Virginia Embraces the Business of Biodiesel

Virginia Embraces the Business of Biodiesel

Richmond, November 27
Concerns about global warming and America’s dependence on foreign oil have caused Virginia cities, businesses and individual drivers to look for alternatives to petroleum when filling their tanks. Alternatives, like biofuels made from organic material, are becoming popular in the state. Because more commercial and municipal fleets are using biofuels, companies are springing up in Virginia to meet that demand.

According to a recent report by the National Biodiesel Board, 165 companies are actively producing biodiesel across the country, with an annual capacity of 1.85 billion gallons. Virginia has four plants with annual production capacities that total 22 million gallons, and two more expected within the next nine months. This is just a drop in the 20 million barrels of petroleum used by the U.S. each day.

Across the country, 80 companies report their plants are under construction and scheduled to be completed within the next 18 months. This means that potentially the capacity of the biodiesel industry in America will reach 3.2 billion gallons by February 2009.

Chesapeake will have the country’s largest biodiesel plant with a production capacity of 320 million gallons. Scheduled to be completed in about nine months, the plant is expected to cost $532 million. Smiling Earth, a California-based company received approval from the Chesapeake City Council in October. The plant will be located on the south branch of the Elizabeth River on a 44-acre industrial plot. The seeds of a Central American plant called jatropha will be the feedstock for Smiling Earth’s biodiesel.

Smiling Earth’s size will make it the Anheuser- Busch of biodiesel, but Virginia also has micro-breweries producing this fuel. One such company, RECO Bio-industries, has been producing biodiesel in Richmond since January 2007; its plant is located in Shockoe Bottom. The biodiesel research laboratory and plant are in a former steel factory reclaimed by RECO.

Rob Caudle works in the RECO lab and plant. “We use what most people would call a primitive way of doing it. I call this our ‘hippie garage rig on steroids.’”

The plant has a capacity of 8,000 gallons per batch, with an ability to produce 10 million gallons a year. Every piece of equipment was reclaimed from a previous life. The main tank was used in food production, and another was from a brewery.

As production has increased, so has demand. Arlington County began using biodiesel in its school buses three years ago. The Greater Richmond Transit Co. began using biodiesel in July 2006.

The Charlottesville City Council has mandated that its municipality take further steps to decrease its environmental impact. The city has a fleet of 675 vehicles, about half of which are diesel-powered.

“In April 2006. we decided that we would like to do a pilot program,” said city fleet manager Jim McClung. “Our goal is to have everything burning biodiesel by January of ’08.”
All of Charlottesville’s diesel school buses are now powered with 20 percent biodiesel, known as B20, reducing the harmful emissions to which school children are exposed.

Watchcard Industries is a commercial fuel network that builds unattended fuel stations that are accessed by account cards. Commercial drivers have access to pumps in Charlottesville that contain B20. In Richmond, the pumps have 5 percent biodiesel (B5).
“The reason we are marketing (the B5) is because most of the engine manufactures have required that to be the maximum amount used,” said James Offie, a spokesperson for Watchcard Industries. “We would like to have (a higher) ratio as we do in Charlottesville, but we try to proceed a little cautiously. We don’t want to cause our customers to have problems with their warranties.”

One problem with biodiesel is that it is a powerful solvent. Solvents can breakdown the rubber seals and fuel lines that are in some vehicles. The warranties of vehicles without synthetic rubbers could be voided if owners use the wrong ratio of biodiesel.

Some benefits of biodiesel use include its reduction of harmful emissions, and its increase in engine lubricity. Biodiesel is also nontoxic and biodegradable. The biggest attractions are that this fuel is renewable, carbon-neutral, and domestic.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, America uses 20 million barrels of oil a day and imports more than 55 percent of it. Figures of this huge demand often lead to debates about the viability of biofuels. Opponents say that biodiesel will never be able to meet the demand. Still other opponents argue that acreage dedicated to raising crops for biofuels will displace crops for food production. Cold weather gelling of biodiesel keeps many skeptics from embracing the technology as well.

RECO’s Caudle revealed some of the hard facts about producing biodiesel in today’s market. “Your total cost of making a gallon of biodiesel is $3.55 if you’re making it out of soybean oil. At $3.55 a gallon, you look at the market price of $3.35 a gallon. So, if you make biodiesel, you’re going to lose 20 cents a gallon with soybean oil.” RECO now uses poultry fat for its production.

