Now in the Bay Area: the anti-gas station

The smell of french fries wafts from the local 'gas' station. But it's not the snacks sold inside, it's the fuel.

from the April 30, 2007 edition

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Ms. Wells also fills up an extra 15 gallons inside jugs in her trunk. She's driving down to Los Angeles and wants to have enough for the round trip. If she happened to run out, she could always fill up with conventional diesel: There is no danger in mixing.

Other customers extol biodiesel's environmental virtues. Andy Brucker of El Cerrito drives an F-250 truck for his construction work. He says he's paying the $3.70 a gallon mainly to help reduce global warming gasses.

Biodiesel emits 78 percent less CO2 than petroleum diesel, among other substantial drops in carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and particulates, according to a report from the US Department of Energy. However, other research suggests that greenhouse-gas cuts could be dramatically reversed if demand for vegetable oil changed land use. So far, corn and soy are grown for animal and human food, with an abundance of oil as a byproduct.

"It wouldn't be economical to grow either soy or corn if it was only going to be used for fuel," says Michael Briggs, a professor with the University of New Hampshire's Biodiesel Group. "There's this notion that fuel crops are going to displace food crops, which isn't going to happen."

The visibility of "french fry fuel" is on the rise here. San Francisco last week opened its first commercial biodiesel station, and the mayor says the city's fleet of diesel vehicles will switch to biodiesel by year's end.

This summer, BioFuel Oasis will move to a new Berkeley location with two pumps with two nozzles each.

"We're taking a historic gas station and bringing it into the 21st century," says Radtke. The new station will have solar panels, grow plants on trellises around the pumps, and sell urban farming equipment. "We're transforming a fueling station and making it really cool and sustainable and environmental."

Part of the six businesswomen's mission will be – ironically – to get customers to use less of their product. They post information about how to maximize fuel efficiency and carry material about biking.

One enthusiastic customer has taken biofuels a step further. Philippe Monin shelled out $1,500 to convert his car to take straight vegetable oil, or SVO. He swings around once a week to local restaurants and gets their used frying oil for free. If it's from a Japanese restaurant, he notes, the car exhaust can smell like tempura.

He recalls making the switch after hearing about record profits by the oil industry.

"I said, 'No more.' I can't give them more money," says Mr. Monin. Now he doesn't pay a dime to fuel his vehicle and laughs as he drives past gas stations. "I see the price going up almost every day, and I just buzz by. I wave and say, 'Bye!' "

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