By RICK WEBER
CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT

If you’ve ever been driving around Katy and noticed the unmistakable scent of french fries — even though there was no sign of a fast-food joint within miles — perhaps you were drafting behind Chris Lofton’s 1982 Mercedes 300D.

It runs on regular diesel or biodiesel fuel, but whenever he can, he hits the toggle switch that changes the fuel line to tap into a tank filled with vegetable oil.

"It smells like whatever you cooked in the oil," said the 29-year-old Katy resident. "So instead of smelling like burning diesel, it smells like french fries — or fried turkey, in my case right now. People behind me are getting to work wondering why they’re so hungry."

The car fits in perfectly with two of his life’s loves: advancing the cause of renewable energy and deftly tinkering with anything he can get his hands on.

Lofton bought the car in November and immediately went to work, doing electrical wiring, and adding new hoses and tires. Then he added a 10-gallon fuel tank for the vegetable oil, installed a solenoid switch that changes between the main and auxiliary tanks and devised a way for the engine coolant to heat up the vegetable oil before it goes into the engine.

When he drives the car, he starts on regular diesel fuel. Once the engine is warm and at the proper operating temperature, he switches tanks and runs on vegetable oil.

He’s currently using a stock of leftover vegetable oil from a turkey fry on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but he soon plans to solicit local restaurant owners to see if they would sponsor him with vegetable oil.

"It’s so much cheaper to drive back and forth to work than using my truck," he said. "It’s been proven road-worthy in Houston traffic, and I’d feel fine driving it across the state. It gets the same fuel economy as diesel fuel. If I want to travel 25 to 30 miles, that’s about a gallon. If I have a full vegetable-oil tank and diesel tank, I could go 700 miles.

"This is technology that has been around since the first diesel engine, but for whatever reason, we’re not utilizing it. I think there’s a separation between people and the technology they use. It’s just something to make life easier.

"Most people probably don’t think about it at all. If you’re interested in something, you read about it and do it. My interest just happens to be renewable energy. In my spare time, a lot of my focus is on how to do it cheaply. Not only because I don’t have much money, but because I have a warm spot for developing countries and see the need to help them improve their situation."

After graduating from Oklahoma State University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in business, Lofton was accepted into the Peace Corps — and that’s where his passion for renewable energy took off. He spent two years in Jamaica, helping the local residents utilize the sun to dehydrate fruits and demonstrating the effectiveness of biodiesel for the country’s national 4H program.

"They started running their tractors off of it onsite," he said, "and after I left, other volunteers took over."

When he returned to the United States, Lofton gained additional experience in renewable-energy system design and installation working for Bauer Power, Inc., in Wayland, Mich. While there, he installed several small wind turbines, residential solar water-heating systems, and solar-electric power systems, and he also helped install the Midwest’s largest solar water-heating array — consisting of 200 4-foot-by-10-foot panels.

"Since then, I’ve read every publication, book and Web site — anything I could find — related to renewable energy," he said.

That’s how he found out about Houston-based Alternative Power Solutions. After his wife, Aubrey, an environmental engineer with a focus on waste-water treatment, landed a job in Houston, he researched options in Houston and discovered APS.

Lofton started out as a technician, but it didn’t take very long for APS president/founder Ralph Parrott to realize he needed to give Lofton greater responsibilities. Within nine months, Parrott promoted Lofton to operations manager, giving him the power to design renewable-energy systems, lead an installation team, procure materials for solar energy projects and assist with sales.

"He a technology junkie," Parrott said. "He’ll come to us with different ideas on how to make things better in the field. I brought him in just as guy going on the roof and installing things, but just from his level of involvement and level of knowledge, I promoted him very quickly.

"He’s always thinking out of the box. I bring issues and challenges to him, and he sits down and puts it on paper and comes up with the best solution — not just for the installers, but for the company in terms of cost and time to install."

Lofton’s brain has been wired this way from the very beginning.

"I’ve always liked taking stuff apart and putting it back together — figuring out what was wrong with it and fixing it," he said. "It started with early childhood. I started taking things apart. I can remember basically having free rein. If my parents threw it in trash, I could retrieve it and take it apart. Otherwise, I was not allowed to touch it. I worked on a lot of hand tools and answering machines—random electronic stuff. I kind of like putting together a puzzle and seeing neat things in the end.

"I’ve been wrenching on cars since I was old enough to start driving them around. I rebuilt my first truck when I was 15. Basically, I think it was ploy by my dad to help me realize the value of money and hard work. We bought a truck for $400 and then I took it apart in our garage.

"Now that I’m an adult, there’s so much information available on the Internet that basically anything can be done. You just have to read about it and figure out how to make time to put it together."

Lofton’s fertile mind is always at work. He thinks that creativity might produce a book, so he’s accumulating ideas. The premise: "Energy for everyone."

"I’d look at different areas of the world that are most desperate and try to identify the resources they have in order to supply per capita so many calories and energy," he said. "The most desperate country close to us is Haiti, so that would be a good place to start."