Grease from fast food may become next renewable energy

The same grease that makes fast-food workers so prone to acne is suddenly becoming a hot commodity.

More commonly than ever, the grease is turned into biodiesel fuel to power motor vehicles and industrial equipment.

As the demand rises, so does the value of this grease. Fast-food restaurants typically store the grease in 200-gallon vats, which need emptying every few weeks.

Two men were recently arrested for stealing large quantities of the stuff from Detroit and surrounding areas, according to a Detroit News report. It’s  apparently possible to make $160 for 1,000 gallons of it.

In most places, restaurants continue to pay people to take away their leftover grease, which is illegal to wash down the drain.

But the tides are turning in places like Washington, where the biodiesel movement is further along.

"Restaurants are getting probably 10 cents to 20 cents per gallon here in the Northwest," said Mike Pelly of Olympia Green Fuels to the Detroit News.

Innovations in the biodiesel market will continue to put pressure on the already growing demand.

Environmentalists purchase kits to add vegetable fuel systems to use straight vegetable oil to run engines rather than biofuel, or it’s even possible to make your own biodiesel.

Virgin Atlantic flew a Boeing 747 from London to Amsterdam using biodiesel in February.

"Today marks a biofuel breakthrough for the whole airline industry,” Virgin President Sir Richard Branson said in a press release. “Virgin Atlantic, and its partners, are proving that you can find an alternative to traditional jet fuel and fly a plane on new technology, such as sustainable biofuel.”

Branson and others have also converted trains to run partially on biodiesel.

While it’s good news that the biodiesel industry is growing, it’s important to note one potential problem with these alternative fuels.

If the world trades its oil addiction for a biofuel addiction, the grease from behind restaurants won’t fulfill the demand. Instead, the industry will put more and more pressure on agriculture, which will make it harder to feed the world’s poorest citizens.