As fuel prices rise, drivers look for greener (and cheaper) alternatives

Joel Henderson isn't a hippie, a tree hugger, or even a fan of expensive organic foods.

But he does worry about rising gas prices, so earlier this year he spent $1,200 to convert his 2001 Ford F-250 diesel pickup to run largely on grease that's been discarded from restaurants.

The 35-year-old Whitman information technology worker must endure the sometimes messy and complicated process of collecting grease as well as the occasional whiff of fries in his truck.

But he says it's worth it because he now only needs enough diesel fuel to start up and shut down the engine.

''I drive about 50 miles a day and never spend more than $10 a week on fuel," said Henderson, who estimates he would otherwise be spending about $80 a week.

Henderson's fuel of choice is unusual in a nation that consumes 25 percent of the world's oil supply.

But with gasoline prices in New England averaging $2.37 a gallon, a growing dependence on oil from foreign countries, and concern about the environmental damage from auto emissions, more drivers are turning to alternative fuels.

Vegetable grease is just one option. The hottest segment of the alternative fuel market is hybrid electric cars, with sales expected to jump to about 222,000 this year, up from about 87,000 in 2004, according to market-research firm J.D. Power and Associates.

People will wait up to a year to buy a hybrid, which can travel as many as 65 miles on a gallon of gas.

Hybrids come with an internal combustion engine and a feature that allows them to convert the unused energy into electricity.

When the car is idling at red lights or coasting down hills, it switches to electric power. Because these cars only use gas when they need it, a gallon of gas lasts longer.

Lesser known are ''flexible fuel" cars, which can run on gasoline as well as E85, an ethanol/gasoline blend that is 85 percent ethanol.

Ethanol, an alternative fuel produced when corn is fermented and distilled into a simple sugar, is less harmful to the environment.

Since the late 1990s, automakers, including Ford, General Motors, and Chevrolet, have been producing these cars.

According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, an E85 advocacy group, about 3.5 million E85 vehicles are on the nation's roads.

But many owners don't know they have a flexible fuel car. (Look for the ''E85" stickers pasted on the inside of the fuel door.)

Car dealers don't promote them because only about 300 of the 200,000 gas stations in the country sell E85, and most of those stations are in the Midwest, said David Friedman, research director for the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge.

For drivers of vehicles that run on diesel, biodiesel is gaining converts. The fuel is made from corn, peanut, and soybean oils.

Since the vegetable oils produce glycerin, a syrupy liquid that can clog fuel injectors, the manufacturers add alcohol to the fuel to remove the glycerin.

Since 1999, when biodiesel became more accessible to consumers, usage has grown to 36.6 million gallons in 2004, up from 6.8 million in 2000, according to the Department of Energy.

Biodiesel is sold at select gas stations and oil distributors, including several in Massachusetts. (To find the nearest dealer, go to www.biodiesel.org.)

The US Department of Agriculture expects the nation's biodiesel demand to grow, especially after a biodiesel tax incentive took effect in January and lowered prices at the pump.

On Friday, a gallon of biodiesel sold for $2.39 a gallon, compared with $2.48 for diesel at two gas stations in Chelsea.

''Any time we see an increase in petroleum prices, American consumers start looking for alternatives," said Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, a group of manufacturers promoting the use of the American-made fuel.

The biodiesel industry wants its product to be known as an ''American" fuel and not as an ''alternative" fuel.

''Alternative implies that something is fringe, and we are becoming more mainstream every day," Higgins said.

But even with the boom, alternative fuel users are still only a tiny slice of America's drivers, said Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental advocacy group.

American drivers now use about 136 billion gallons of gasoline each year, Friedman said, and alternative fuel use represents only a tiny fraction of that.

He expects that in 20 years, when the country has developed an infrastructure to support alternative fuels, the demand for them will increase.

''Eventually, we will become less dependent on foreign oil," he said. ''We have to, but it will take awhile."

For now, some are reaching for grease, which can run only with diesel engines commonly found on trucks and foreign cars.

The ability to use vegetable oil to power cars has been around since the creation of the diesel engine in the 1890s, which was designed to run on peanut oil.

But only in recent years have drivers turned to grease as gas prices have risen and companies have started to sell kits, ranging in price from $795 to $1,200, to convert diesel engines to primarily run on vegetable oil.

The original diesel system is left in place because the engine needs diesel fuel to start up and shut down.

But after the vehicle is running, the driver flicks a switch on the dashboard to start burning grease.

Most owners of grease-fuel cars set up an arrangement with a local restaurateur, who instead of paying to get rid of the grease is happy to have someone cart it away for free.

Unfortunately, the grease often comes from fryolators, and drivers say their cars occasionally smell like fries or hamburgers.

Others say it's a hassle first to get the grease, and then to filter out any impurities.

Now, entrepreneurs like Patrick Keaney, the owner of Green Grease Monkey in Jamaica Plain, are becoming vendors picking up the oil from restaurants, filtering it, and reselling it for about $1 a gallon.

Despite the difficulties, business is booming for Justin Carven, the president and founder of Greasecar Vegetable Fuel System in Easthampton, which sells about 100 kits each month.

''In the last 12 months, we've seen an exponential increase in interest and sales," said Carven. ''Our growth in sales has gone hand in hand with the surge in oil prices."

Christine McConville can be reached at cmcconville@globe.com.