BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) – When Rick Fleming first heard about biodiesel at a trade show in Boston several years ago, he thought the new energy source was intriguing, but nearly impossible to sell.

Since then, his company has been the first to bring biodiesel blends to fuel pumps in Vermont and New Hampshire and, as of last month, the first in New England to offer a pure version of the solution at a gas station.

Fleming, owner of Fleming Oil Co., converted one of his pumps at a Shell station on Canal Street in Brattleboro to offer B-100, pure biodiesel made from the renewable energy source of the soybean.

“I don’t think this will ever replace diesel fuel completely,” Fleming said from his office in downtown Brattleboro on Friday.

The company, which is headquartered in Brattleboro and owns gas stations across Vermont and New Hampshire, added a B-20 blend – 80 percent diesel and 20 percent soy – to one of its pumps in West Chesterfield, N.H., in 2003.

Soon the company was selling about 3,000 gallons of the fuel each month and a second pump of B-20 was added in Brattleboro. Today, Fleming Oil’s fuel delivery trucks and the buses for the nearby Marlboro school district use B-20.

Fleming’s interest in the fuel got a boost when Paul Cameron, executive director of the nonprofit group Brattleboro Climate Protection, organized a meeting at the Brattleboro Food Co-op where the crowd clamored for more biodiesel.

“I was amazed at the number of people who wanted this product,” he said. “There was a real need for biodiesel in the Brattleboro region.”

Biodiesel is made primarily from vegetable oil, and renewable energy advocates praise the fuel as an alternative because it is biodegradable and greatly reduces emissions, such as carbon monoxide.

A vehicle running on pure biodiesel releases 78 percent less CO2 than a normal diesel engine, according to statistics from Global E Industries, a renewable energy firm in Cavendish. The drop in emissions also reduces the risk of cancer by 80 percent to 90 percent.

The fuel still has some hurdles to clear, including broader availability and price. Fleming has been charging $2.95 a gallon for B-100. The B-20 grade sells for several cents more than the standard diesel price, which has been running about $2.30 per gallon.