Bio-Refinery is coming to town......

2008-10-13T19:46:38Z

Pittsboro, N.C.-On Monday, October 6th, 2008, Piedmont Biofuels will cut the ribbon on the newest wing of their biofuels facility, known as the Bio-Refinery.

The first facility of its kind in the state of North Carolina, the Bio-Refinery will dramatically reduce the ecological footprint of each gallon of fuel which comes from the plant, and improve the sustainability of the biodiesel production process.

Specifically, the facility will allow large-scale methanol recovery, reducing the inputs required and turning waste streams into useful co-products.

built in part by a loan from the North Carolina Biofuels Center, a grant from the USDA, and money from private investors.

Piedmont Biofuels is a successful grassroots movement fighting for sustainable food and fuel and eschewing dependence on foreign oil. Beginning as a three-person co-op in 2002 it has since climbed to a coalition of over 600 members.

Piedmont Biofuels is now nationally recognized as the premier center of sustainable biodiesel education, advocacy, and expertise on the eastern seaboard, and a model of small-scale, locally-based biodiesel production.

It is the only community scale biodiesel plant with BQ-9000 quality certification from the National Biodiesel Board.

Piedmont Biofuels has worked in partnership with the NC State Energy Office, the NC Division of Air Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the North Carolina Solar Center, the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Triangle Clean Cities, the NC Biomass Council, and the NC Biofuels Center on their quest for sustainable biodiesel production.

Climate Change and Chapel Hill's Progressive Invovlement

2008-01-11T06:42:51Z

There are many "green building initiatives" taking place in Chapel Hill, and now the town is inviting mayors from the NC area to be involved as well in climate change and transportation. The Town of Chapel Hill will host a gathering of mayors Jan. 9 and 10 to discuss climate change and transportation as part of a meeting of the N.C Metropolitan Coalition.

"We are pleased that topics of this importance are going to be discussed in Chapel Hill," said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy. "We are striving to become a model community for reducing greenhouse emissions and are actively pursuing sustainable initiatives."

Chapel Hill became the first U.S. municipality to commit to a 60 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 through the Community Carbon Reduction Project.

Some of the ways the community will realize this goal is by increasing greenways and open space and establishing new tree protection rules. In Chapel Hill, new or expanded Town government facilities must be built to green building standards and private developers are encouraged to incorporate energy efficient features into their projects. The Town also has set aside funds to install energy efficient features into existing public buildings.

Christine's Blog

Bio-Refinery is coming to town......

Climate Change and Chapel Hill's Progressive Invovlement