Biofuel success continues in WNC mountains

In Western North Carolina the answer is “Wrong.” Blue Ridge Biofuels is occupying a new facility in Catawba County that will raise its capacity to 3 million gallons a year. That’s nearly 10 times the amount it produced last year at its Asheville facility.

Biodiesel is a vehicle fuel made from a variety of agricultural byproducts or cooking oil. It can be used either to replace or supplement conventional diesel fuel. Blue Ridge Biofuels uses cooking oil from more than 600 restaurants in the Asheville area.

The Blue Ridge expansion is happening despite the fact that falling oil prices have made biodiesel more expensive that petroleum-based fuels. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency has not set a requirement for biodiesel use in the nation’s fuel supply and North Carolina has defunded the Biofuels Center of North Carolina.

No problem, says Woody Eaton, CEO of Blue Ridge. “We’ll be OK. We’re optimistic.”

One reason for his optimism is that, while federal and state support may be declining, other institutions are stepping up. The new Blue Ridge facility was born of a partnership between Appalachian State University and Catawba County. State and federal grants provided $1.6 million for equipment, while the county spent a like amount for the building.

Why we should subsidize biodiesel, especially when gasoline prices are tumbling? There are a number of reasons. Biodiesel makes use of cooking oil that otherwise would wind up in landfills. It burns cleaner than fossil fuels. It comes from renewable sources. This last is a point often lost amid today’s oil glut. Improvements in technology, most recently fracking, have pushed back the day when the world will run out of oil. Nevertheless, that day is coming, and we had better be prepared with alternatives if we are not to endure the mother of all depressions.

Recent trends have been hard on the industry. “Some of the smaller producers are already beginning to close up,” said Erika Myers, a consultant who focuses on renewable energy, though major firms are still in business.

Despite these setbacks, the future for alternative fuels, including biodiesel, is bright. North Carolina already is in the forefront. It has 16 percent of the nation’s public and private filling stations for biodiesel. The state replaced the Biofuels Center with grants distributed through the Department of Agriculture, though at a considerably lower level.

Biomass already produces 2 percent of the state’s electricity and that share is expected to grow, according to David Rhoades of the state Department of Commerce. Since 2010, at least four wood-pellet production facilities have opened in the state, he said, creating more than 300 jobs, he said. The pellets can be used to fuel power plants.

Like Mark Twain’s death, the reports that biofuels are dead are greatly exaggerated.