A fuelish DC

Thaxton isn't looking to solve the world's problems one at a time, but he has solved one issue, at least for himself. At the urging of a friend who saw an article on the Web, and with the help of a machine known as the FuelMeister, one of Thaxton's pastimes is making his own biodiesel, which he pumps into all his vehicles.

The friend told him he saw on the Internet that vegetable oil can be turned into a diesel-type of fuel. Thaxton investigated and, sure enough, the friend was right. By mixing used frying oil with methanol (it's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it), he manufactures a substitute for diesel fuel.

Thaxton and his family now drive all diesel-powered vehicles and pump their own fuel into all of them. He estimates a gallon of biodiesel fuel costs about 50 cents a gallon, roughly two dollars below a gallon of commercial diesel at the pump.

"Biodiesel is fantastic for the environment," he says. "It's clean-running fuel. We are able to be self-supportive with it."