by the National Biodiesel Board at a ceremony in Kansas City, Missouri.

Steve Howell of Mark IV Consulting and Technical Director of the National Biodiesel Board and Rachel Burton in Kansas City

The annual award is focused on the technical advancement of biodiesel and has traditionally gone to scientists at federal laboratories or universities.  Burton’s work in enzymatic catalysis stands to open the biodiesel industry up to a large variety of new feedstocks that have not previously been considered useable for fuel production. Burton has also advanced the National Biodiesel Board’s diesel technicians training program with its recent ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) accreditation.

Burton has been producing biodiesel since 2002.  At Piedmont Biofuels she took the lead on fuel quality and analytics, and guided Piedmont into its BQ9000 quality accreditation.  She also founded the research endeavors at Piedmont, which lead to the development of the enzymatic catalysis process.

Burton has delivered technical papers and lectures on sustainable biodiesel production, on enzyme catalysis in biodiesel, and on other scientific breakthroughs in the fats and oils industry.  Her presentations have been well received in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Burton will be presenting at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s 24^th Industry Growth Forum on Wednesday, November 9th in Denver, Colorado to commercialize Piedmont’s enzyme biofuel process.

Piedmont Biofuels has emerged as America’s premiere community scale biodiesel producer.  It produces fuel from locally collected cooking oil, it designs and builds small-scale biodiesel plants, and it performs research on methods of improving the production process and enhancing sustainability.

For more information about Piedmont Biofuels, please see www.biofuels.coop or call 919-321-8260 or Burton at 919-444-3495.

For immediate release

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Monday, December 5

1) Coop Membership update
Current member count: flat membership since summer; 304 as of October 3.  Numbers have been building since January 2011 (around 200 members).

Current sales update: overall average of 4500 gallons per month; was much smaller in Jan-Feb, around 2000 gallons; this September we sold 7800 gallons.

Outstanding issues, concerns, opportunities:

2) Piedmont Biofuels update

Partners in Sustainability Grease update
·      Grease collections up at Piedmont
·      Pepper Festival great for Piedmont, good networking with restaurants for more potential grease collection

Fuel Trail update
·      New Wilmington location: Tidal Creek Co-op memo of understanding complete; working on new site plan and another planning review process; Stephan will visit this week and help determine the tank/pump layout
·      Saxapahaw pump system is finally working.  The Cardswipe system is integrated with pump at this location, and it is finally working properly after some technical adventures.  Thinking of having a member appreciation party in Saxapahaw.
·      What’s up in Durham?  DOE money is flowing through Carolina Biofuels– upgrading private customer sites but no public sites yet being built yet.  Occasionally Carolina buys from Piedmont.
·      Chapel Hill/Carrboro—more accessible pump possibilities?  Merritt’s Store has expressed interest in adding a pump.  Also another possibility is at recycling center at University Mall.
·      B100 Trail is open to anyone who is pumping B99—not dependent on membership in Piedmont or being a co-op.

3) Projects/Events review
Grease-o-Graphics update: Phone App in progress with Google map for tracking participating grease partner Restaurants, prospective restaurants

Events Calendar
I.      Shakori presence this weekend with biodiesel demonstration
II.    November 4: Ribbon cutting for solar project at the plant—100k solar array at fields by plant.  4:00pm.  Party with live band.  Brian will speak on behalf of Board.

Project ideas
¨     To help educate people that any diesel can run on biodiesel: Parade with biodiesel burning car; Classic biodiesel car show

¨     Member recruitment: Signs for recruiting members at pumps like at Saxapahaw; More effective signage for events like Farm Tours.  Don’t lead with “save money” message—emphasize sustainability, local fuel, co-op.

¨     How to reach more diesel owners?
Meetup type event: pictures of cars using biodiesel, use to recruit and show people that these cars are running on biodiesel.  People like connecting with other people with the same car to hear their experiences.  Ask members to send in photos of themselves and their vehicle–Post on Facebook page.

¨     Facebook Page: We checked out the Piedmont Biofuels Facebook page during our meeting: looks like three pages for Piedmont; main page has a pulse and some pics and posts, but not very vibrant; who can we find to drive this thing and make it more lively?  Can we get members who can be Facebook ambassadors and post to the page regularly?

¨     Give free membership to grease partner restaurants and any employees.  First year free if you work at grease partner restaurants. (We asked waitress at Carolina Brewery Pittsboro who drives a diesel, and she said no one.)

¨     Any ways to encourage businesses to buy biodiesel in bulk?  Could place tanks at farms or businesses, where owner helps cover the expenses.  Has to be zoned commercial, industrial, or farm.

