All aboard the French fry bus: this new fuel could power your bus ride to school.

When you get off the bus and it drives away, what does the exhaust smell like? Roses? Apple pie? Ha! Try paint fumes. People getting off the bus choke and cover their noses as it pulls away. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are buses out there that smell like freshly cooked French fries. Wouldn't it be great to ride a bus that made you hungry instead of sick to your stomach?

Fryer Fuel

These good-smelling buses and trucks run on a different kind of fuel called biodiesel, which is made from used fryer oil! People who make biodiesel gather up all the used fryer oil from restaurants and put it in tanks. They add some other ingredients to turn it into a fuel that can be used in a diesel engine.

Who Uses It?

Singer Willie Nelson uses biodiesel in his car. "It runs cleaner and with better mileage," he says. More than 50 gas stations across the country already sell biodiesel, and the state of Pennsylvania has just opened a big biodiesel factory. Pennsylvania governor Edward Rendell says the plant will "help our country find ... cleaner energy."

Why Do They Use It?

People like biodiesel for several reasons. It's something that can be made in the United States. Biodiesel can increase the number of miles per gallon a car can drive, and it does not cost more than regular diesel gas.

Plus, biodiesel pollutes less, and it makes buses and big-rig trucks smell like a plate of French fries. Now, that's some real fast food.

Gas Grease Gets Going

Read these three facts about biodiesel, and then answer the questions about them below,

Fact 1: One scientist estimates that New York City produces enough fryer oil to make 53 million gallons of biodiesel every year. That's three times as much fuel as the city would need to run its buses.

Fact 2: At a gas station in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a blend of biodiesel called B5 costs 5 cents less than regular diesel fuel.

Fact 3: There are more than 70 kinds of diesel cars and trucks for sale that can run on biodiesel.

1. Which fact shows that some kinds of biodiesel can be less expensive than regular diesel?

(A) Fact 1 (B) Fact 2 (C) Fact 3

2. Which fact shows that people can buy cars that run on biodiesel?

(A) Fact 1 (B) Fact 2 (C) Fact 3

3. Which fact shows that a large city could run all its buses on restaurant fryer oil?

(A) Fact 1 (B) Fact 2 (C) Fact 3

4. When you examine all the facts together, what can you predict about biodiesel?

(A) Biodiesel is too expensive to buy.

(B) No cars or trucks in the United States work on biodiesel.

(C) Biodiesel can be made easily, and there are vehicles that can use it.

VOCABULARY: biodiesel: (bigh-oh-DEE-zul) a kind of fuel made from fat or vegetable oil

1. B, 2. C, 3. A, 4. C

OVERVIEW

Biodiesel is a kind of fuel made out of organic compounds, such as fryer oil. Recently, Willie Nelson and other celebrities have promoted the fuel as an alternative to high-priced gasoline.

BEFORE READING

Introduce Vocabulary: biodiesel, mileage, pollutes

Tap Prior Knowledge: Where does gasoline come from? (countries such as Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, and Kuwait) Is burning gasoline good for the environment? (No. Carbon dioxide emissions from gas engines damage air quality.)

Invite and Check Predictions: Is gasoline the only kind of fuel that can power vehicles? (No. Biodiesel is an example of an alternative energy source.) In the future, will cars always run on gasoline? (Probably not. There are many energy alternatives that will replace oil: biodiesel, electric, hydrogen, and so on.)

BACKGROUND

* When Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine in 1900, it ran on vegetable oil. He wanted his new engine to run on materials available to farmers.

* Every year, 3 billion to 4 billion gallons of waste vegetable oil are dumped into landfills or otherwise disposed of. Restaurants have to pay between $1 and $2 a gallon to get rid of it.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

Have students use their knowledge of biodiesel to create a flowchart. The vegetable oil starts on a farm; then it is used in a restaurant; then it is refined in a tank; then it is put in the engine of, a truck that farmers drive. Students' flowcharts should look like a circle. On the back of the page, students can answer this question: If you were to draw the same chart for diesel fuel, would it look the same?