Photo courtesy Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy
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Imagine grabbing a few of your best friends and hitting the open road for an eight-month adventure. Sounds fun, right? The fun doesn’t stop there. You and your pals are on a treasure hunt of sorts. What’s the treasure? Cool fuel – alternatives to regular gasoline – and cool-fuel-powered vehicles. We’re talking about everything from hot rocks to corn whiskey and cow pies to food scraps. Yes, we’re serious; this stuff can really make a vehicle go. Right, now you’re probably thinking, “This is going to be tricky – but interesting.” But wait, there’s more. It gets even better. You’ve also accepted a challenge. What’s the challenge? You must cross 30 states using only the cool fuel vehicles you’ve found.
Could someone really do that? Yes. An intrepid Eco Trekker named Shaun Murphy did just that! And, he turned it all into a super cool TV show called “Coolfuel Roadtrip.” “Coolfuel Roadtrip” follows Shaun as he spends eight months on the road, crossing 30 states using only cool-fuel-powered vehicles. His transportation includes motorcycles with electric motors, a BMW Roadster powered by 100 percent corn whiskey and a Hummer that runs on a combination of corn whiskey, veggie oil, garbage, sugar, wind, cow pies, soybeans, food scraps and both geo thermal and solar energy!
Shaun recently took time out of his super exciting and super busy schedule to talk to us about his adventure, the TV show and more. Here’s what he had to say.
Photo courtesy Shaun Murphy
Shaun and Sparky
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Express: How did the idea for “CoolFuel Roadtrip” come about?
Shaun Murphy:Gas and petrol prices around the world were spiraling out of control and we wondered why the world wasn’t running on veggie oil, corn and sugar as fuel. So, we went out to see if they could all work in planes, trucks, cars, boats … and they did. We just had to put all of our TV making skills into practice with the subject and we pulled it off.
Express: How long does it take to go from “idea” to “we have a show”?
Shaun Murphy:Oh, boy. That depends on how long it takes to raise the finances. This particular series, from seed thought to start-of-filming took 12 months.
Express: How long does it take to make one episode?
Shaun Murphy:On the road, we shoot each episode over eight days, but the research beforehand probably takes three weeks and the post production, including scripting, editing, sound mixing, fine tuning and mastering takes up to two weeks. All together, it takes up to six weeks of time, but often, teams are editing while others are shooting, so time is shortened considerably.
Photo courtesy Shaun Murphy
Electra cruiser
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Express: How do you decide what will happen in an episode?
Shaun Murphy:We organize certain stories and others we just turn up and get involved in what is happening. Either way, when the camera starts to roll, we’ll just use our personality to take us to what’s the best bit of information or create a situation that gets the interviewee and the camera crew involved. Whether it’s funny or fascinating, we then try to craft a series of scenes that vary from humor to fact to wow factor, or feel-good and danger. It pretty much takes its own course, and in the edit process, we blend the scenes so there is a constant change of pace or feeling.
Express: What is a typical day like?
Shaun Murphy:Up at 5:30, breakfast, look through plan for the day, brainstorm on how to make a scene look and work best, go nuts and get everything we can in early morning light, travel to next spot, interview talent, rig up vehicles with cameras, check in with the production manager and research for next piece, shoot again in afternoon, get the afternoon light, wrap shoot at around 8:00 p.m., dinner and a quick chat about tomorrow, crash at 10:30 p.m., cuddle Teresa [Murphy’s wife] and Sparky [Murphy’s dog].
Express: What is your favorite vehicle overall? Why?
Shaun Murphy:I think the stretch limo Hummer running on food, vegetable oil, biodiesel and corn whiskey is amazing. Can’t beat going out for dinner, then collecting all the food scraps and tossing them into the fuel system.
Express: How did you find all of the vehicles used in the show?
Shaun Murphy:We have a satellite dish on our RV. We use that to get on the Internet, Google about, find a person who may have a vehicle that can run on our fuels, then get on the phone and try to sweet talk them to come along for a ride with us … and let me drive their vehicle for a day or two.
Express: Were any of the vehicles custom-built for the show?
Shaun Murphy:Yes, the Hummers running on food and hydrogen and a BMW running on 100 percent corn whiskey ethanol.
Express: How did they come up with the idea for the H1 Limo?
Shaun Murphy:Oil and gas are hydrocarbons, but we knew that we could use carbohydrates and oils to run engines – natural ones like doughnuts, soybeans and orange peels.
Photo courtesy Shaun Murphy
Shaun re-fueling the Hummer
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Express: Who designed it?
Shaun Murphy:Russel Gehrke from Missouri; Russel is the brains behind the engineering of the gasifiers and the boosters for three of the vehicles. He’s amazing.
Express: What’s the coolest thing about it?
Shaun Murphy:If you get hungry, you can just munch out on your fuel.
Express: It appears to get better mileage than the other Hummer, why is that?
Shaun Murphy:All of the food, ethanol, and even the solar-producing hydrogen is like a vitamin boost for the Hummer. They all give it more punch, so better mileage.
Express: What’s the best day you’ve ever had on the show?
Shaun Murphy:Meeting the roadside reverend in Vicksburg, Mississippi
Express: What’s the worst?
Shaun Murphy:When we thought we lost Sparky in New Jersey
Photo courtesy Shaun Murphy
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Express: What kind of dog is Sparky?
Shaun Murphy:A Jack Russell Terrier, six years old and needs a girlfriend
Express: You’ve seen a lot of the United States – what places have you enjoyed most?
Shaun Murphy:Loved Wisconsin, New York, Alabama, Oregon and Arizona
Express: It sounds like you’ve done a lot of international travel – what countries have you enjoyed most?
Shaun Murphy:Brazil and Chile are great adventure places. I love Fiji also.
Express: When not working, what do you do for fun? What are your hobbies?
Shaun Murphy:I like to kayak, hang out at the ocean and laugh with my wife, play with Sparky, follow the Canterbury Bulldogs [a National Rugby League team] and get into the rainforest.
Express: What are some of your favorite things (type of food, music, etc.)?
Shaun Murphy:I love food – [especially] Japanese and Thai, chocolate ice cream and I love cherries. My favorite movies are “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Dead Poets Society” and “The Big Blue.” Music – Van Morrison, Queen, the Offspring …
Express: You have a really exciting and interesting job – any advice for our readers on how to prepare themselves for future opportunities?
Shaun Murphy:Get creative with your friends, set big goals and find the right people to help. Be persistent if you feel you have a great idea and never give up.
Express: What’s next for you?
Shaun Murphy:Working on a documentary in Los Angeles, planning a Coolfuel Roadtrip in Europe ... And, I’m gonna become a dad!
Photo courtesy Shaun Murphy
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