Biodiesel coops conference

I just got back from this conference in Golden, CO organized by Girl Mark, Graydon Blair (of Utah Biodiesel Supply), John Meuser (at the CO Sch of Mines) and others (see http://b100.org for info). It was great and I learned a ton- will try to summarize as much as I can, but a lot of the presentations will be posted on utahbiodieselsupply.com pretty soon. If you have specific questions, I will try to answer them, but I missed a lot of the sessions.. You could also google the folks listed below to get in touch with them...
In general, it was attended by 130 folks, including 2 from S. Africa! and one from Germany. It had a grass-roots feel- refreshing for a conference. Outside the building, there were a few processors on trailers- cool designs- check out the one ffbiofuels.com especially. I met some great folks, including Graydon Blair of Utah Biodiesel Supply, who is a wonderful guy and his is my favorite source of all things biodiesel. My favorite presentation was Jennifer Radtke's story of the creation of Biofuels Oasis, a biodiesel fueling coop in Berkely. It's a worker and women owned business, and they bill themselves as an anti-gas station... meaning that it is very personal and service oriented- with love seats, and organic food, and fuel-filter changing workshops. She's also published a zine-book about the creation of the coop, which you can order from her at: biodevas@biofueloasis.com
I'm not gonna try to remember everything here.. also, Graydon has a nice blog entry about the conference complete with some great photos at: http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/blog/
I'm posting a few photos of some nice processors on trailers that were on display. One is by students at the CO School of Mines (Jon Meuser), and another is by flyingf fuels, available at b100supply: http://www.b100supply.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.display&product_id=112
- a really nice set-up. Another blog with conference description: http://climateprotectioncampaign.typepad.com//cpc/2006/07/biodiesel_confe.html

The top 2 pics above are of a processor by Flying F Biofuels, and the 3rd is by Jon Meuser and friends at the CO School of mines. Both looked really nice!

Here is a list of the presentations:

- Intro to biodiesel
- Biodiesel Coop experiences in a nutshell. Alan Pryor, Berkeley Biodiesel Coop and Alameda Biodiesel Coop, Jason Burroughs, Austin Biodiesel Coop
- Disposal of Sidestreams. Matt Rudolf, Piedmont Biofuels, Pittsboro, NC
- Case Study: Yoderville Biodiesel Coop, Steve Fugate
- Methanol Recovery. St Louis Biofuels Club, Terri Zeman and Maud Essen. Find her on infopop forums- see pic on utahbiodieselsupply conference blog
- Liter batch demos (Steve Richer and myself)
- Small producer and Farm plant discussion. Frankie Lind, Pogoil, Brookesville, MD, Chris Jude, Appalachian State biodiesel poject in NC, and farm biodiesel plant project in Carnation, WA (Full-Circle Farms), Rob del Bueno, Vegenergy.com & Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Atlanta, GA
- Educating the Local Community. Netaka White, Vermont Biofuels Association, Jennifer Radtke of backyardbiodiesel.og and Biofuel Oasis, CA, and myself
- Quality Control Factors for Homebrewers. John Bush, Boulder Biodiesel, Boulder CO
- A Club, Not a Coop: St Louis Biofuels Club. Maud Essen, Terri Zeman
- Biodiesel Distribution Experiences: Producer to End User. Kai Curry, Biodiesel Blue Distribution and Fryaway coop, Minneapolis, MN. Gretchen Zimmerman, Biofuel Oasis, Berkely CA.
- Case Studies of Grant-funded Educational Programs. Paul Feather and Chris Jude, Appalachian State University Collaborative Bioidiesel Project, Boone, NC, and Matthew Steiman, Wilson College Biodiesel Project, Chambersburg, PA
- From Seed to Oil: Oilseed crops and oil extraction technologies. Sam Anderson, BioFuel Technologies,LLC in Denver.
- Biodiesel 101 and Biodiesel Calculator Software presentation. Graydon Blair of Utah Biodiesel Supply in Salt Lake City UT, and Rick Harrison of Omahabiodiesel.com, Omaho, NE
- Gas Chromatography Testing of Biodiesel. Bob Armantrout, Rocky Mountain Biodiesel, Berthoud, CO.
- Cold Weather Strategies for Biodiesel Users and Homebrewers. Tom Judd, Coloradobiodiesel.com, Kai Curry, Biodiesel Blue Distribution, Minneapolis, and Steve Fuguate, Yoderville Biodiesel Coop.
- Sustainability: Where does your biodiesel come from? Gretchen Zimmerman, Biofuel Oasis, Bereley, CA.
- Homebrewing regulations and excise tax case studies: Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Utah. Rick Harrison, Omaha PSD Club, Matt Steiman, Wilson College Biodiesel Project, Graydon Blair, Utah Biodiesel Coop.
- Working with Volunteers. Matt Rudolf, Piedmont Biofuels, Pittsboro, NC and Maria 'Mark' Alovert, Berkeley Biodiesel Coop, and Women's Biodiesel Internship, Oakland CA
- Biofuel Oasis: Creating a biodiesel station. Jennifer Radtke, Biofuel Oasis.
- The Biodiesel community online: strategies about biodieselcommunity.org and the forums. Graydon Blair and Girl Mark.
- Oil collections. Steve Fugate of Yoderville Biodiesel Club and Frankie Lind, Pogoil, Brookesivlle MD.
- Homebrew Quality Control and Quality Testing. Girl Mark
- Case Study: The Story of Piedmont Biofuels. Matt Rudolf.
- Algae. Jon Meuser of Colorado School of Mines.

