"The entire line costs the same as traditional, toxic products. The recyclable packaging uses soy inks and biodegradable paper."

Some features of the green motor oil are:

• Petroleum free
• Suitable for all engine types
• "Ultimate Biodegradable" with their product, G-Disposoil
• Made from a renewable resource: animals
• Utilizes the waste already produced by slaughtering cattle (which is tallow)

GET's CEO, Jeff Marshall, says,

"In 2-cycle engines, the smokeless oil reduces hydrocarbons by 32 percent, cuts the emissions of carbon monoxide by 48 percent, and of nitrous oxide by 80 percent"

Of course you'd have to be using GET's 2-cycle G-Oil for all those 2 stroke engines.

Synthetic VS Conventional Motor Oil:
Larry West from the About.com Environment Section says,

"One quart of oil can create a two-acre sized oil slick, and a gallon of oil can contaminate a million gallons of fresh water [...] Conventional motor oils are derived from petroleum, whereas synthetic oils are replicas manufactured from chemicals that are really no kinder to the environment than petroleum."

Larry goes on to quote Ed Newman from AMSOIL, who says that synthetics are better as they have lower volatility and lose considerably less of their mass than conventional oil. However, they cost nearly 3 times as much!

As NashVeggie pointed out in his email and as Larry West mentions in the above article, some vehicles like Corvettes and BMW's require synthetic motor oil, so be sure to do the homework on your individual car.

Would you consider using the new, greener, G-Oil (or maybe even a plant-based oil someday)? Why or why not?