With large plants like the one expected in Chesapeake, which will produce huge amounts of biodiesel, it may become harder for small producers like RECO to make a profit.

New research about waste oil, winter seed crops and even algae for alternative sources is coming to light. It is hard to predict what the future of biofuels will bring. No matter what direction it takes, it is clear that Virginia cities and businesses are willing to adapt when it comes to alternative fuels.
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Making it safer to walk to school

Making it safer to walk to school
By David Heins
(published on richmond.com)

Colonial Heights is one of seven communities across the state to receive grants from the Virginia Department of Transportation to make it safer for children to walk or bicycle to school.

VDOT has awarded $2.5 million to improve sidewalks and other infrastructure around public schools and to support programs that help parents, teachers and students become safer pedestrians.

“Virginia is experiencing a disturbingly high number of traffic fatalities every year. We must pursue every possible way to address this epidemic and save lives,” said VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern.

“A key way to save lives is to convince drivers that they must share the road with bicyclists and pedestrians. The grants available within our Safe Routes to Schools program are another tool to reinforce that important message near schools where there is a high concentration of pedestrian traffic.”

The grants include $2.3 million for infrastructure projects and $242,000 to develop Safe Routes to School educational programs.

Colonial Heights, a city of about 18,000 people near Petersburg, was the only locality in the Richmond metro area to receive funding. The community will get $212,000 to build sidewalks and crosswalks and erect signs. Colonial Heights also was awarded $25,000 to create a Safe Routes to School educational program.

The funding stems from a law passed by Congress last year with a cumbersome title – the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).
Before it was enshrined into law, the Safe Routes to School program was a volunteer movement that taught bike and pedestrian safety for more than 10 years in America and Europe. It encourages children to walk to school, instead of going by car, because it’s better for one’s health and the environment.

Supporters of the Safe Routes to School movement developed principles called the 5 E’s: encouragement, education, engineering, evaluation and enforcement. Now federal funding is available specifically for this cause, with the money awarded by state governments.
According to Jakob Helmbolt, V-DOT’s interim bike and pedestrian coordinator, two types of grants are available:
• Project grants, which fund infrastructure improvement. Cities and counties that want to improve intersections and sidewalks and calm traffic around their schools, for example, apply for this money.
• Program grants, which fund efforts to encourage safe biking and pedestrian activities.

Nonprofit groups and school districts that want to educate parents and students about safety apply for this money.

“Until now, school districts (and non-profits) that wanted to create programs or fund existing ones have only been able to get $2,000 or $3,000. Now, with the federal legislation, a school division can apply for up to $25,000, and individual schools can write grants for up to $5,000,” Helmbolt said.

In 2006, VDOT awarded the first round of grants to eight communities. In the second round, announced Oct. 18, seven communities received funding:
• The city of Alexandria got a total of $517,047.
• The city of Charlottesville, $370,900.
• The city of Colonial Heights, $237,000.
• The city of Lexington, $10,000.
• The city of Norton, $510,000.
• The city of Roanoke, $569,653.
• Stafford County, $162,832.

Pedestrian and bike advocates encounter many obstacles to promoting their cause. Helmbolt said it is hard to encourage children to walk to school because many parents worry about abduction and molestation. They have been frightened by overblown news reports about “stranger danger,” he said.

“Parents are always asking me why they should let their children out alone when abductions are on the rise. Actually statistics show that they are on their way down,” Helmbolt said. “It is a perception we are always battling.”

To help parents get over their fears, the Safe Routes to School coordinators organize “Walking School Buses”: Instead of walking alone, students from the same neighborhood walk to school in a group, supervised by parent volunteers.

Another program is called “Walking Wednesdays.” In this early-morning activity, school buses drop students off a few blocks from the school, and they walk the last leg; or students meet on the athletic field, where the whole school does a few laps together. The idea is to get students to burn off extra energy before settling down for class work.

According to Helmbolt, a nonprofit group called the Cap-Tec Foundation received VDOT funding to create an integrated set of educational activities. These activities will dovetail with Virginia’s required curriculum to teach students about transportation and safety issues.

“We’re hoping we can work the topic into the science classes and social studies … to give a better perspective. It is difficult to find a way to make it fit with everything educators are expected to teach in a school year,” Helmbolt said.
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For more information, visit:
The Virginia Department of Transportation at www.virginiadot.org.
The National Center for Safe Routes to School at wwwsaferoutesinfo.org.

