Bertha Vasquez uses a fuel container to pour a drink and then fill up her tank.

"This is biodiesel. This happens to be 100 percent chicken fat," she said. "It's 100 percent animal fat. So, cheers. Goes in my car. Goes in my mouth."

Vasquez, a science teacher, loves the shock and awe of drinking her car's fuel.

It's one significant way she goes green, and the reason she bought her VW Jetta with a diesel engine.

"No conversion whatsoever. I just bought it and filled it up from the first time with biodiesel," she said.

Vasquez buys her eco-friendly fuel at Sol Atlantic Biodiesel.

Since they set up shop last year in a Hialeah Gardens warehouse, business has been brisk.

"It's an alternative fuel. It's non-toxic. It's biodegradable," said Christian Miranda, co-founder of Sol Atlantic Biodiesel.

It's made in the USA from things like vegetable oils and animal fats.

"The funny thing is that the diesel engine, when it was first created, it was meant to run on peanut oil," Miranda said. "So, really you're coming back to what it was originally meant to
burn."

Not only does it burn clean, it cleans your engine.

"In addition to being a premium fuel, we actually offer it at a lower cost than petroleum diesel," said Lisa Bowman, co-founder of Sol Atlantic Biodiesel. "It's typically 10 cents a gallon cheaper."

It can be used with any diesel engine from cars to vans, cement trucks and boats.

Customer George Vastardis said he loves that his pleasure rides no longer pollute.

"I like to dive. I like to fish. It definitely strikes something with me as it should with anyone else who enjoys the water in South Florida," Vastardis said.

Another plus, no more toxic fumes.

So, no matter which way the wind's blowing, it smells more like a fast food restaurant than fuel.

"You don't get the noxious fumes," Bowman said. "You don't get the black smoke. You don't get the soot."

Scientists are now trying to make biodiesel from algae and even from restaurant grease.

"We don't recommend going to McDonald's and putting it straight into your car. Biodiesel's gone through a chemical process to remove the glycerin content so it can be used as motor fuel," Bowman said. "There's no single answer to our energy problems but biodiesel is a wonderful start. Unlike most other alternatives, this is something that can be used right away."