Biodiesel On Living On Earth
by Dominic Muren, Philadelphia, USA on 06.13.05
One of the biggest hurdles for treehugging business initiatives is just that: investors worry that it's more about the trees than the money. Luckily, some entrepreneurs are getting wise to this, and realizing that going green doesn't have to mean giving up the green. Public radio show Living On Earth recently covered the UC Berkeley business plan competition, and the recent numbers of environmentally-oriented business plans which have been competing there.
The program follows the preparation of Chris Carstens, founder of Homeland Fuels, a bio-diesel technology startup company in he competition. Their goal is to create a low cost, ultra-low labor micro-reactor for producing biodiesel so that local communities, like schools, farming cooperatives, and truck fleets. This local production would not only reduce costs of shipping the fuel, and energy used in its production, it would also potentially create a production network of tiny biodiesel refineries, which could then sell to a nascent consumer biodiesel market.
While Homeland doesn't win the competition -- beat out by fellow treehuggers Helios -- they point out some great tips for those potentially green-minded businessmen among us. After all, to quote one of the enthusiastic contest participants:
"Doing good's good. But making money's also nice."
:: Biodiesel on Living On Earth :: UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition
