No, its not some ad in the back of a kids magazine. There’s plenty of people across the country who are brewing up their own biodiesel… not just the big plants you normally hear about.
This story on YourHub.com talks about how many people are using (usually) free old cooking oil from restaurants. But the article points out you can’t just throw ingredients together and have biodiesel. They recommend using a home kit from retailers such as EZBiodiesel.com:
In order to make quality Biodiesel, properly designed equipment and instruction is required. And an innovative Colorado based company, Summit Enterprises LLC, owned by Guy Purcella, offers just such a line of equipment called their EZBiodiesel processors. Summit Enterprises LLC designs & manufactures the processors in Grand Junction, CO & markets them worldwide. Processor sizes range from 20 gallons up to 5000 gallons.
The prices range from about $2,000 for a small, 20-gallon-per-batch model… and up to about $120,000 for a big 5,000-gallon model. I would think that those costs would cut into any savings… but maybe in the long run you could end up ahead. In fact, if my simple math is right, assume you could use the smallest, cheapest model to produce 20 gallons every three days (based on EZBiodiesel’s estimates of production time). If regular diesel costs about $2.85 a gallon, and the ingredients to make biodiesel cost 85 cents a gallon (assuming the old restaurant oil is free), you would be $2 a gallon ahead. Once you figure in the $2,000 for the kit, you’d have to make 1,000 gallons to start breaking even. If you drive a lot, you could probably use the 1,000 gallons in the 150 days it took to make it. Maybe after six months the kit would pay for itself. Maybe. Maybe someone should check my math.
Either way, it might be worth a click on the EZBiodiesel.com web site
Innovator of clean energy technology, Clean Diesel has inked another deal to share its patents with another company to make the technology more widely available.
The expansion of 
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy have jointly selected 11 biobased fuels research projects to receive $8.3 million in funding grants.
Biodiesel giant Imperium Renewable and algae-to-oil producer Solazyme, Inc. have reached a deal that will have Solazyme producing oil from microbes it developed and providing the oil to Imperium to make into biodiesel.
Harrison Dillon, Solazyme’s Chief Executive Officer commented: “Imperium has publicly expressed interest in the opportunity for algal derived biodiesel for some time and we are pleased to work with them to make this a reality. This agreement not only demonstrates Imperium’s vision to seek out new and innovative sources of biodiesel feedstock but it also provides validation of demand for alternative sources of biodiesel feedstock as well as for our technology. Imperium’s talented team and excellent technology made them an obvious choice to work with.”
Several American journalists are touring Europe, courtesy of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a program that promotes cooperation between the United States and Europe on domestic and international trade policies. 
From 
After seeing the bioethanol plant, Gleason took note of its smaller size compared to its American counterparts, “The plant produced about 35 million liters (10 million gallons) of fuel-grade ethanol. (In the U.S.), A 10-million gallon ethanol plant could not maintain any efficiency, but they also don’t have the input.” He added how surprised he was how efficient that small of operation could be.
Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain of Arizona seems to be changing his views on ethanol. 
Billionaire investor George Soros is warning that U.S. and European tariffs on Brazilian ethanol might keep that country from reaching its potential in alternative fuel production.