Piedmont Biofuels: Still Brewing
by Treehugger Interns on 01.27.07
We first covered Piedmont Biofuels way back in May 2005, but they are certainly worth revisiting. Based in the piedmont region of North Carolina, this worker and member-owned cooperative promotes and sells biodiesel fuel made from vegetable oil. They also operate a busy internship program, run oil-seed crop research on their farm, and their representatives have an extremely full schedule of speaking engagements on renewable energy and sustainability issues. As if this were not enough, they run a frequently updated blog on energy issues – one recent entry, entitled ‘Coat and Tie Sustainability', delves in to the difficulties of participating in public debate on energy issues, and on picking through the greenwash from utility companies and other vested interests:
Duke Power: “We have a diversity of feedstocks.”Me on microphone: “Right. Coal, natural gas and uranium. All fossils. Zero renewables in our energy mix. No commercial wind, not enough solar to measure, and not enough biomass to put in a thimble. All we have is lawsuits and fossils. When it comes to renewables we are about dead last.”
Duke Power: “But we want to lead…”
Me to Matt: “What does North Carolina actually lead in? Do we lead in wanting to lead?”
Matt: “Shhh. We lead in tobacco.”
And when the good folks at Piedmont Biofuels are not busy butting heads with representatives of big energy, it seems they are actively expanding and refining (pun intended) the biofuel market in NC. They have recently completed one of North Carolina’s first commercial biodiesel plants, which the blog describes as a ‘zero to four million gallon per year operation, depending on how hard you want to work it.’ Let’s just hope they go for the higher end of the scale.
Stay tuned for an interview with Lyle Estill, Piedmont Biofuels member, representative and author of Biodiesel Power: The Passion, the People, and the Politics of the Next Renewable Fuel.
[Written by: Sami Grover]
Don't forget that Lyle's brother Glen runs quite a nifty wind facility in Canada, and blogs about it, and the industry - http://www.biofuels.coop/windblog/
I can understand the publics outcry for slow buildup of renew's. its a shame our elected officials suck so badly.
But...there is another side to this equation. it seems a bit silly to a prospected investor to invest in stuff like ethanol and biodiesel when its obvious that efficiencies are so low that it cannot become a long term solution to our energy needs. coal is a huge in size and long term feedstock solution. as an investor looks to place bazillions into a project, feedstock security is a very hi priority. Disclaimer---im absolutely not advocating coal...i think it is the devil...im just offering suggestions as to why $'s are moving the way they are.
there is also another aspect; distributive energy sources that is green energy. other than nuke and cleancoal (both of which i think are the devil), the 'big investors' are having a hard time doing what big investors do, to secure a marketplace so they know they wont lose. land is typically a broken up mess of individuals so concentration is difficult.
If someone can show some real solutions that are scale-able and show obvious ROI (not green credits + future fuel prices + tree huggers and well wishes), i think big energy and investors will jump in and try to buy it up like good investors do. there are too many minefields, severed fingers and broken dreams in investing to jump in w/both feet. lastly, there are definately people that lost in the early 80's when their 'energy' investments when into the toilet with $20/barrel oil that didnt stop (until relatively shortly).
The statement "biodiesel fuel made from vegetable oil", with regards to Piedmont Biodiesel, is incorrect. I believe they start with animal fat from a rendering facility in Fayetteville, NC.
Brian,
The problem with using traditional ROI models on renewables is that the good folks in fossils have externalized their true costs.
While it might be true that a barrel of oil only sells for 55.00 today, don't we need to tack on what it costs us to maintain our military presence in the Middle East?
Coal is cheap and plentiful, and only provides a decent ROI when it is not required to pay for the asthma or climate change it creates.
I agree with you. Forget best wishes, treehuggers, and warm feelings. Look at your health insurance premiums, your property insurance premiums, and how much you pay in income taxes to calculate the true returns on our energy investments.
Ken,
I'm assuming you mean Piedmont Biofuels. Fuel made at the coop is derived from waste vegetable oil which we collect around the Triangle. At Industrial right now we are running virgin soy (from Fayetteville crushing plant). We ran one batch of fuel from chicken fat (which came from a renderer in Fayetteville).
So I'm going to say "Fuel made from vegetable oil" is an accurate reflection of our activities...
We are a multi feedstock facility by design, and we do intend to avail ourselves of a variety of locally produced fats, oils, and greases...
I am in Virginia, where Dominion Resources is trying to roll back deregulation. So I can relate to the difficulty getting through to legislators bought out by lobbyists.
That said, I saw a post just a little while ago about how in Toronto sweet potatoes were being used for biofuel as basis for ethanol and methane capture. If it works in Canda, surely it can work in NC on EX-tobacco farms?