Biodiesel’s promise

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 30, 2008

High energy prices are fueling an explosion of research and development into new sources to power the world’s economy.

Here in the Dan River Region, one such project hopes to use locally-grown canola seeds to make fuel for diesel-burning trucks, farm tractors and even home heating.

“This biodiesel is going to be a big part of the future,” said Dean Price, the owner of Red Birch Country Market on U.S. 220 in Bassett. “We have no choice.”

For years, that’s exactly how most people felt about the fossil fuels that were available to them — gasoline, natural gas, home heating oil, LP gas and diesel. The industries that made those fuels had decades of research, capital, development, investment and public acceptance on their side.

Alternatives never got the attention — much less the support — they needed until prices started to rise. That situation is beginning to change. Suddenly, a lot of good ideas are on the table, and a lot of options to fossil fuels are being considered. We’re entering a golden age of alternative energy research and development.

Price envisions a local solution using locally-grown canola seeds. The seeds will be crushed at his store and processed a short stroll from his pumps.

Doing everything on a small scale at the store cuts out a lot of transportation costs — as well as creates a potential new cash crop for local farmers. So Price’s biodiesel operation not only creates an innovative new product, it keeps the profits in the community.

Using canola seeds for their oil still allows the crushed husks to be used as feed for farm animals, which gives it an advantage over some other field crops that have been used for biofuels.

Today, the region’s farmers don’t have a lot of experience with canola. They need to learn — over several growing seasons — how the canola plant reacts to the region’s weather patterns and soils. Farmers need to be able to make money growing it. The answers to those questions are part of the biofuels learning curve.

The energy crisis is really a technical problem that the marketplace will eventually fix. Dean Price’s promising innovation is an example of the kind of thinking that could lead to real progress on energy issue.