¨     Triangle Transit Connections? Used to sell B20 to Triangle Transit.  We’re the only plant in NC that can sell on state contract because of our BQ 9000 quality.

¨     Anything going on with biodiesel co-op in Miami?  Shakori is going down there to start a festival.

Wrap-Up
What else does PBI need from us?
Lyle says he got some good big ideas tonight; Stephan’s help in Wilmington is great; Brian speaking on November 4th.
NEXT MEETING: Monday, December 5

The main focus of discussion centered on our relationship with Carolina Biodiesel in Durham.  They have been dispensing fuel to their part of the B100 Community for many years, and Piedmont is exploring ways of working more closely with them and their customers.

Marc Dreyfors, Carolina Biodiesel owner, and Lyle Estill have been discussing possible arrangements in earnest for the past few months.

Also up for discussion was the Wilmington dispenser location.  A Memo of Understanding has been signed with Tidal Creek Coop to build a dispensing station next to their Coop grocery store on Oleander.

Currently planning approval is being sought.

The board also discussed the fuel outages which occurred across Piedmont’s location of the B100 Community Trail during June.  While low marks were given to running any tank dry-ever-high marks were given to the communication with members such that unnecessary inconvenience was reduced.

Also discussed was the “Free Lunch Program,” in which each member has by now received a gift certificate that will enable them to dine at one of Piedmont’s Partners in Sustainability.

It was noted that oil collections continue to rise, in part thanks to increased member/board involvement, and it was also noted that fuel sales to the membership has dramatically increased.

A meeting date for the next meeting was not set, but the food and beer flowed freely and gratitude for Carolina Brewery was expressed.  They have been a long time “Partner in Sustainability,” and have contributed used cooking oil from both their Chapel Hill and Pittsboro locations

In attendance: Carol Hewitt, Brian Gullette, Lyle Estill, Beth Turner, Joe Cole
Absent: Stephan Caldwell (wife is in labor), William Bettmann

DECISIONS
1. Officers elected =

President: Brian Gullette
Vice-President: Beth Turner
Treasurer: Carol Hewitt
Secretary: Joe Cole

2. The Co-op will return the 10% share of Piedmont Biofarm to Doug Jones.

3. The Board asks Will Bettmann to step down for non-attendance.

UPCOMING
Local Lunch Friday at Noon at Piedmont Industrial.  Opportunity for Board members to meet with staff.

NEXT MEETING
Monday, July 25, 6 PM, Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro

DISCUSSION: Wilmington Update
Lyle has been working to set up a pump in Wilmington.  Lyle is working with momentum from former Cape Fear Coop members and encouragement from new Coop Board.  Funding is coming from 50/50 cost share with Clean Cities, DOE grant, and loan to cover the $25k facility.  The facility includes pump plus insulated shed with 1200-gallon tank.  Location is on Oleander Road at Progressive Gardens.  Lyle received zoning approval, the builder has prefab materials ready, and the owner of the lot has approved.

There are a few business issues pertaining to use of the property remaining to be worked out with Progressive Gardens, and Lyle may recommend a conference call to include Brian, our Coop President, if further conversation about the benefits of working together is warranted.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Membership and Grease Collection
1.     Approximately 306 members, though probably a higher number of drivers using the memberships.
2.     Are we collecting grease in Wilmington?  No, too much cost of transportation.  Right now PBI is focusing on expanding collection in Greensboro and Sanford.
3.     Membership renewals are less than 100%, so we need recruitment to maintain membership levels, and hopefully increase as well.
4.     Gift Certificates: used by PBI as Rewards and Apologies.  Goal is for every member to get one this year.
5.     How about a $5 referral reward for members who recruit new members?  Lyle will talk with McCayne about managing the accounting for that kind of system.
6.     Rewarding individual members for recruiting more restaurants is hard to manage.  Contest is working on that, and has increased interest.
7.     Can we organize membership to ask specific restaurants to participate in Piedmont’s grease collection?  Increasing the number of voices could have a bigger impact on the restaurant’s decision.
8.     Should Board set a goal for a membership drive this summer?  Some liked the idea of numerical goals, while others preferred an open commitment to increasing membership numbers.
9.     Grease Police mobilization on legislation was successful in activating membership.  Looks like the pressure will be effective in the Legislature to avoid a bad bill.
10. Marketing?  PBI doesn’t buy ads because of expense, though were in the Indy’s Green Guide last month.  PBI does attend festivals like Shakori Hills, Ribfest (upcoming in Winston-Salem), and Festival for the Eno in Durham this summer.

