For the past several months, two Save the Bay educational vessels have been polluting less while taking students on field trips and churning the waters up and down Narragansett Bay.

Since July 2006, the 45-foot Alletta Morris and 26-foot Swift have been using a blend of 20-percent biodiesel, a mixture of diesel and 20-percent processed vegetable oil, as part of a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Extra

Your turn: Would you use energy from alternative sources?

--- Gallery: R.I. efforts to use energy from alternative sources

Biodiesel has arrived

Hydrogen hot rod revs up students at Ponaganset

More: Read other stories in this 5-part series

The fuel was acquired through a pilot program managed by the state Office of Energy Resources. The program also provided biodiesel for 14 vessels - ranging from launches, water taxis and tour boats - at Oldport Marine Services in Newport, said manager Matt Gineo.

Last summer, the company's boats used about 15,000 gallons of "pure biodiesel," processed oil that was later mixed with regular diesel. The federal grant has been renewed and has provided another 10,000 gallons this summer. Gineo said the boats needed no special adjustments to use the biodiesel and have run cleaner and better on the renewable fuel.

"It doesn't smoke as much as straight diesel fuel and it doesn't smell as offensive as straight diesel might," he said.

Save the Bay Captain Eric Pfirrmann agrees. While he's never smelled the so-called French fries or other food odors associated with biodiesel, he's noticed the fuel has made the boats run smoother and quieter.

"I feel the boats are a little cleaner to run, greener to run. I haven't seen a downside to it," said Pfirrmann. "I would definitely recommend it to anyone switching. It's definitely the wave of the future."

The fuel, which is similar to plain diesel, can be slightly more expensive. But biodiesel, which is made by mixing diesel with processed vegetable, animal or waste oil, is growing in popularity due to its environmental benefits.

Last year, an estimated 250 million gallons were sold in the United States - or about $750 million given the price of $3 per gallon, according to the National Biodiesel Board, an industry trade organization based in Jefferson City, Mo. In 2004, only 25 million gallons were sold.

Currently, there are 148 licensed biodiesel manufacturers across the country - including one in Rhode Island, Mason Biodiesel in Westerly - with the capacity to make 1.39 billion gallons. The industry may be close to another milestone, with 96 manufacturers expected to start up - including Newport Biodiesel - by December 2008, increasing production by 1.89 billion gallons.

In Rhode Island, a handful of companies sell biodiesel. About 62 million gallons of diesel were sold in 2005 and 2006 in the state, according to state tax records, said Tim Howe, an energy efficiency program manager for the state Office of Energy Resources. Roughly 1 percent of that amount was a blend of 20-percent biodiesel.

THE BENEFITS of the "green" fuel are manifold.

Biodiesel can be made from animal, vegetable and leftover cooking oils, reducing the amount of petroleum required for regular diesel. The oils are renewable, biodegradable and can be made locally. It also provides a use for substances normally considered garbage, such as restaurant grease.

The fuel also produces less air pollution than regular diesel. Pure biodiesel and a 20-percent blend of biodiesel, the most common blend sold, cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 67 percent and 20 percent, respectively, compared with regular diesel, according to a study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Biodiesel also reduces the amount of sulfates, particulate matter and other hydrocarbon pollutants spewed into the air.

The only contaminant that showed a slight increase was nitrogen oxide, which went up 10 percent in pure biodiesel and wavered between plus and minus 2 percent for B-20 biodiesel.

The fuel is also extremely versatile. It can be used in boats, cars, trucks, buses and tractors. The processed oils used in biodiesel can even be blended with regular home-heating oil. About 20 companies produce biodiesel for heating, most located in the Northeast, said Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board.

The use of plant-based fuels isn't new. From the 1850s until the Civil War, ethanol, corn-based alcohol, was widely used for lighting fuel. In the mid-1800s, American and German inventors produced engines that ran on ethanol, among other fuels.

In 1896, American innovator Henry Ford produced the quadricycle, the first automobile to run on pure ethanol. In 1908, Ford made the Model T, the automobile that revolutionized American driving. The Model T could run on ethanol, gasoline, or a mixture of the two.

In the late 1890s, German inventor Rudolf Diesel, the creator of the diesel engine, created different prototypes using a variety of fuels, including coal dust and vegetable oils. Diesel showcased engines using peanut oil at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris.

Biodiesel's popularity has steadily increased since the late 1990s, when the fuel became commercially available, Higgins said. The biggest growth occurred in 2005, when a $1-per-gallon federal tax incentive made it cheaper to produce and more competitive price-wise to regular diesel.

The use of renewable fuels will probably only increase in the future. During this year's State of the Union address, President Bush proposed to cut national gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years and increase the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels to 35 billion gallons annually by 2017.

Albert Kausch, a genetics professor at the University of Rhode Island, strongly supports the development of renewable fuels to replace oil. Kausch is working on a project to alter switchgrass to make it easier to break down and more conducive for making cellulosic ethanol.

"There's not one magic bullet," Kausch said. "There's not one solution, even though I'm working on switchgrass and biofuel. There's not just one biofuel."

T.H. MALLOY & SONS INC. sells about 30,000 gallons per month at its Cumberland station - mainly to landscaping and trucking companies, some of which come in from Connecticut and Massachusetts, said Jim Malloy, the company's alternative energy consultant.

