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Tales from the Plant
| July 2010
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Greetings!
July has flown by, with record breaking heat, and record breaking fuel sales.
We started out the month spending the weekend at the Eno River Festival. We brought out our Cleantech Education Trailer, and six of us volunteered to spend our 4th of July weekend doing what we do best, bringing Biodiesel to the people! We were delighted to speak with many great folks, including Senator Kay Hagan who surprised us with an impromptu visit and some great questions.
Around mid-month we hosted a great group of folks for our Enzymatic Biodiesel Pilot Plant ribbon cutting along with partners Novozymes and the Biofuels Center of North Carolina.
We'd like to welcome our newest team member, McCayne Miller, who has joined us to take the reigns of fuel distribution and accounting. She's been doing an amazing job of hitting the ground running and keeping members happy and fuel sales moving smoothly. We're happy to have you on board, McCayne!
It's July. It's hot. We hope you enjoy issue #5.
Sweat and schmutz tanks,
Piedmont Biofuels
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The Late Shift at the Plant Returns!
After the giant success of last month's TRKfest, we're excited to bring more music to our garden concert space. If you haven't been down to our plant yet, this is a great way to see what we're all about here at The Plant.
This August show will be right around the full moon, which makes for a lovely evening out on the lawn.
Join us Sunday evening from 7pm to 10:30pm for an evening of music in the concert garden.
We'll be hosting two great North Carolina bands, Birds and Arrows from Chapel Hill along with Big Al and His Marching Rams from Wilmington, NC, along with drinks and wood fired pizzas on the lawn.
Tickets for this show will be $8 at the door.
Email Chris with any questions.
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B100 Trail hits Record Sales!
Piedmont Biofuels has been selling high-blend biodiesel to the 'outsider fringe' in North Carolina since 2004 through our B100 Trail. This year has been one of steady membership growth as we see more and more people getting interested in reducing their petroleum consumption in the wake of the disaster in the Gulf. And every drop of cooking oil we collect and turn into biodiesel is one less drop of petroleum that needs to get drilled.  We've also been fueling the stars since the early days when Willie Nelson would call us up for tourbus fuel. This summer we'll supply fuel to touring musicians like Phish, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow and Jack Johnson, as well as quite a number of local musicians such as Chatham's own Bowerbirds. So it's this combination that gave us the biggest month in our history in June with over 5000 gallons of B99.99 distributed through the Trail. Of course that makes us both proud and thankful for the strong support we've seen from our members. Thanks to all of you for your commitment to clean renewable fuels, we certainly couldn't be doing this without you! Our new member coordinator, McCayne Miller, is here and able to answer your questions. You can reach her at 919-321-8260 or mccayne(at)biofuels.coop |
Enzymatic Ribbon Cutting a Success!
Rachel and Greg from our Research and Analytics team we're proud to unveil our new pilot Enzymatic Biodiesel technology developed with Novozymes. The press was out as was the Biofuels Center of NC and the day was considered a success by all.
With our new pilot reactor we are taking the lab-scale success and moving it towards industrial scale production. We are very excited about this system and look forward to bringing it to the market. Producers will be able to process lower quality feedstocks into high quality biodiesel and higher quality glycerine, with reduced post-processing. Stay tuned for more...
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Seedpresses are rolling!
Since we teamed up with German Seedpress manufacturer Monforts IBG in 2008 we've learned a lot about oilseed crushing. This year we've been seeing a lot of interest from farmers, researchers and entrepreneurs in small scale oil and meal production. A week hasn't passed this summer without someone new asking us about the Monforts Komet presses, and we couldn't be happier.
We've been pressing flax seeds for food and sunflower seeds for biodiesel oil, and are anxiously awaiting this fall's crop of grape and pumpkin seeds, which both make delicious edible oil.
This August we'll be working with the Biofuels Center of North Carolina on a local canola seed pressing trial, and this September 18th we'll be hosting IBG Montforts' Dirk Skuras for a workshop at Piedmont Biofuels on cold pressing oil seeds.
For more info on the workshop or our seedpresses contact Chris at 919-321-8260 or chris@biofuels.coop.
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Grease Appreciation
Dinner!
Wednesday, August 18th at Top of the Hill in Chapel Hill
When we first started collecting oil for Biodiesel we set our sights on Franklin Street. And Chapel Hill has been good to Piedmont. Top of the Hill, one of the premier bars and restaurants in town, has been a great partner. We are always hungry for more used cooking oil, and we always have a blast on Grease Appreciation Night. Join us if you can at Top of the Hill. Starting at 6:30 we'll be in the back of the bar at the Game area!  |
Keepin' it Greasy with the Grease Goddess...
Moya, our Grease Goddess, and her team of oil collectors procure
used cooking from restaurants, country clubs, universities and schools around the Triad and Triangle.
We welcome our newest accounts, please try to support our Partners in Sustainability:
Johns Food Express - Burlington
Milltown - Carrboro
Taqueria Tres Amigo - Carrboro
Sandwich - Chapel Hill
Piedmont Triad Farmers Market
Al's Diner - Pittsboro
Boylan Ridge Brew Pub -Raleigh
The Oxford - Raleigh
The Sheraton - Downtown Raleigh
Moya can be reached at greasegoddess[at]biofuels.coop |
Partners in Sustainability
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Piedmont's Partners in Sustainability program is our
way of thanking the restaurants and kitchens that support us. We want to
highlight the collaborative efforts we all make demonstrating a more sustainable future for North Carolina. Partners in Sustainability  |
We
are currently growing our Partners in Sustainability program so that it
may better serve and distinguish our fellow partners. This program
provides each partner with a listing on our website. We also feature
our partners in this newsletter and we stage Grease Appreciate Dinners at partner locations. Our partners are an integral part of our
sustainability team when we travel to our educational and civic
engagements, as they are
featured in our promotional materials.
Here's the thing. Not
everyone runs around on locally made biodiesel. But everyone eats. We
have plenty of members who support what we are doing but have not yet
made it to our fuel. They are supporters of a cause. If you are a
restaurant or a food service organization you will find that by
becoming a Piedmont Partner in Sustainability you will gain new
customers who value your commitment to sustaining human life on this
garden planet.
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| Contact Information |
Membership Services
McCayne Miller and Lyle Estill
919-321-8260
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