ROLE OF BOARD
Our discussion of the role of the board generated the following thoughts and ideas on our role:
·      Serve coop membership
·      Blaze trail for B100
·      Increase convenience
·      Increase profitability
·      Recruit members
·      Foster partnership with Industrial
·      Balance communitarian interests with commercial interests
·      Gain members
·      Retain members (improve customer service)
·      Upgrade technology to manage a dynamic community of advocates

IDEAS
We brainstormed throughout the meeting, and generated many ideas for improving service, communication, and information.
a.     Web Suggestion box for membership
b.     Put courtesy cards in PDF file for members to download and print
c.      Add Myth Busting and Biodiesel Facts to back of courtesy cards
d.     Show membership who is giving grease to PBI—online map, cell phone apps
e.     Competition/Contests/Incentives for current members to recruit new members
f.      Myth busting on conversion, warranty, mechanics
g.     Spread info on BQ 9000 Certification to pitch our great Coop and its high quality supplier
h.     NC Farm Bureau—do we have a relationship already?  Yes, Lyle is networked with NCFB.  Could be helpful to submit an article on the Coop and Biodiesel for the NCFB monthly magazine (Joe will investigate.)
i.       Know Your Membership: Community Pages on website for members to tell us who they are
j.       Connect to other online communities like TDI club (Brian is active)
k.     Video online of Lyle, Where is the Grease in your neighborhood?  Also could create a Myth Busting video and a How To Be a Coop Member video
l.       Apps for Piedmont Biofuels: maps to show B100 trail, show restaurants who give grease; Brian knows folks at Appubator that work on this technology
m.   More social meet ups for members
n.     More advance notice of Grease Appreciation nights

(Note: We did not discuss plans for implementation or make commitments on these ideas, so perhaps we can do that at upcoming meetings.  And Board members can volunteer to take any of these projects on in between meetings.)

Join us if you can.

The Sustainable Biodiesel Summit is that day.  Our members get in free. The organizers do ask that people register anyway–even if they are free–so that they know how much to buy for lunch.

Here is the Agenda thus far:

2009-2010 Years in Review:  In May 2009, Coop and Industrial “Became One.” In many ways this was like a “receivership” process.  At that time the Coop had run afoul of its creditors, its landlord, its neighbors, the local fire marshal, and the EPA.  The Board of Directors elected to “land it in the Hudson” by transferring all assets and liabilities to Piedmont Biofuels Industrial.

Instead of letting the Coop Corporation expire, it was kept alive.  It had no staff, no assets, and no Board, but it largely continued to serve its mission of leading the grassroots sustainability movement in North Carolina.  Education and outreach continued, the internship program was kept alive, and high quality fuel continued to flow to its members.  The receiver also largely adhered to the Cooperative Principles during this period.

After about a year and a half of cleanup, remediation, negotiation, asset disposal, creditor pay off, and stakeholder engagement, the Coop had satisfied all of its obligations.  In November of 2010 a new Interim Board of Directors was formed. The membership was polled, and all those who desired to serve were appointed. You can read more about that here.

This Board held two meetings to discuss new bylaws to reflect the Coop’s new reality, fuel pricing, expansion of the B100 Community Trail, a Memo of Understanding with Piedmont Biofuels Industrial for services rendered, and other topics that were germane to members.  The minutes of the first meeting were published here.  The minutes of the second were published here.

Pricing Policy:  In February 2011 we implemented a .25/gallon price increase on the B100 Community Trail.  Based largely on the work of long time member John Hollingsworth, it was agreed that Trail pricing would increase in .25/gallon increments in order to stay safely above the price of petroleum diesel.  We now monitor an Energy Information Administration index for on road diesel pricing and will adjust our pricing accordingly. For a look at some philosophy on pricing, including comments by a number of Coop members click here.

Board Elections: Our bylaws call for no less than three and no more than seven board members, one of which is appointed by Piedmont Biofuels Industrial. We currently have 1 appointee and five active board members.  These Interim Board members are welcome to stand for election, as is any other member in good standing.

It’s not dull as dirt.  Honest.  Come and join us if you can….

Come by our booth # 317 at the Expo and don’t forget to catch Piedmont’s presentation during the conference.  Rachel will be presenting about our new enzymatic biodiesel technology during Session 9: Innovations in Biodiesel Production from 3:30- 5:00pm on Monday February 7th.

When : January 25th, 2011 at 6:30pm
Where: Edward’s Mill Bar and Grill
3201-153 Edwards Mill Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27612

http://edwardsmillgrill.com/

Joe Cole, Brian Gullete, Carol Hewitt, Stephan Caldwell, and Lyle Estill were present.

