Alernative Fuel Odyssey

I hitched a ride to Wake Tech for their Alternative Fuel Odyssey Day last Friday. I was hoping to see a bunch of cool demonstration cars, and a bunch of interesting displays, and to hear a bunch of great speakers.

It didn’t happen. The parking lot was full of a bunch of non-communicative high school gearheads who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about sustainability, the displays inside were poorly organized and positioned across two stories, and the hard to find auditorium was full of the usual suspects.

Dave Ronco from Wake Tech and Anne Tazewell from Triangle Clean Cities organized the event. Together, they represent a tough group of constituencies.

The EV Challenge was there, for instance. I couldn’t find anyone who could answer my question as to how these electric race cars were fueled? Tons of batteries—got that by looking under the hood, but where do they get their energy? It’s fine to paint them up with “Zero Emissions,” but where are the solar panels or turbines to charge their batteries?

I think running down the road on chemical energy could have some merits, but from an education perspective I would have liked to have found someone who could tell me how renewables factor into their charge.

Piedmont Biofuels was there. They thought they were doing a hands-on workshop, and had brought a truckload of mason jars and safety glasses to that end. They ended up on the main stage giving a speech. It didn’t matter much—Rachel and Leif are naturals together, but the cause would have been better served if they had known what the gig was.

At the side was the biodiesel processor we had built for the NC Solar Center. I noticed a kid spending an inordinate amount of time ogling it, so I went over to answer any questions he might have. In five minutes I was surrounded by thirty information hungry people who were peppering me with questions. It was like a school yard fight.

The Governor sent some legislator, Debra Ross to read a proclamation naming April 2nd “Alternative Fuels” day. That may have had some value. Perhaps the Governor noticed. Poor old Dennis Weaver was the spokesman for the day—and he sent a videotaped message to all.

I will say that David Dunagan from the Department of Energy Office in Atlanta did a credible job from the podium. He did an amazing job of talking about greenhouse gases, and climate change, and emissions, without actually using the Bush Administration’s banned phrase, “Global Warming.”

I will say that the conference was saved by Joshua Tickell’s amazing keynote address. He played a DVD of his, and proceeded to regale the tiny audience with anecdotes and statistics and personal tales from his life as an activist that was nothing short of spectacular.

I must say that I had seen his pitch at the NBB convention, and after a disappointing AFV Day, I was ready to skip his talk all together. At NBB he was asking for money to complete his movie, and in the words of one spectator he “Gave self promotion a bad name.” My guess is that we have Anne Tazewell to thank for keeping him on task.

Tickell riveted the audience. He used a “question and answer” format like a game show, giving away both copies of his book and copies of his DVD to those in the audience who answered correctly. He was a little bit like Donahue, with complete mastery of his subject.

I generally don’t care for the “Socratic Method” when it comes to essays or public speaking, but he pulled it off. And he was impressive. His speech transformed Alternative Fuel Odyssey Day into a smashing success.

That night I caught a ride to Carrboro, to an après-conference party at Anne Tazewell’s house. I shared some of my opinions of the day with her, and we locked horns over Piedmont Biofuel’s desire to get a B100 tanker on the road, versus her strategy of getting biodiesel available at the pump. I would rather not end up at odds with Anne, since I know she is fighting the good fight, but we constantly find one another on different song sheets.

Tami and the boys were in Carrboro that night, so I caught a ride home with them. I must have bummed a couple hundred miles of rides that day, and it felt good. I certainly didn’t want to arrive on unleaded—which is all I had at the time—but I managed to get through the day on borrowed car seats, which is even better than B100 as near as I can tell.

Posted by Lyle at April 4, 2004 09:36 PM