Your ferry to Martha's Vineyard may be powered by vegetable oil this summer

The Steamship Authority will try a vegetable oil-based fuel, instead of diesel, to power a ferry to Martha's Vineyard this summer.

Last week, the board of the Cape and Islands ferry operator approved a  $62,000 fuel expense to try out the renewable fuel on one ferry between June 1 and Sept. 1.

The "renewable diesel," which is not new, but has only recently become available on the East Coast, will be used on the ship M/V Island Home. The ship is the ferry service's largest, and regularly runs between Woods Hole and Martha's Vineyard.

The Steamship Authority said this swap will help reach Gov. Maura Healey's 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.

" Everybody in the commonwealth, and everyone everywhere, really, [it's] incumbent on them to do what they can for lowering emissions," said Sean Driscoll, spokesperson for the Authority. "And this is a concrete step that we can take that's right now and right here."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found that renewable diesel can reduce "lifecycle" greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 78%, according to the Authority's proposal. Lifecycle emissions refer to the the emissions released by a fuel from its production to its use.

The fuel, also know as hydrotreated vegetable oil, is made of fats and oils, like soybean or canola oil, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The renewable diesel is chemically the same as its petroleum counterpart.

The fuel will replace ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel in the ship, and cost 60 cents more per gallon. The ferry's engine manufacturer already endorses the renewable diesel, so the engines do not need to be modified.

The renewable diesel has been available for years on the West Coast, said Driscoll. But the ferry is now able to test it out because Global GLO houses the fuel year-round at a facility in Providence. It will be delivered by the Steamship Authority's existing fuel supplier, according to the proposal before the board.

The Authority said other major ferry operators in the country have found success with the fuel, noting in the proposal that it had been in contact with another operator that recently decided to switch to renewable diesel on all 10 of its ships.

The M/V Island Home runs seven round trips each day, and the Authority expects to use  104,000 gallons of fuel over the trial period, said Driscoll. The ship can carry about 1,000 passengers and up to 75 cars per trip.

" It is a key part of our fleet, but we do have a high level of confidence in this product based on what we've seen throughout the industry," he said.