Trucks don’t have feet, but they do leave carbon footprints.

The bigger the truck, the bigger the footprint, in most cases.

The exceptions are trucks that use vegetable-based, cleaner-burning biofuel, rather than petroleum-based fuels.

On Thursday Safeway announced plans to reduce its carbon footprint by running its trucks with biodiesel rather than diesel fuel. In Oregon, that means 7500 hundred large trucks will have fewer harmful emissions.

“It’s the equivalent of taking 7500 cars off the road,” said Dan Floyd, a Safeway spokesman in Portland.

Safeway’s move is part of nationwide efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The City of Portland is considered to be in the forefront of promoting alternative fuels; its fleet is the largest consumer of biofuels in the state.

The city’s influence extends to anyone who fuels up in Portland: Because of an ordinance introduced by Randy Leonard in 2006, all diesel sold in Portland is required to contain at least five percent biodiesel; all gasoline must contain at least 20 percent ethanol.

KTVB

A Northwest gas station offering biodiesel fuel.

But Leonard, pointing to the growing biofuels industry in Oregon, says environmental concerns are not the only incentive for switching to alternative fuels. Because more Oregon farmers are farming canola and corn for biofuels, they are literally home-grown products.

“Portlanders can actually take whatever they spent and have it stay in the Oregon economy and not have it go to Texas to big oil or countries that would like to do us harm,” Leonard said.

Tomas Edicott, Co-Founder of Sequential Biofuels, is banking on the growing popularity of fuel alternatives. “The market for biodiesel has doubled every year since 2002,” Endicott said. The company’s plant in Salem converts recycled cooking oil from restaurants into about a million gallons of biodiesel annually.

The company’s plant in Salem converts recycled cooking oil from restaurants into about a million gallons of biodiesel annually.

Jay’s Garage at SE 7th and Morrison St. is among the relatively small number of stations selling biodiesel. But owner Jay Dykeman says the market is growing.

“The motorists have really stepped up to the plate and are using this,” Dykeman said.