A Series of Conversations

An update on the biofuel plans:

Talking with a Farmer:
I had a conversation with my buddy Lindsay who's a farmer in Addison County about the idea of farmers producing their own biofuel on site, which then could then sell to the general public, who could also bring lawn clippings by and so get a discount on fuel. She thought the part about on site fuel generation for farmers would be awesome, and selling it to the public would be awesome, but the part about having people deliver organic matter to be then turned in to fuel was more difficult.

She said that would require additional labor to sort through that matter to make sure that it was adequate (I'm not sure what all that would entail yet... at the very least it would mean that it's not littered with non-organic matter).

We also talked about diesel farm equipment and how to make biofuels work for those devices. And it comes down to either you make biofuel and tweak it to function exactly like diesel (not change necessary for the equipment) OR you make the biofuel as is and tweak the machine so that it will work with the fuel you've produced.


Talking with a Social Leader:
Since I'm a teacher, and I have these ideas about biofuels and I'd like to write this grant, how the heck will I fit it in? When will I have time to do anything? Probably just during the summer. So my Social Leader friend said she could talk with me further about how to be a part of something like this without having a lot of time to work with. (yay hope!)



Talking with an Eco-Maven Physics Teacher:
Tom Tailer, the physics teacher at Mount Abraham Union High School suggested that biofuels are not necessarily the solution for transportation. In general the world will get more local and less global once fuel becomes more expensive, and the focus ought to be more on human needs rather than getting around. Which leaves biofuels as a good option for heating fuel.

Fair enough. Maybe we won't use it for getting around, but maybe we could use it instead of heating oil? I don't know how difficult such a retro-fit might be (moving from heating fuel to biodiesel), but I imagine it's just a matter of changing the burner.

Bottom line, I think it's still worth the investment, because it will be useful one way or another.