Vegetable Oils sound great then, why don't we use them? This is because vegetable oil technology has not progressed far enough to be used in high-heat and pressure applications such as engines. This does not stop them from being used in two-stroke engines as the oils don't stay in the engine for extended periods as the engine burns oil. So the risk of the oil becoming not viscous enough to properly lubricate is mitigated by the constant supply of new oil. This is doubly important as two-stroke engines are the kinds of engines that pollute the most, are the cheapest to buy and maintain, and are very powerful. The fact of the matter is because the two-stroke engines are so cheap, they are widely used in low-income regions around the globe so the ability to make these machines better for the environment but also solve the problem with a cost-effective solution is very important. The former because they are so cost efficient and the latter because otherwise the solution will not be used. 

(Image on right is the engine and alternator, at this point the engine has been mounted to the frame and the alternator has been mounted to its own frame.)

As for my current progress, my generator/engine setup is complete. I have been able to successfully build a generator and have been able to retrieve some data from it. I have been able to consistently start the engine on one pull after it is warmed up so I am confident that the startup period will not affect my data greatly. I am excited to finally get my data collection completed. My data collection will be done all at once as to hopefully maintain as many constants across the trials as possible. While the setup itself is not pretty, is does work and I am proud that I made the generator in my garage.

(On the right is a short video of the generator running.)