Houston-based Aggreko, the world’s leading supplier of temporary power, temperature control and compressed air systems, powered San Diego’s Mardi Gras with biodiesel created from cooking oil waste collected from the restaurants in the city’s Gaslamp Quarter. The initiative came from a request from the Gaslamp Quarter Association to come up with a cleaner burning fuel.

“We wanted to explore ways to make our event environmentally safer and more responsible by using biodiesel supplied by New Leaf Biofuel to fuel Aggreko temporary generators instead of regular diesel,” said GQA executive director Jimmy Parker. “Aggreko not only knew the needs of the event, they truly understood our desire to make our Mardi Gras green. Instead of the cooking oil going back into the environment, it was recycled into fuel, creating a win-win environmentally sound solution.”

“Our strong presence in markets that are particularly sensitive to emissions, such as California, means that the control of emissions is at the forefront of our design considerations,” said Huey Bourque, director of Aggreko’s Environmental Health and Safety Department.

Aggreko also recently developed a new temporary power solution using natural gas, which minimizes the amount of natural gas lost before final consumption.

Headquartered in Scotland with U.S. headquarters in Houston, Aggreko is No. 12 on the new RER 100.