Instead of the usual lineup of snacks and sundries, the cashier's office sells homemade soaps and bumper stickers, while Latin American folk tapestries and a red velour couch decorate the store. What truly sets Biofuel Oasis apart, though, is what it sells at the fuel pump - 100 percent, vegetable-derived fuel.

Ridolfi, a 27-year-old carpenter, comes here to stock up on the clean-burning, odorless gasoline alternative and to catch up with other biofuel users - a growing community of eco-minded citizens concerned about pollution and reliance on foreign oil.

Though the price is difficult to stomach - a whopping $3.25 per gallon - customers like Ridolfi say the higher cost is worth the trade-off in fuel efficiency and environmental benefits. Biodiesel reduces emissions of particulate matter by 47 percent when compared to petroleum diesel. Plus the higher price helps keep Biofuel Oasis - the first biodiesel fuel station in Alameda County - in business.

"It's a big picture thing," Ridolfi told United Press International.

The concept of veggie-fuel might seem like a uniquely California micro-trend, but it actually is indicative of a larger, more mainstream shift.

In 2003, manufacturers and retailers produced and sold 25 million gallons of biodiesel fuel. Their customers include all four branches of the military, national parks, NASA, state departments of transportation and public utilities.

The extent of biodiesel's penetration of the federal, state and local fleet market is largely driven by the requirements of the Energy Policy Act. Passed in 1992, the act requi res federal, state and some local fleets to phase in alternative fuel vehicles by 2006 to reduce the nation's dependency on foreign oil.

Government vehicles can meet EPAct requirement by using a blend of 80 percent diesel and 20 percent biodiesel -called B20 - in their existing diesel engines. Because B20 does not require fleets to purchase new equipment, it is the cheapest way to comply with the EPAct.

Some school districts, however, are making the switch to biodiesel in response to a recent spate of studies showing the harmful health effects of diesel exhaust exposure on children. A 2002 study by Yale University researcher John Wargo found 24 million children are exposed to 40 known carcinogens - including arsenic, benzene and formaldehyde - through diesel-powered school bus exhaust fumes.

Those alarming findings, in addition to federal mandates, have motivated 50 school districts across the country to switch fromdiesel t o a B20 blend. The district in St. Johns, Mich., adopted B20 in 2002 and was surprised to discover that, although more expensive, B20 actually saved the district money because the fleet required fewer oil changes and became more fuel efficient. Buses went from 8.1 miles per gallon to 8.8 mpg on biodiesel.

Although 1,000 distributors and 200 retail pumps currently sell biodiesel nationwide, only a handful of companies offer it at the pump. Big name agricultural fuel suppliers such as Cenex and Growmark have plans to bring biodiesel to their terminals in the near future - a financially astute decision, given the Department of Energy has identified biodiesel as the fastest growing segment of the alternative fuel market.

Smaller, family run producers also are exploiting the growing biodiesel market. Father and son team Greg and Keith Hopkins of Rome, Ga., converted their textile chemical factory into a biodiesel production plant in early 2004.

Their business, Biofuels Inc., receives shipments of recycled cooking oil from Rome-area restaurants. They then mix it with lye and methanol and heat it in large metal drums to produce biodiesel fuel and glycerin - a byproduct sold to soap and cosmetics companies.

For now, Biofuels' yield goes to a middleman distributor who blends it with petroleum before selling it to service stations. Eventually, the company hopes to open its own pump in Athens to serve the growing number of farmers, college students and businesses interested in switching to renewable, American-made fuel.

"We get between five and 10 calls a day from all kinds of different people interested in buying biodiesel because either they don't want to use foreign oil, they want to reduce pollution, or because they're suffering from diesel fume exposure," manager Keith Hopkins told UPI.

Across the country in Cudahy, Calif., Ifuel-ITL Inc., a petroleum marke ter that also sells biodiesel at its Pacific Pride gas stations, has seen a steady increase in business since Congress passed the EPAct and, most recently, since gas prices began soaring in March.

"In the last week, B20 has dropped to the same price as pure diesel on the street," Mary Rohrer, alternative fuels manager for Ifuel-ITL, told UPI. "All of a sudden we see people wanting 100 percent biodiesel instead of a blend."

The National Biodiesel Board is observing a similar trend.

"Every time there's a spike in petrol prices we see demand for biodiesel go up," Jenna Higgins, the organization's spokesperson, told UPI.

Back at the Biofuel Oasis in Berkeley, a steady stream of weekend customers files in to fill their 5 gallon, plastic "carboys" with the yellow, opaque, vegetable-based fuel. In spite of upward creeping prices caused by a soybean shortage, the company sold 21,000 gallons of fuel in April - more than ever before.

At least from this vantage point, a world without gasoline seems entirely possible.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2004 by United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of by United Press International.

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