New methoxide mixing procedure

Just added this to my processing page: http://biolyle.com/process/processing.html My brilliant friend Bill came up with this great way to dissolve the catalyst. Just put a strainer in a 15 gal conical tank, fill with proper amount of methanol, add the KOH or lye, and bubble air in thru a valve at the bottom. With KOH, it dissolves within seconds (actually dissolves pretty fast even without the bubbling..)

Biodiesel from sewage algae

First successful commercial production from sewage algae! Check it out at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10381404

Biodiesel Coops Conference - July 15-16 Colorado

Local Biodiesel: A Biodiesel Co-ops Conference

July 15-16

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

We are organizing a biodiesel groups/co-ops conference in Colorado near
Denver this summer, at Colorado School of Mines . This event will
present stories and information about homebrewing in groups, as well as
distribution, advocacy, small-scale biodiesel business, and other kinds
of biodiesel group activities.

Web page (still in progress, check back for a list of participating
groups/speakers)
www.b100.org

We'll put up a registration page this week and will keep you informed
about developments for this event. In the meantime, there is an
announcements-only mailing list (ie not a chat list) for anyone who
wants to receive updates by email- at
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/biodieselconference

At this event, presentations will discuss homebrewing and the law,
technical topics relevant to homebrewers and small-scale biodiesel
businesses, organizational aspects of biodiesel co-ops/biodiesel
clubs/biodiesel outreach groups, oil collections and other feedstock
availability issues, cooperating with other biofuelers in your local
community, commercial biodiesel distribution, taxes, bulk-buying clubs,
educating others in your community about biodiesel, and many other
topics. Best of all, we have an extensive lineup of speakers who are
coming to present 'case studies' about their local efforts in biodiesel
groups- telling the story of biodiesel grassroots efforts in North
America from their own experience.

Official conference session themes are:
case studies,
biodiesel education and advocacy,
distribution,
homebrewing and the law,
feedstock (oil supply),
and technical topics

We want to hear from you! If you have biofuels group experience and
would like to speak at one of our panel discussions (Case Studies) or
lead a discussion session that fits into the above themes, please get in
touch: conference@b100.org . You do not need to be an experienced public
speaker (that's why some of the presentatoins are moderated panels, to
help get non-professionals speaking about their experiences, and we can
help you organize your presentation).

This event is organized by people who've been involved with the Colorado
biodiesel organizations at Denverbiodiesel.org, Boulderbiodiesel.com,
Colo School of Mines Student Council on Sustainability, along with many
others from outside of Colorado: various members of the BIodieselbasics
and Biodiesel Yahoogroups, Utah Biodiesel Co-op, folks from Biofuel
Oasis and Berkeley Biodiesel Collective, and more from around the
country. I'll update the 'who we are' section of the web page soon with
all the guilty parties' names.

The conference will be held at Colorado School of Mines.

Conference accommodations:
We have (optional) dorm housing available Friday-Sunday (unfortunately
can't provide dorm rooms for couples as the school segregates dorm rooms
by gender- we'll try and make a list of hotel accommodations for those
who won't stay in the dorm) and we will be serving breakfast and lunch
as part of the event and using the mealtimes and the evenings as
additional networking opportunities.

Cost: We are charging only as much as the space rental will cost us, and
expect that the weekend's registration costs will be under $100
including dorm housing. We should have more details on the exact amount
on the website within a couple of weeks.

Discussions and networking:
The event will be discussion-based, with audience participation
encouraged for the speakers' sessions, and we will provide ample
opportunity for networking and social time so you can get to meet each
other and share ideas.

