B100 Community Conversation
75 people showed up at CCCC last night for a discussion panel on biodiesel in North Carolina. We were on the eve of a Girl Mark reactor design build workshop, which we decided to kickoff with this conversation.
Once again the college was packed with everything from the experienced to the curious.
And it was an intense discussion. I kicked it off with these opening remarks:
" have a diverse crowd here tonight. We've got coops. People from government. Backyard brewers. Activists. We even have some commercial producer wannabes. Joe Jobe likes to refer to the National Biodiesel Board as having a "big tent," and when I look around this room I see the vestiges of North Carolina's Big Tent.
Before Rachel introduces the panelists, and heads off into an evening of "BIG" questions, I want to put in an order to the Cosmic Waiter. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Cosmic Waiter, it is a concept we believe in at Piedmont Biofuels. The fundamental premise is that we are all seated at a table, where the Cosmic Waiter is delighted to bring us anything we want.
Anything we want. All we have to do is order. I know that before I came to believe in the Cosmic Waiter I spent a lot off time staring at the menu. I wanted the lobster, but was afraid it would be too rich for my diet. I wanted to order it but I was worried about depleted fisheries. I really wanted the lobster, but was concerned about its high price. I wasn't sure I could afford it. I just wanted the lobster, but then I started reflecting on whether or not lobsters are sentient beings.
You get the point.
So before we get started here tonight, I'm putting in my order:
I want to see a Trail of B100 dispensers across North Carolina. I want to see the B100 Community thriving across the state. I want to see coops with tours open to the public. I want to see commercial plants with tours open to the public. I want to see a vibrant B100 Community Trail that not only provides high quality fuel, but repeated models of sustainable practices.
I want to see cooperation and dialog across a statewide community that has B100 as a common anchor.
I recently saw an email fly by from Rich at B100 Supply. He sells homebrew supplies all over the country-could be all over the world for all I know. So he sees where the action is. The gist of his email was "for such a little state, North Carolina sure has a lot of B100 activity."
I loved hearing that. While we are building this Community, we might as well be a model for the nation.
Let's get started-what orders do you want to put in?"
Rachel took it from there, and introduced the panelists. Andy was there. He's now running a Biofuels program at Guilford Tech. over in Greensboro. Eric Henry from T.S. Designs was there, representing Burlington Biodiesel. Brian from Blue Ridge Biofuels out of Asheville took a seat at the table. As did Roey Cape Fear Biofuels down in Wilmington. Leif stepped in for Piedmont Biofuels. Marc Dreyfors took a seat on behalf of Carolina Biodiesel, and Jurgen sat in for Bull City. Jeremy, Chris Jude, and another fellow sat in on behalf of Appstate Biodiesel out of Boone. The folks from Pritchard's Mountain and Human Kindness were there.
With Anne Tazewell from the Solar Center and Tobin Freid from Clean Cities in the crowd we had a pretty good smattering of the "Who's who" of the North Carolina B100 scene.
It was an intense conversation. We talked about pending legislation, and state regulations, about our aspirations for B100 in our communities, and about how me might link together for a statewide community trail.
And we had our differences. Some of us are wedded to the "coop" concept. Others insist we need to be open to the public-like the B100 pump in Asheville. I noted with interest Eric Henry's pride in having never run out of homebrew at Burlington Biodiesel. That would be the opposite of us, who are chronically out of fuel. Their model is intentionally self limiting. Ours is accidentally expansive.
There was the "I'm here to save money and I'm just starting out crowd," co-mingled with seasoned fuel makers like Don Mueller and John Bonitz. Dean Brooks was there with his daughter-he's now ramped up his "used cooking oil" collection business. And I was delighted to see Bruce, Evan, and Tes-all on staff at Industrial amidst the crowd. David and Emily were also there, helping with tchotche and coffee and such.
As always, Mark Ambrose offered cutting insights from the floor. He is a regular on the energy lecture circuit, and on the lists, and I had a chance to tell him how much I appreciated his input. He might not haul greasy buckets around, but his ideas are critical to this movement.
The entire evening was reminiscent of the opening night of our Grassroots Conference that was held about a year ago. The main difference was that while it was attended by people from all over the country, this was packed with groups from all over North Carolina. That combined with the immense progress we have all made in a year, was a complete inspiration.
As it wound down many of us retreated to the General Store Café, and from there the party moved to the coop. Instruments came out, and in no time the walls were shaking with string band music.
When I left, Girl Mark, Chris Jude, and Leif were geeking out on sock filter housing designs. I suggested that there was a rocking party going on next door and that gathering around a used sock filter was somewhat aberrant. They looked at me quizzically for a moment, and returned to their captivating conversation about microns and flow rates.
Recounting the myriad conversations leaves me somewhat overwhelmed, and left me with the inescapable realization that it was yet another remarkable evening. The cross pollination at events such as these is invaluable to all involved, and what will come of it will surely be a stronger, louder, B100 community conversation.
Posted by Lyle at January 22, 2006 02:48 AM