T.H. Malloy is one of five biodiesel dealers in the state.

Malloy said the family fuel company started selling biodiesel 2½ years ago for a variety of environmental reasons. What touched the family the most, Malloy said, were the high childhood asthma rates in Providence, since some family members suffer from asthma.

Malloy said he has been driving with vegetable-oil biodiesel for five years. His brother and father tested it out for six months before adding it to the company's products. The company now also offers biodiesel for boats and heating.

"From that point on it spread like wildfire without very much promotion," Malloy said.

In Providence, REC Fleet Fuel Service sells about 3,000 gallons of biodiesel per month, said Wendy Hawkins, the company vice president. The company started offering a blend of 20-percent biodiesel in August 2003.

The station's biodiesel is used in National Grid trucks, tractor-trailers and some private cars, according to Hawkins.

"I wouldn't say [there's] a lot of demand, but interest," she said. "The more and more the price of fuel goes up, the more calls I get and the more interest in it."

In June, when Hawkins spoke with The Journal, the price of biodiesel was $2.99 a gallon, compared with $2.95 for regular diesel.

Besides Mason Biodiesel and Newport Biodiesel in Newport, Rhode Island Biofuel of Johnston is in contract negotiations and has proposed opening a biodiesel facility in Providence, said Gerald Diodati, the company's president. Diodati said he and his partners, his brother Ronald Diodati and lawyer Edward Gomes, would like to open a 30-million to 50-million gallon facility.

JEFF HUNTER, of Jamestown, has seen the other side of the business. He's been driving his 2004 Volkswagen Beetle on 20-percent biodiesel sporadically over the last three years.

He makes a 142-mile roundtrip to his job as a business professor at Assumption College in Worcester and has noticed that biodiesel has made his engine run better because of improved lubricity. He gets slightly better mileage when he alternates between biodiesel and regular diesel, he said.

"It's an environmental thing. You pay a little premium for it, but that's OK," Hunter said. "You get better use of your car. It's an investment."

Like most car owners who've made the switch, he said he had to make no changes to his car.

In fact, most diesel engines are able to use biodiesel without any modifications, many experts and fuel users say. Biodiesel can even be used during the winter, despite a concern that the fuel can gel if the weather is too cold, said Higgins, the spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board. Most manufacturers produce special blends for winter use to prevent coagulation.

Auto manufacturers are most comfortable with vehicles using the common B-20 blends, or fuels that use less then 20 percent processed animal or vegetable oil and more diesel. Using higher percentage blends or pure biodiesel can damage rubber and other synthetic materials in older vehicles made in 1994 or earlier, Higgins said.

When purchasing biodiesel, customers should use a reputable oil dealer and ask for a certificate of analysis for the fuel, Higgins said. Another good sign would be the manufacturer's participation in BQ9000, a voluntary quality-control assurance program developed by the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission.

"Looking for that seal is like looking for the Good Housekeeping seal of approval," Higgins said.

Homes and other buildings can also use low blends of biodiesel for heating without any boiler modifications.

Higgins said it was best for homeowners to start with a blend of 5 percent. Most oil burners are dirty from years of use, and biodiesel, which has excellent solvent abilities, actually helps clean out the system, she said. Higher blends could clog the fuel filters with petroleum sediments. Higgins advised homeowners using biodiesel to monitor their heating units for the first six months if they are older systems.

IN WARWICK, the School Department may be setting an example for other school districts. The school system has used biodiesel to heat buildings and run school buses for three years as part of two separate grants.

In 2000, the school district used three blends of biodiesel to heat the district's administrative building and three elementary schools, said Robert Cerio, the former energy resource manager for the district. A blend of 20-percent biodiesel was used to heat the administrative building and John Greene Elementary School from 2001 to 2003.

Cerio said the fuel was very efficient and reduced air pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur and particulate matter. The biodiesel even made the boilers cleaner with less buildup from carbon and sulfur.

The heating biodiesel blend was financed with $13,000 in grants from the state Office of Energy Resources, the New England Biomass Council and the National Renewable Energy Lab.

The district also used biodiesel to run 60 school buses from August 2004 to last August - financed under a $350,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce diesel pollution from school buses. The grant covered the cost of retrofitting filters on the buses and supplying ultra-low-sulfur diesel and biodiesel.

The biodiesel ran cleaner, said Robert Dooley, the school district's finance director, but it was more expensive than regular diesel and the district was unable to afford the extra cost.

Last winter, the historic Rose Island Lighthouse off Newport also used biodiesel - for heating, electricity and transportation.

About 600 gallons of fuel, primarily a blend of 5-percent biodiesel, was used to power the lighthouse's electricity generator and run Starfish, the lobster boat the lighthouse uses for transportation, said Charlotte Johnson, executive director of the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation. The biodiesel was left over from the pilot program that provided fuel to the Save the Bay and Oldport Marine Services boats.

Johnson didn't notice any differences with operating the electricity generator and lobster boat. She also said she believed the boat was producing less pollution.

Starfish has enough biodiesel to last through the summer and Johnson hopes to get another fuel donation. "I don't see any problems at all using it in the boat," she said. "It's so clean to use it. It's got some real positive there."