Assorted info for those making travel plans:
There will be a free Friday night introductory session for the local
general public, which would run around 6-8 and kick off the event,
although it is not listed on the conference web page yet. Actual
conference orientation/dorm room check-in will take place at the Atrium
tea/refreshments social after this Friday event. (you can also check in
on Saturday morning). Friday evening will be a mellow 'social' before
bedtime, and Saturday night will be a larger party for which we're
renting a facility on campus, with some kind of entertainment. Sunday
night you're on your own as most folks are likely to travel back then.

For more information, join our updates list at:
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/biodieselconference
or email conference@b100.org

Biodiesel Coop conference in July

Hi- This just in from Girl Mark- sounds pretty cool...

Several biodiesel advocates and I are organizing a conference this
summer, to focus specifically on biodiesel co-ops- for example: groups
such as homebrew groups, advocacy/education groups, and small
distributors/bulk buy co-ops. SVO 'group' topics are welcome though to
my knowledge it has not been attempted as often as biodiesel group activity.

We're hoping that this conference may make it easier to share
information about what has worked or not worked for biodiesel co-ops-
for instance, homebrewing in groups has proven to be very difficult but
has a lot of potential if done right, and continues to be attractive as
fuel prices climb higher.
Also, many past biodiesel events have focused mostly on the biodiesel
industry or on lobbying/legislative efforts, while there is also a
strong movement toward 'local', non-industry activity across the United
States that now makes biodiesel available in many communities.

Currently we're talking to a university near Denver- if held there, the
conference would be in mid-July, and will include optional dorm housing
(under $30 a night) and cafeteria meals ($21 a day for all meals). We're
hoping to make the actual event admission price inexpensive as well-
event costs should be minimal outside of classroom rental and handouts
printing costs. Denver is cheap to fly to from most other airports, and
there are many 'tourist' attractions nearby at that time of year for
those who would like to travel with their families on vacation. There
are a number of small producers and homebrewers in the Denver/Boulder
area, and they have had several years of experience to share- groups
like Boulder Biodiesel, which formerly had a retail space for commercial
fuel distribution and homebrewing/education, and CU Biodiesel, a campus
group at CU Boulder.

We are proposing the following 'tracks' for conference sessions to fall
into:

a. 'case studies' track in which members of biodiesel co-ops present what their groups do and how it has worked for them

b. a 'technical track/homebrewing groups track', in which groups who homebrew could discuss the production technology/techniques that makes 'homebrewing in co-ops/groups' work efficiently,

c. an 'education track' covering topics specific to biodiesel groups who do public advocacy and education, and

d. a 'distribution track' covering groups who sell or group-purchase commercial biodiesel together.


I am interested in finding people to present 50-minute sessions for
those tracks- you do not have to be an experienced public speaker to
make an impact at this event- we really need to hear about your
real-world experiences in biodiesel groups, and most sessions are likely
to incorporate a lot of 'question and answer' discussion with the
audience . Sessions can be lead by multiple people , for those of you
new to public speaking who would like a little help organizing your
audience. I've been having off-list discussion of this with a number of
biodiesel co-op members for a few months now, and it looks like we
should have quite a few who can make it at that time of year and would
be available to speak. Also, the 'track' structure is very tentative and
open to change if someone comes up with a better idea for structuring
the event differently. If you have a biodiesel community topic you'd
like to cover which falls outside the track structure, please submit it
anyway.


For discussion of organizing the Localizing Biodiesel event, I have
started a thread for organizers/suggestions:

http://forums.biodieselnow.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11044
please post suggestions and ideas there. I'll be posting updates there
and at these Yahoogroups, as they become available.

For those who want to be on a mailing list for updates only without
participating in day-to-day conference planning discussion, I have
started an announcements-only mailing list (no discussion so you aren't
flooded with unwanted email) at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biodieselconference . There will be under
5 messages a month with updates about event details, as they become
available.

We will have a web page at www.boulderbiodiesel.com soon.



thank you,
Mark

biodiesel from algae

Following links in a couple of articles, I came upon one about Green Fuel Technologies, a company that is working to use smokestack emissions to feed algae that will produce oil that will be made into biodiesel! You gotta love it! They were featured on the program Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda, and have more info about their methods on their site: http://www.greenfuelonline.com/technology1.htm

This week I also heard about a WA state company that wants to go into alternative fuel production, including biodiesel: http://www.chemconcorp.com/

CA. Sustainable Biodiesel Summit

This summit will be occurring right alongside the National Biodiesel Board big meeting.. wish I could go, but that's when my workshop is!

