We have a long-standing tradition of tackling our problems alphabetically at Piedmont Biofuels. I don’t normally blog about problems on Energy Blog.  My deep-seated belief is that there is enough bad news in the world and I would rather not be a contributor.  So I try to stay upbeat and hope...

Yesterday I returned from the mountains with a horrible ear infection. Matt and I ran up to Rutherford County to have  a “How to start a biodiesel Coop”  discussion with a group of farmers and activists.  And I forgot my ear medicine. Which made for a long day. I came home from the pl...

Today I drove out to the Research Triangle Park to participate in a forum for regional economic developers. The Research Triangle Regional Partnership assembled a “Primer on Industrial Biotechnology” for their constituents, and as is often the case, I was somewhat “out of place....

This is a wild time on project.  And in the greater world.  Sometimes it is hard to make sense of it all. Tomorrow we meet for an “annual retreat.”  We’ll get a bunch of us in the room, with the cell phones off, away from the bedlam of Industrial and Coop.  And we will roll up ...

At a recent “Local Food Friday,” Matt and his team served up some latkes that were pan fried in canola oil which he had crushed himself. They were delicious.  He was beaming.  On my second helping I suggested to him that pan frying latkes was not actually frying, and that a proper test...

Today Matt Rudolf is giving a speech in Charlotte to a bunch of NC farmers.  I think it is an excellent overview that reads like “Feedstock 101.”  Here is what he is going to say: When I talk to the public about biodiesel a common question I get is:  When will biodiesel become ubiquit...

I’m not the king of spreadsheets.  Normally I leave “the numbers” to Barb and to my brother Mark. They run the financials (with help from Jill and Amanda), and I merely take my cue from them. But recently we have been working on a “book.”  That’s cheesy business parlance for a business plan....

Today I am off to NC State to participate in a symposium entitled The Energy Situation, Public Deliberation and Social Innovation. Here is what I am going to say: Six years ago, when I was a student at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, there was a popular phrase being bandied about Wa...

Last night we converted the warehouse in Building One into a theatre and staged a speaking event.  It was unbelievable. Pecha Kucha is Japanese for “The sound of conversation,” and it is a rigid speaking format that limits each participant to twenty seconds per PowerPoint slide, times t...

Today is Tami’s birthday. She runs the Abundance Foundation–which is focused on local food, renewable energy, and community development. This year she was invited to speak at the NC Center for Non-Profits annual conference. She hates speaking gigs.  So as her gift this year, I’m t...