Hold the fries, gimme the grease! Biodiesel in the Carolinas.

Dear New Life Journal,

I was reading this article by Susan Clizbe on Biodiesel in the August September 2003 issue. She suggests to buy a car and run it on Biodiesel. I would like to do this. Can you put me in contact with someone that can make my car run on Biodiesel and where can I get it once the car has been converted? I live in Asheville. Thank you.

--Monique (via email)

There may be questions about fries and fried foods as fuel for the body; however, there's no question that the grease and vegetable oils used to make those fries are great fuel for diesel engines. A hundred years ago, Rudolph Diesel introduced his new engine at the Paris World Fair, and it ran on peanut oil.

Today, mention diesel, and the first thing we usually think of is the smelly, particulate-laden exhaust fumes belching from trucks. It's taken a century, but more drivers are returning to the original diesel fuel: vegetable oils, a bio-fuel. Not only do vegetable oils result in lower emissions and less air pollution, but diesel engines run smoother and last longer. Environmental quality wasn't a concern of Rudolph Diesel, but keeping his engines running well and providing a source of income to the agricultural community, were issues.

Now that all three issues are important, the options for utilizing this bio fuel are expanding. There are three options in fact: make your own processed fuel, convert your diesel vehicle to run unprocessed oils, or simply buy it in bulk. Arthur Dougherty, a renewable energy expert with Solar Guys of Asheville, N.C., utilizes this first option. He collects waste oils from Asheville restaurants, processes it himself, and produces a pure bio fuel that runs his unmodified 1984 Army surplus diesel ambulance. "I bought the truck the day the war in Iraq started," he said. "I made a commitment to do something myself."

He's seen the benefits and notes that the engine runs more quietly, without the typical diesel chatter. He's noticed a slight increase in mileage using the pure vegetable oils and he uses the truck daily. His cost per gallon has been well under a dollar, he said. However, there is some time involved in this process.

Not all of us have the time--or expertise--to filter the used oils, strip out the glycerin, and produce fuel for our own use. This is where the second option comes into play. Dave Goree of Energy-Liberty, also in Asheville, keeps busy installing bio-diesel conversion kits on cars for folks too busy to make their own fuel, but more than happy to recycle the waste oil. A conversion kit does the work of prepping the vegetable oil, so drivers can have the benefits of bio-fuel without a backyard processing facility.

The third option to going "veggie" is to avoid the processing and conversion altogether by simply buying your bio-fuel from a supplier, such as United Energy Distributors, Inc. of Aiken, S.C. They offer a range of alternative fuels such as E-85 and bio-diesel blends, which combine conventional diesel with percentages of pure vegetable oils.

A great way to learn more about bio fuels is at the South's largest alternative vehicle and clean fuels showcase: the 4th Annual Southern Energy & Environment Expo, with the ECO "Clean Air Car Fair" returning to the Expo, August 27-29th. So, the next time you're asked, "Want fries with that?" You should say, "No, but fill'er up with grease!"

Contact Ned Ryan Doyle, Southern Energy & Environment Expo, at 828-696-3877, www.seeexpo.com, [e-mail].