Sustainable Biodiesel Summit:
Sustainability and Localization of the Biodiesel Industry

February 3, 4, 5, 2006
SanDiego InnSuites
2223 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92104

SBS Tentative Agenda & Speakers

Friday Feb. 3rd
2-5pm Registration
6pm Dinner at nearby reasturant to meet and talk with participants.


Saturday, Feb. 4th 8:30am-6pm
8-9am Registration
8:30-9am Bio101 for Beginners
9-9:45am Sustainability and Localization of the Biodiesel Community
10-10:45 Biodiesel Educaton & Outreach
11- 12:30pm Taxes/Federal Incentives
12:30-1:30pm Lunch (on site)
1:30-3pm Biodiesel Legislation's Effect on the B100 Market: Real
World Examples
3-4:30pm Emmissions
4:30-6pm Fuel Quality
7pm-11pm Dinner/Entertainment


Sun. Feb. 5th, 2006 9am-4pm
9-10:30am Feedstocks
10:30- 12pm Production
12-1pm lunch (on site)
1- 2:30pm Distribution of biofuels
2:30-4pm Diesel Passanger Vehicles



Presenters
(this list will grow with additional speaker confirmations)
Eric Bowen - SF Biodiesel Coop- www.sfbiofuels.org
Kent Bullard - Sustanable Options, SoCalBUG, LA Biodiesel-Coop.org - www.sustainableoptions.com
Jim Burns - UC San Diego L3 Research, Inc - www.L3research.com
Rachel Burton, Leif Forer, Lyle Estill - Piedmont Biofuels -
www.biofuels.coop
Kai Curry - FryAway Veggie Fuels - www.fryaway.com
Tom Durbin - UC Riverside CE-CERT - www.cert.ucr.edu
Charles Ehrlich - Cooperative Community Energy - www.ccenergy.com
Charris Ford - Grassolean - www.grassolean.com
Dan Freeman - Dr. Dan's Fuelwerks -www.fuelwerks.com
Kimber Holmes - Biofuel Station, BCC - www.paxfuel.com
Emily Bockian Landsburg - Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel -
www.fryodiesel.com
Kumar Plocher - Yokayo Biofuels - www.ybiofuels.org
Jennifer Radtke - Biofuel Oasis - www.biofueloasis.com
Daniel Sherwood - University of Ottawa -
www.genie.uottawa.ca/~dube/biodresearch
Shaine Tyson- Rocky Mountain Biodiesel- www.rockymtnbiodiesel.com
Randal von Weddle - CytoCulture - www.cytoculture.com

To register please go to our website for information, discounted rooms available thru tomorrow Jan 15th.
http://www.biodieselcouncil.org/html/register.html
$100 Registration fee can be mailed in post marked by Jan 28th or $125 purchased at the door. A work-trade reduced fee option is available.

This year's NW Biodiesel Forum- March 18

...is shaping up to be a great one, and the biggest yet. One of the hangars at Warren Magnuson Park will be the location, which can hold up to 800 people! There will be panels on everything biodiesel-related, plus lots of hands-on stuff going on. Keep an eye on the nwbiodiesel.org for updates. Let me know if you have volunteer energy or ideas for speakers or workshops... biolyle@gmail.com

oil heating with bio- Genesse offering B20

This just in from Kevin from NW Biodiesel Network: "Genesee Fuel is now selling B20, and, if you buy a new Thermo-Pride furnace between now and end of Feb., you can get $300 off the price if you switch to BioD! They have a $200/off coupon for a new thermo
pride furnace generally in there, too." Also, biodieselwarehouse.com has a home-heating oil Webster pump available for sale.

classes, news

First, my Experimental College class is nearly full, so if you're interested sign up soon, or consider the Phinney class the following Saturday.

Today, KUOW radio's "The Conversation" did a show about biodiesel, since the WA legislature convened today to consider Gov. Gregoire's and others desire for a renewable fuels standard of 2% biodiesel in all WA state biodiesel, and $17 million in biodiesel production loans. The show featured Patrick Mazza from Climate Solutions, who has a new publication called: "The New Harvest: Biofuels and Windpower for Rural Revitalization and National Energy Security," which has some great information. Also, Martin Tobias, CEO of Seattle Biodiesel, provided a nice rebuttal to David Pimental, a Cornell prof who claims that biodiesel isn't energy efficient. Martin points out that Pimental is funded by the oil industry, and that his is about the only study that doesn't say that biodiesel produces more energy than is required to produce it. The National Renewable Energy Lab showed that you get 3.2 times as much energy out as goes into production of biodiesel, taking into account all farm inputs, transportation, etc.
Listen to the show at: http://www.kuow.org/theconversation.asp