alternative energy

Nice piece in today's News and Observer about bioheat, using a mix of modified vegetable oil and conventional heating oil:

Heating homes with used french-fry oil may get a much-needed boost in North Carolina from spiking crude oil prices.

Bioheat, a blend of traditional home heating oil with vegetable or animal oil additives, has gained acceptance in recent years in New England, where most residents use oil to heat their homes. But the biofuel blend is still an obscure alternative home heating source in this state, where only 8 percent of households use heating oil in the winter.