Homegrown fuel: a waste of energy?

Such is the state of Washington’s biodiesel industry — more farmyard experiment than full-sized factory.

The fuel — a mix of vegetable oil and methanol used in place of diesel to fuel engines — has been pushed as a way to help both struggling farmers and the environment, with talk of Washington farm fields producing 100 million gallons of clean-burning fuel a year and pumping millions of dollars into the state’s faltering farm economy.