"Minnesota has passed a law requiring that all diesel fuel in the state contain 2 percent biodiesel by 2005. Similar legislation was introduced in Ohio last September. And provisions in the energy bill, currently being hotly debated in the Senate, would give a tax break for biodiesel."

As the world watches the price of crude oil fluctuate in response to the conflict in Iraq, chemists and advocates for alternative energy technologies are training their sights on the grease used to cook French fries.

"I wouldn't do this to a $30,000 car unless I was confident that it would work."

With that, John Lin, owner of a Los Angeles fast-food franchise, opened the door of an opulent white Ford Excursion. Powered by a seven-liter turbo-diesel engine that delivers just 13 miles a gallon, this oversize S.U.V. seemed the quintessential environmentalist's target. Yet soon, Mr. Lin will be paying less to fuel it than he would pay if he owned a Toyota Prius, which supplements gasoline with electricity. As an added benefit, he will sharply reduce the pollution.

This winter, countless biodiesel users have proven that the alternative fuel performs well in even the most frigid of conditions, debunking the myth that B20 gels too easily in cold weather.

It's not a scene from Back to the Future although it seems like it could be. Andrew Azman, 21, a junior at CU, is pouring used fryer grease from a CU cafeteria into a black 55-gallon drum called the "Main Reactor." The grease, mixed with a few other chemicals, will eventually turn into a lubricious amber fluid that burns cleaner and more efficiently than conventional petroleum-based diesel. Azman's goal is to have all the CU buses and Boulder buses running on his biodiesel.

What started out as a class project for one CU student, is now changing the way the campus fuels its buses. They're running on converted cooking oil...

Andrew Azman is a junior at the University of Colorado who designed and built a processor that converts vegetable oil into fuel-grade biodiesel. Azman is majoring in civil and environmental engineering and completed his processor as a project in one of his classes last fall.

Agua Das is grinning ear to ear. The weeklong Biodiesel workshop at Guidestone Farm, northwest of Loveland, was a success. People visited the farm last week from around the world the United States and as far as France, Guam and Scotland to learn how they could turn used vegetable oil into fuel. "Agua Das is one of the founders of the whole biodiesel movement," said Joshua Tickell, author of a guide on how to make the fuel. "Phenomenon," Das retorts of the word "movement."
"Revolution," Tickell counters.