Four items dominated the agenda:

1.     Bylaws re-write and articles of incorporation.  Joe Cole had provided a meticulous “crawl through” of the proposed changes and the majority of the meeting was spent wrestling suggestions into shape.  We will get the actual revisions published on the web as soon as they are ready.  Also discussed was the Memo of Understanding that has been laid out between the Coop and Piedmont Biofuels Industrial.  Changes were suggested to promote a more mutually beneficial, supportive and productive co-existence.  This Memo will also get to the web when it is finished.

2.  We spent some time on “Price Intersection,” since petroleum diesel is at 3.39-eleven cents away from our long standing 3.50 price per gallon.  Lyle was asked to survey the membership for feedback on what action to take.  Expect an email shortly.

3.     We discussed the “Wilmington situation.”  Our friends at Cape Fear Biofuels have asked us to install a fueling station so they can re-activate their B100 community.  The board was very interested in seeing that happen, and had some definite ideas about how to raise the money to make it feasible.

4.  Finally, we discussed having an annual meeting in conjunction with the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit that will be held in Pittsboro on Saturday March 5th.  By holding our annual meeting as part of the Summit, we felt a lot of our members would be present.  The purpose of the meeting would be to elect an official board of directors that could guide the Coop into its next generation.

It was fancy.  And it took a lot of work.  And it set a high bar for all subsequent annual reports.

I’m guessing Matt followed suit and put together our 2006/2007 Annual Report.  It appears to have been done with Powerpoint.  We held it at the MacKimmon Center in Raleigh, in honor of our Raleigh pump opening.  It was at that meeting that one of our members coined the term, “Hometown Security.”  Here is the report from that year.

We held our 2008/2009 annual meeting at the West End Wine Bar in Chapel Hill.  The owner was one of our members, and we thought we would celebrate near our users in Carrboro.  It rained in the middle of Matt’s rooftop presentation, so we moved the meeting downstairs.  It was complicated, but here is the report.

In 2008 the Coop ran into financial trouble.  About that time a plane left LaGuardia airport, hit a few Canada Geese, and the heroic pilot successfully landed his troubled plane in the Hudson River.  Everyone on board was saved.  The Coop Board of Directors at the time stole a page from the pilot’s song sheet and decided to “land it (the Coop) in the Hudson” so that no one would get hurt.

Here is what then President Simon Lobdell wrote as an annual report:

Year 2008 in Review:

At the end of year 2008, the Coop had a nearly break even year.  Nearly all the fuel sold on the trail was made at the Moncure site and was made from WVO collected within 100 miles of the facility.  Educational and Outreach activities were funded by a grant through the USDA Risk Management Agency.  This grant ended in July of 2008.  This had a significant impact on the ability of the Coop to generate cash.  At the same time as WVO collections took a significant upturn and started to achieve our original projected growth rate.  The resulting fiscal instability led to aggressive cost cutting measures.  The Coop survived thanks to all its members who continued to pay premium prices for our premium fuel.

At the end of the year, the Coop had made a very slim profit and made progress towards paying down some of its debts.  However, this tight cash position inspired the Board to consider a variety of plans for the ’09 fiscal year.  These deliberations ultimately led to the merger of the two organizations (Industrial and the Coop) to achieve a more streamlined and agile entity.

To do this we went through seemingly endless negotiations, and memos of understanding, and board meetings, and we ultimately pulled it off.  We “became one.”

The reality is that didn’t exactly happen.  There is no annual report for 2009.  The Coop was idle.  Assets had been transferred, and the year was spent meeting obligations.  The best way to describe it would be “receivership.”  The Coop was not dissolved.  The Coop never “ended.”  But by the time it “became one” with Industrial it had experienced some problems.

As the “receiver” for the Coop I need to acknowledge that it had assets, and liabilities.  Remarkably it had a working biodiesel plant that made onspec fuel.  It was probably the smallest legal fuel production facility on the planet–which is no mean feat. It had drivers, and members, and a nascent grease collection business.  It had trucks and gear, and a whole bunch of goodwill.

On the other hand it had run afoul of its landlord, its neighbors, its creditors, the local fire marshal, and the EPA.

If there were an Annual Report for 2009, or 2010, they would read like  Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

At lot of time and money was spent mending fences.  Doing backhoe and construction work.  And shipping seemingly endless buckets of goo off to Household Hazardous Waste collection centers.  If the Coop history were to shadow human history, 2009 and 2010 could be considered the Dark Ages.

Toward the end of 2010 the Coop began to emerge from receivership.  A new Interim Board was set, and work began anew.  The Coop will be recast as a “consumer Coop,” that is focused on keeping members in fuel.  Work is under way and is ongoing.

We anticipate a new board election in the spring of 2011, and we hope to return to our annual reports of yesteryear.  For now, this is about all we have to offer…