CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Restaurants all over town use vegetable oil to cook. When they’re done with it, it gets put in a bin and taken away; a service many restaurants have to pay for.

What they throw out can completely power diesel cars and trucks with only a few small modifications.

“There are restaurants that go through 15 to 20 gallons of oil a day,” said Mark Englander.

Englander owns Charlotte Energy Solutions, a small shop off of Baldwin Avenue in Mid-town Charlotte that specializes in environmentally friendly energy solutions from solar powered water heaters to scooters that run on batteries to cars that run on vegetable oil.

Englander's old Mercedes is a diesel. He bought a vegetable oil conversion kit for the engine, installed it and now he drives for free.

“For basically $1,000 and making an arrangement with a restaurant, you could drive for free or at very, very low costs. With regular gas at $4 a gallon, I think it’s well worth considering,” said Englander.

And many people are considering it. Englander told WSOCTV.com since gas prices began hitting record highs; he’s been a very busy guy.

“The company that supplies me with conversion kits is already on a one-month backlog. I get 10 to 20 calls a day. People have a lot of questions and I’m happy to answer them,” said Englander.

North Carolina drivers have another reason to consider alternative fuels, such as vegetable oil.

It is one of only five states nationwide that excuses people that use alternative fuel from paying the road use tax normally added to the price per gallon most pay at the pump.

To watch a video of Englander explaining more about vegetable oil conversions, check the sidebar of this article.

Click here to visit the Charlotte Energy Solutions Web site.