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Biodiesel Co-op gets boost in North Carolina |
by Matt Siegel
Blue Ridge Biofuels is a grassroots, cooperative, worker-owned organization that has been making biodiesel out of waste vegetable oil (WVO) for about 18 months at an organic farm near Asheville, NC. From oil collection to production to distribution of fuel for the over 40 co-op members, the co-op has run completely off volunteer labor and donations. Recently, thanks to great vision and effort, Blue Ridge Biofuels has moved into a new permanent facility and has hired its first employee. It also received an $8,400 grant from the State Energy Office to install a public pump and help bring the cost of biodiesel closer to that of petroleum diesel. The biodiesel co-op will be producing 1,000 gallons of B100 biodiesel per week by the beginning of 2005 and will have a public pump open by March. Brian Winslett, the project director, has great enthusiasm about the future of the company. "I believe that this is the beginning of a revolution. When a community can come together and actively support renewable fuels in the way they have with Blue Ridge Biofuels, it gives me hope for a better future."
The expansion of alternative fuel use in Asheville has exploded in the last year with the City set to install a compressed natural gas filling station in the summer of 2005, as well as the county and local university deciding to run many vehicles on B20 biodiesel.
The co-op's work will not only help to clean the air and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels but will create a local economic closed loop system where local restaurants, a small local biodiesel co-op and renewable fuel consumers all win.
Blue Ridge Biofuels is a wonderful example of how right Margaret Mead was when she said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has."
For more information or for information on how you can start a local biodiesel co-op near you, please contact us at:
Tel:(828)253-1034
Website: www.blueridgebiofuels.com
E-mail: info@blueridgebiofuels.com
Blue Ridge Biofuels is a grassroots, cooperative, worker-owned organization that has been making biodiesel out of waste vegetable oil (WVO) for about 18 months at an organic farm near Asheville, NC. From oil collection to production to distribution of fuel for the over 40 co-op members, the co-op has run completely off volunteer labor and donations. Recently, thanks to great vision and effort, Blue Ridge Biofuels has moved into a new permanent facility and has hired its first employee. It also received an $8,400 grant from the State Energy Office to install a public pump and help bring the cost of biodiesel closer to that of petroleum diesel. The biodiesel co-op will be producing 1,000 gallons of B100 biodiesel per week by the beginning of 2005 and will have a public pump open by March. Brian Winslett, the project director, has great enthusiasm about the future of the company. "I believe that this is the beginning of a revolution. When a community can come together and actively support renewable fuels in the way they have with Blue Ridge Biofuels, it gives me hope for a better future."
The expansion of alternative fuel use in Asheville has exploded in the last year with the City set to install a compressed natural gas filling station in the summer of 2005, as well as the county and local university deciding to run many vehicles on B20 biodiesel.
The co-op's work will not only help to clean the air and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels but will create a local economic closed loop system where local restaurants, a small local biodiesel co-op and renewable fuel consumers all win.
Blue Ridge Biofuels is a wonderful example of how right Margaret Mead was when she said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it's the only thing that ever has."
For more information or for information on how you can start a local biodiesel co-op near you, please contact us at:
Tel:(828)253-1034
Website: www.blueridgebiofuels.com
E-mail: info@blueridgebiofuels.com
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