Two big dogs hang out the windows on the side of Jill Fuss’ house, barking as she and her husband negotiate the crinkled blue tarp off two large barrels stacked on top of the other. Tubes coil in various directions on top of and down the side of the larger barrel on the bottom. It’s not until Fuss holds up the standard gas station nozzle that it’s clear—the contraption is a fuel system for their Jetta parked several feet down the cracked cement driveway. An unusual gas station for an unusual car that runs on vegetables, not gasoline.

Straight vegetable oil, also known as SVO, is 100 percent waste oil, a renewable resource that can only be used to fuel diesel engines. The fuel technology is still relatively new and experimental, with side effects ranging from difficult use in cold temperatures to an interior smell that is reminiscent of food. Still, more people are “going veggie.” In other words, add another fuel tank, a heating system and some extra fuel lines and just about any diesel car can rev up nearly emission-free.

Fuss, 33, is a postdoctoral researcher in molecular biology at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. She says her reasons for making the switch to veggie oil powered transport a year ago were both environmental and political.

“Our veggie car satisfies our desire to drive a more environmentally and politically friendly vehicle, while helping to reduce our fuel costs. It’s really a win-win,” she says. “Plus it has a really great stereo.”

Fuss’ navy blue 2001 diesel Jetta looks like any other Volkswagen. The car is still shiny, with a clean black interior and the trademark VW symbol on the hood, trunk and steering wheel. Only the license plate, reading “Vegi VW,” or the “running on pure vegetable oil” bumper sticker betray the fact that this car is a little different.

And then there’s the smell. Fuss’ Jetta doesn’t smell distinctively of hamburgers or stir-fry, but has an aroma that is definitely foody. It has a fried food type smell, reminiscent of greasy French fries or tempura, and lingers as if the car recently transported such snacks.

“People tell me it smells like food,” Fuss says as she smiles widely from behind the wheel, her short dark hair tucked behind her ears. She rests her elbow on the passenger seat and turns her head to look out the rear window as she backs down the driveway.

Since veggie fuel systems are still developing, many owners find themselves doing more leg work than those of us who merely pull up to the pump. Most have fuel pre-filtering systems like that of Fuss and her husband Andy Thompson. After getting most of the tubes, barrels and other parts off eBay, over the past year they’ve developed a system to filter SVO before it can be used as fuel.

“All last winter, [the pre-filtering system] actually had a hand pump, which is such a drag,” she says. Now they use a fuel nozzle with an electrical pump that hooks up to the car.

Not to be confused with biodiesel, oil that has been refined with chemicals, SVO has no additives. Since it’s new and experimental, the effect it has on engines hasn’t been tested over as lengthy a time as biodiesel. And modifying a car to an SVO system voids the warranty.

“The distinction between biodiesel and SVO is often inaccurately represented in the press so it is no wonder the public is confused,” says Gretchen Zimmerman, owner of BioFuel Oasis in Berkeley.

“SVO is a lot more hassle for the average person than pulling up to a biodiesel pump,” Zimmerman says, pointing out that many people simply lack the time, money, ability and interest level to maintain an SVO system.

Industry experts say that runing a car on vegetable oil can greatly reduce emissions of a variety of air pollutants including sulfur dioxide, a proven primary cause of acid rain. Additionally, Fuss estimated that veggie oil has reduced the carcinogens her car emits by 95 percent. These benefits could lead to a reduction in smog, global warming and better human health.

“Your choices are to pick up a few used cooking oil from restaurants, which typically pay about 80 cents a gallon to have it hauled away,” says Craig Reece, co-owner of PlantDrive, a division of Neotric Biofuels that supplies kits to convert cars to run on SVO. Or, he says, “Go to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc., and buy new soy [oil] for about $2.60 a gallon.”

Restaurants often have a surplus of extra oil, which they pay rendering companies to cart off. After that, it ends up in landfills, or is used for other not so environmentally friendly purposes, like feeding livestock or making cosmetics.

Fuss and her husband get their oil from Tachibana, a Japanese restaurant in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, where they’ve been picking up about nine gallons a week since they got the car.

When Fuss first approached the manager of the small restaurant about their oil, he thought she wanted new oil. “He told me to go to Costco,” she says laughing. “Then I told him I want used oil, and he was like, ‘Your car runs on that?’”

Aside from the obvious, there are a few benefits she hadn’t expected.

She’s taken the car to show a class of wide-eyed fifth graders and a camp for high school girls, passing on her knowledge of diesel versus veggie, using it as a hook to talk to the youths about being a woman in science. She’s also met a diverse group of people who are already “going veggie” or are considering it. Plus, it’s a great conversation piece at parties.

Fuss isn’t alone in her enthusiasm.

Reece agrees that the cars are growing in popularity. He estimates that, based on sales of PlantDrive veggie conversion kits plus their leading competitors and owner-built conversions, there could be up to 50,000 people “driving on plants” in the U.S. The number in Europe, by comparison, is even higher, with higher fuel taxes to discourage driving.

And with the future of gas supply and prices at the pumps uncertain, who can disagree with them?