Soybean oil isn't just for the kitchen anymore. In Pasquotank and Camden counties, it's also now helping power ambulances and fueling garbage trucks.

Since March, the new Pasquotank County fueling depot on McPherson Street has been using a blended form of biodiesel in the county's fleet of vehicles. In fact, 17 vehicles — seven ambulances, eight solid waste transport trucks and two water department vehicles — are currently powered by biodiesel fuel, Pasquotank County Solid Waste Management Director Mike Etheridge said.

Justin Falls/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Mike Eitheridge, Pasquotank's solid waste management director, fills the gas tank on a solid waste management truck at the new biodiesel fueling depot Tuesday, May 13. The facility provides fuel for all county ambulances as well as solid waste trucks.

Justin Falls/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

An ambulance and solid waste management truck are fueled at the new Pasquotank County Biodiesel Fueling Facility on McPherson Street in Elizabeth City, Tuesday, May 13. The facility opened in March.

The biodiesel depot's construction was funded through a $139,000 grant from the Air Quality Division of the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. The county provided the property, worth approximately $167,000, for the depot, Etheridge said.

Etheridge said county officials are just beginning to measure fuel efficiency right now, so he is unsure if the switch to biodiesel has had any effect on consumption. The county's costs for biodiesel are comparable to what it was spending on fuel before the new pumps were installed, he said.

"Our goal for this project was to introduce biodiesel to the area and, of course, utilize the fuel to help provide some concrete information for people that may have been on the borderline of whether to use it or not," Etheridge said.

Biodiesel for the depot is purchased in bulk from a distributor in Aurora. Currently the county purchases a blended fuel that's 95 percent diesel and 5 percent biological products. The county's goal is to incrementally raise the biodiesel mix to 20 percent once the vehicles' engines get acclimated to the new fuel, Etheridge said.

Aside from small magnetic signs attached to vehicle doors stating "This vehicle operates on biodiesel," employees say they haven't noticed much difference in the new fuel.

"We haven't noticed any difference either good or bad," Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Medical Services Director Jerry Newell said. "It's been a seamless transition for us."

The biggest change Newell has noticed is that fuel is now always available for emergency vehicles.

Before the biodiesel pumps were installed, emergency personnel had to fill up ambulances at commercial stations. Because they usually had first crack at fuel, especially as hurricanes approached, ambulance drivers weren't always popular with other motorists, Newell said.

"They used to get mad at us," he said.

Now with 24-hour availability, ambulances no longer have to fill up at commercial stations, Newell said. A backup generator at the fuel depot also allows biodiesel to be drawn from the 12,000-gallon tank even if the electricity goes out, Etheridge said.

County-owned ambulances and trucks aren't the only vehicles filling up on biodiesel fuel.

Pasquotank County Agriculture Extension Agent Al Wood said several area farmers purchase biodiesel for use on their farms.

One local fuel distributor, Crossroads Fuel Service, Inc. of Hertford, distributes about 5,000 gallons a year of biodiesel in the area, mostly to farmers, assistant manager Kenneth Winslow said. He said his company mixes the fuel to the percentages desired by the customer.

Amie Aydlett, community-school relations director with the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools, said the district's transportation director, Bob Luther, is interested in alternative fuels such as biodiesel. Currently the district is not using biodiesel, she said.

Luther said at least one county school district in the state has begun using alternative fuels. Gaston County is using cooking grease from school cafeterias to power its school buses, he said.

Etheridge said officials hope the county's use of alternative fuels like biodiesel catches on with the public. They also hope the project eventually helps soybean farmers find another market for their crop.

"If we're going to promote something, we have to do it ourself in order to convince other people" to use it, Etheridge said.