HONEA PATH — Baking soda and used cooking oil could be the keys to lower gas costs in Honea Path.

Mayor Lollis Meyers, who recently worked to secure a $5,000 grant for the town to turn old cooking oil into fuel for town government cars, also has arranged for installation of a hydrogen-generating device on one of the town’s police cars.

Meyers will use the grant to purchase a fuel mister, which will turn old cooking oil into fuel for cars. With the new equipment, he can make a gallon of gas for 70 cents.

The town now pays nearly $4 a gallon for gas, which costs the town $12,000 a month, Meyers said.

With the fuel mister, roughly 300 gallons of fuel a day can be made, he said.

Just one garbage truck uses 22 gallons of gas per day, he said.

“We are going to start off slow with the tractors and move up to other vehicles,” Meyers said. “Any amount we can save will keep us from having to increase our budget so much because of fuel prices.”

The city raised taxes and increased town fees to make up for increases in fuel costs in the 2008-09 fiscal year town budget.

The mayor has asked four town businesses to donate their used cooking oil. He will take used oil from households, too, he said.

“They can give us a call, and we will come and pick it up,” Meyers said.

A hydrogen-generating device was installed on a patrol car Thursday, he said. Using water and baking soda, the hydrogen device gives the cars better gas mileage.

“It’s kind of a fruit jar with a probe inside,” Meyers said. “You put in baking soda, and it generates (a compound) which when you compress it, it creates hydrogen and gives you better fuel mileage. It’s so simple it’s scary.”

So far, the mayor is impressed with the results.

“I went to Augusta yesterday and got the (device) put on,” he said. “Going down, I got 15 miles a gallon,” he said. “But coming home I got 23 miles a gallon.”

If either of these measures saves the town gas money, it will be worth the try, said Rusty Burns, town spokesman.

“We will continue to monitor these projects to see if they help our bottom line,” Burns said. “But the town appreciates the mayor’s innovation in trying to combat rising fuel costs.”