Fill 'er up with Krispy Kreme

Biodiesel fuel costs more than gasoline and can smell kind of funny. But recycling kitchen grease beats war in the Mideast, doesn't it?

By Katharine Mieszkowski

March 19, 2003 | Jeffrey Miottel, 36, of San Rafael, Calif., drives a cream-colored, 1984 Mercedes 300TD that inspires hunger pangs.

If you're stuck in traffic behind him, you won't be choking on diesel exhaust -- instead, you might find yourself wondering if you've left an old restaurant takeout bag under the back seat.

Miottel, a contractor and environmentalist, makes his own fuel from used grease recycled from local Marin County restaurants.

"I haven't been to a gas station since last May," he brags.

Fueling up on biodiesel gives his car's emissions the pungent aroma of whichever kitchen the oil came from. "We were using oil from an Indian place one time, and it smelled like cinnamon chai coming out of the tailpipe," says Miottel. "When we use sesame oil from this organic-chip manufacturer, it smells like you're a walking stir-fry." His favorite source to cadge grease from: sushi bars, because tempura grease comes out of the fryer relatively clean, making it easy to work with.

Miottel's Mercedes gets only 25 miles per gallon, but driving it is better for the environment and air quality than using petroleum diesel. Plus, no one ever went to war in the Middle East over French fry grease.

"Biodiesel's a local homegrown fuel that you can make yourself and not have to go fight a war for," Miottel proselytizes. He teaches weekend classes on how to make the fuel.

Could biodiesel be a burn-your-veggies answer to global warming, pollution and energy independence? According to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, biodiesel produces 78 percent less CO₂ than regular diesel. And it mitigates the cancer risks of diesel exhaust by 94 percent, the lab reports. One caveat: Biodiesel does release 5.8 percent more nitrous oxide than petroleum diesel.

With "No Blood for Oil" back on war protest signs, the nascent biodiesel movement hopes to win converts from petroleum to sunflower, soybean and canola. This summer, Brent Baker, 32, a New York carpenter, aka "DJ Chrome," will travel cross-country in a bio-fueled school bus donated by Greenpeace with two other DJs and a mechanic on a B.I.O.Tour to promote sustainable energy alternatives to foreign oil.

"The catalyst of Sept. 11 really kind of kicked my butt into gear with it, and the looming oil war was the push to say that we've got to do this now," Baker says. There are a lot of reasons to make it work. It's better for the environment and its better for the children of Iraq."

The B.I.O. (Bio-fuel Information and Outreach) Tour school bus is just the latest in a parade of green biodiesel vehicles, from the Veggie Van to the Greasecar, that have zoomed cross-country, fully powered by grease, to evangelize the fuel.

"They're not proving the practical readiness of biodiesel. They're proving the point that symbolically, it's possible," says Mark Bunger, a senior auto-industry analyst for Forrester Research.

While the homebrewers and the veggie vans have the taking-it-to-streets, DIY cred, government agencies are actually the biggest users of the alternative fuel in the U.S., with 300 fleets using some biodiesel. The city of Berkeley, Calif., is experimenting with running almost all 200 of its diesel vehicles on 100 percent biodiesel.

Even so, the usage of the fuel is so small that the Department of Energy doesn't track annual consumption. The price of the fuel keeps it from being a true competitor to regular diesel, and there is no biodiesel infrastructure to speak of. There are just 50 commercial pumps in the U.S., according to the National Biodiesel Board.

But as an alternative fuel, biodiesel has one advantage over the grand plans for improved fuel economy, hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells being promoted by everyone from the president to the Sierra Club. Millions of diesel-powered vehicles are on the road right now. Why not run them cleaner today?

Next page: Warning: Making biodiesel in your blender can cause problems for your margaritas