In a city known for its greasy, fried foods, New Orleans seemed only a natural to experiment with running a vehicle on fuel generated from used cooking oil.

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N.O. restaurants use plenty of cooking oil on an average day.

Members of the New Orleans Biofuel Initiative collect used oil from French Quarter restaurants and convert it into a 20 percent biodiesel fuel solution.

Right now that fuel is powering an Orleans Parish school bus, but soon it could power the entire fleet.

Restaurant owners like the idea because the group hauls away the oil waste for free, while the biodiesel group is happy because it powers a vehicle with a cleaner burning fuel.

“Anytime you can save any type of money anywhere it’s great,” said Bobby Malachias of Maspero’s.

Once the vats of oil are taken, they are brought to a location where the oil is mixed with chemicals that produce biodiesel.

School Board member Una Anderson said the school system is proud to be a leader in a green economy.

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A member of the biofuel initiative holds some biodiesel fuel derived from used cooking oil.

“It makes a lot of sense to run biodiesel,” she said. “It’s cleaner.”

Anderson said that as a public agency, the board will make sure the cost of the biodiesel is competitive with the diesel the buses normally use. Right now the New Orleans Biofuel Initiative says the prices are close, and with the cost of diesel rising, biofuel may soon be a better economic choice.

“We have so much (used vegetable oil) in New Orleans, so why not put it to good use,” asked Jennifer Brady of the Alliance for Affordable Energy.

As for the children riding the bus, they said they just enjoyed the smell of French fries they say emanates from the exhaust pipe.