Renewables Conference

This weekend I am speaking at the
Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference.

So is Rachel. She’s on a panel about emissions. I’ve never been to this conference, but the speakers list looks like a star-studded cast, and I’m delighted that Piedmont Biofuels can fill a couple of spots

Following is the talk that I will be giving immediately before our panel discussion:

I notice that the program for today’s talk asks a couple of questions:

Q: How far can hybrid technology and cleaner fuels for the same old engines take us?
A: Not very far.

That was easy.
If you ask me, how “far” we can go has nothing to do with our fuels, or our engines. It has everything to do with us. Our habits. Our attitudes. And our understanding of sustainability. Want to be sustainable? Good. Walk home from this conference. Ride a bike. Take a bus. Get rid of whatever gas pig you happen to be driving right now.

Q: Are these just stop gap measures, real solutions, or necessary steps towards a cleaner future?
A: These are just stop gap measures. Biofuels are a way of sticking our finger in the dyke. Real solutions lie in a wholesale change in the way in which we interact with the planet. Real solutions involve geographical discrimination, a reinvention of local enterprise and the extinguishment of greed.

And I don’t know if biofuels are “necessary steps toward a cleaner future.” If you were walking by the dyke, and noticed a small dripping leak, would you stop and put your finger in it?

The second question is harder to answer.

At Piedmont Biofuels we make fuel out of waste vegetable oil. And we convert vehicles to run on straight vegetable oil. And we spend a whole lot of time on education and outreach, and I am not certain we have ever approached the problem from the vantage of today’s program.

We run down the road on homemade fuel because it feels good to be free. We are free of a top-down energy infastructure that requires wars for its sustenance. We are free to make our own fuels and to use them as we wish.

Generally when it comes to fuel we are at the mercy of others. Let’s face it. If you don’t have a railroad, you can’t really play in yesterday’s world--which was dominated by coal.
And if you don’t have a pipeline, or an oil well, or your own refinery, you can’t really play in today’s world of petroleum.

The nice thing about biofuels is that you can build your own refinery in your garage. If everyone did that we would have a shot at upending our typical energy infastructure and moving to a micro-nodal energy delivery system that might be borderline sustainable.

And if everyone did that—if everyone made their own fuel out of vegetable derivatives, the feedback loop alone would mean that people would start walking. And riding bikes. And bumming rides from friends.

I went to a gas station the other day. It was my first time at the pump since January. As someone who runs on homemade fuel, I have to admit that it was a little embarrassing. I hope no one saw me. And I couldn’t believe how fast and easy it was. I dropped twenty eight dollars across sixteen point six gallons in less than ten minutes.

Ever filled your tank with gravity? Do you have half an hour? Ever lifted sixteen gallons of fuel? It’s a hundred and forty four pounds. I suggest you use two hands.

I think it is true that if everyone made their own fuel, everyone would drive significantly less miles, and everyone would get a keener understanding of sustainability.

But if I could shorten the question on today’s brochure to: “Are biofuels necessary steps toward a cleaner future,” that answer is probably a giant “no.”

Because most of the biofuels movement is not focused on sustaining our relationship to this garden planet. Most of the biofuels movement is focused on how you can drop forty eight dollars across sixteen point six gallons in less than ten minutes. The lion’s share of the biofuels movement is dominated by industry that is driven by shareholder value. And shareholder value can often equal greed. Shifting our dependence from Exxon to Monsanto seems like a small step toward sustainability to me.

Admittedly we can grow and make the fuel right here at home. And we sure do need manufacturing jobs in this state right now. It may be true that if we were to grow our own fuel we would require less war to secure our energy supply. But less war doesn’t automatically make for a cleaner future.

Less greed might lead to a cleaner future.

It’s hard to say.

The first question was easy. Biofuels cannot take us very far. If we want to go far we should learn to walk.

The second question is tougher. Biofuels are “stop gap” measures. After all, we live in a world that is so motivated by greed that it is hard to comprehend. I notice the Triangle Tranist Authority is not speaking here today. Did anyone notice that our airport will not be a stop on the proposed light rail route that was unveiled recently? Kinda weird. I thought that airport customers would surely love a chance to ride into the airport from distant locales like Cary and Apex and Chapel Hill—but the airport didn’t want to be a stop on the line because it would cut into their parking revenue.

The airport didn’t want to be a stop on the rail line because it would cut into their parking revenue?

What was the question again?

Right, the question is whether or not biofuels are a stop gap measure.

Ok. I’m going to go with a “yes” on that.

And are we a necessary step toward a cleaner future?

Maybe. Let’s make that a definite maybe.

The real question is, “What do we want?”

If that answer is sustainability, then lose your vehicle.

The real answer is that we don’t know what we want.

Let me use myself as an example. I want the vehicle I drive to be big enough to haul my family of six. And I want it to be safe, so it really should be at least as huge as everything else on the road today. And I want it to cost a fortune so that people will know I have a lot of money. And I want it to look good so that women will give me the once over when I’m stopped at the light. And I want to have a lighter footprint on this planet.

When we don’t know what it is we want, we wreak havoc—and that is exactly what we are doing with our current choices in vehicles.

I came here today in a 1992 Dodge pickup truck running on straight vegetable oil. It’s not completely what I want. I can’t fit my family in it. But it is big and safe. Mint condition SUVs fear me. It isn’t worth much, so it doesn’t really make the status point that it should. It does smell like fries at the light, so it does get the attention of women. Especially those who are hungry.

My point is that the things we want in our vehicles are typically loaded with conflicting desires, and that we are typically confused about what it is we want.

I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I leave the questions posed by the organizers of this session unanswered. And I’ll leave it at that. And I would be happy to take on any other questions that you might have.

Posted by Lyle at April 1, 2004 09:17 AM