Community Bikes Being Steered By New Direction

By David Heins

Are you looking for a free ride? How about a chance to help fix up your community? Do you want to have a positive impact on the kids in your neighborhood? The answer may be as simple as changing the tire on an old bike.

The City of Charlottesville has been letting volunteers ride away with free bikes for five years now. In Charlottesville’s non-profit Community Bike Shop, volunteer, youths and adults can earn a bike to keep. Putting in four hours of volunteering is the way locals are learning bike maintenance and safety.

While fixing up old donated bikes, participants are pitching in on a massive recycling program aimed at getting more folks on wheels and creating a safe place for the neighborhood.

A new coordinator, Shelly Stern, has brought fun and enthusiasm to the project. Stern has implemented several activities that have been very popular.

The “bike-in movie” series featured outdoor screenings of cycling cult films all summer long. The most popular were "Napoleon Dynamite" and "I Heart Huckabees". In tandem with the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, a film series called Filmed By Bike added independent films to the screenings.

A new “Ladies Night” has started meeting on Wednesdays, when women can come in and work on their bikes with no guys allowed.

In October, the Community Bike Shop hosted a "Critical Mass-querade" of costumed cyclist through town.

This week, after community bikes closed up shop for the day, the members participated in a portable four-course meal. They rode from house to house eating a different course at each stop.

“We are looking at collaborating with other folks in the community to see how we can address car and biker safety issues, and we are focusing on promoting the sense that we really do share the road,” Stern said.

She is also excited about planning a spring bike festival.

The workshop, in a warehouse by the train tracks on West Main, is a hodgepodge of metal and rubber. Rows of rusty old bikes hang from the leaky ceiling. Piles of wheels fill one corner. The walls are lined with paint buckets loaded with salvaged gears, brakes and other useful parts from donated bikes. It may feel like chaos, but it is a labor of love.

Josh Vanhorn has been volunteering here for more than three years. “We’ve definitely been organizing it a bit more. Now were tagging things in a different manner. I think it is much more efficient.”

“It’s pretty sweet,” said Ross Thomas, who has been a volunteer here for more than month.
On Fridays and Saturdays, the two garage doors are opened and the place is filled with activity. Local cyclists and volunteers from the University of Virginia as well as from the activist community are on hand to assist eager patrons who want to build their own ride.

Vanhorn wants people to know that they can always donate bikes. “We also need money to buy certain things that can’t be reused, like brake cables. We also always seem to be running low on tires.”

Stern and her core team of volunteers have also begun enforcing a new set of rules to keep the shop less chaotic and make sure the bikes leave in safe condition.
⊗ No more than five children under age 16 are allowed in the shop at one time.
⊗ Only two patrons are allowed per volunteer.
⊗ A parent or someone over 21 must accompany children under age 7.

Before these rules were enforced, it was not uncommon to see a youngster work hard to get a bike and then have it claimed by an unruly child or group that did not want to help earn one of their own.

“That used to be an issue, but it hasn’t been happening. In the past few months, the shop has been running much better. Over the summer we cut down on a lot of the delinquency factors,” Vanhorn said.

Theft has always been a reality for the program. Born out of a “Yellow Bikes” program, administered by the city and funded by private resources, about 80 bright yellow bikes were scattered around the city in March 2002. After only a few weeks, most of the bikes had been taken and repainted for personal use.

Even though bike theft may have discouraged its progress, the shop has benefited from it as well. Many stolen bikes that are abandoned and unclaimed get donated to the shop by police.

The city’s Community Bike Shop is a new take on a concept popular in European and American cities. In America, 33 states have community bike programs with a total of about 92 individual programs of various models.

Many community bike programs fix up bikes and put them around the community for anyone to use. This model is called “fix and release.” The focus of several of these programs has evolved into distributing the bikes to specific community members who need them.

Programs in some large cities use library-style checkout systems and even credit cards to combat the problem of sticky fingers. Others use the “ugly factor” or features like solid wheels to make their bikes less desirable to theft and resale. Huge ads are hung over the community bikes of Belgrade and Paris.

The volunteers at Charlottesville’s Community Bike Shop are pedaling full speed ahead on this project and the new direction has made them feel more successful than ever. Volunteers are always welcome, and no appointments are necessary.
For more information, visit www.cvillecommunitybikes.org