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Yesterday we arrived back in St. Louis from the Grassroots Biodiesel Conference. The drive was long, but the conference was worth it. Extra big thanks to Rachel, Leif and Lyle (man of 1,000 hats) of Piedmont Biofuels for all the work they did organizing the great event. It was attended by upwards of 100 people from around the world, all doing very interesting work on the ground floor of the biodiesel movement.

There was a gentleman from the Czech Republic who studies vehicle emissions not by putting the vehicle in a lab, but by installing a lab on the vehicle, testing its real world performance and emissions. There were researchers working on strains of algae for oil production that would grow in the desert. There were members of a University of Colorado program creating teaching materials for K-12 students on the topic of alternative fuels. The audience was diverse and far reaching, and everyone had come to meet others, and learn more.

I met quite a few amazing people, and a few valuable contacts. We also got a lot of work done. Maud, Girl Mark and I facilitated a discussion session about our Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial project we are developing. It hopes to be a complete guide to learning about, and developing skills for using and making biodiesel. Much information has been gathered, but little has been done to organize the project, and make conceptual determinations as to what the audience wants. Our session was attended by experts like Lyle, down to people who were just learning about biodiesel. They let us know what they found valuable about existing resources, what they found problematic about existing resources, and what they felt the community needed in terms of educational materials. Our goals are more closely defined now, and more progress is ready to be made.

Much discussion was had in various sessions about how to start small businesses around biodiesel. Many cooperative biodiesel organizations have failed, but those that have survived discussed what they did to make it work, and keep it working. The major barrier is regulatory, selling biodiesel requires a tremendous amount of paperwork, and test results. The National Biodiesel Board makes much of this easier, but because they do not publicly release the results of their health effects testing (which the EPA requires from fuel producers), small producers are cut out of the loop. If you don’t make enough money to join the NBB, you can’t sell your fuel, but you can’t join the NBB until you are making money (by selling fuel). The catch-22 is being discussed right now at the National NBB conference in Florida, which is being attended by a large consortium of individuals from the grassroots movement to make the situation known, and seek solutions.

Here in St. Louis new ideas are starting to brew. We are discussing the possibilities of creating a business of some sort, and expanding our reach in the community. Teaching a course at the community college would be a natural activity, and is something we are pursuing. Making and selling biodiesel equipment would be another possibility, as is the distribution of another producer’s fuel. There are options, and we now know a lot more about them. Education is a natural direction, based on my experience, and will probably be our first move.

Stay tuned!

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