Energy
Issues
We believe that one of the
biggest impediments to agricultural competitiveness in Maine is the high cost of
conventional energy sources. We realize that America has cheap energy
compared to Europe and compared to the real (subsidized) cost of petroleum
energy when military and health costs are factored in. The reality for
Maine, however, is that it's cold here, so we use more energy than many states
we compete with for a share of the agriculture market. For example, it is
less expensive (and less BTU intensive) for the big corporate farms of
California to grow vegetable produce industrially and ship it to Maine by rail,
than it would be for us to build greenhouses and heat them with petroleum fuel
to grow warm weather crops like peppers and melons.
ME DOA Grant Project
The good news is that
Maine has resources we can use to compete. We have lots of wood and other
biomass inland and in the north, and we have lots of tourists in the
south. No, I am not suggesting we burn the tourists for fuel. We have recently received a
grant from the Maine Department of Agriculture to demonstrate the application of
existing waste oil burner technology to heat our greenhouses with waste
vegetable oil (WVO) from local restaurants. Although this commodity may
not be available in large quantities throughout the State, it is readily
available here, and local restaurants have to pay for the material to be taken
away. The term "waste" is a misnomer because this used fryolator
oil is currently taken to a plant in Massachusetts where it is dewatered,
filtered, and the acid value is adjusted making it into a new commodity called
yellow grease, which is a valuable commodity used in the animal feeds industry.
Our grant will show that direct burning of WVO will recover up to 20% more useful energy
from WVO than biodiesel without the need for the hazardous materials used to
make biodiesel. Considering
the energy used to make and transport the hazardous materials needed to make biodiesel,
directly burning
the WVO may be more than 40% more energy efficient than biodiesel made from WVO. Follow our links at left for a detailed description of this technology and how we
hope to use it to reduce our reliance on petroleum energy.
Biodiesel
Much has been heard
in Maine about biodiesel over the past two years. Biodiesel,
as promoted by the regulated biodiesel industry has, in my opinion, potential to
be good for
Maine. We encourage everyone to contact the
Solar Market of Arundel and Frontier
Energy of South China to learn how you can purchase quality biodiesel in
Maine. Unfortunately, my research has
shown that much of what has been presented in Maine is aimed at small scale
backyard producers, is based on misunderstanding of the technology, and in many
instances is simply false.
These misunderstandings and will lead the people of Maine
to experiment with processes that have been shown to damage personal property,
cause personal injury, and violate both Maine
and Federal environmental regulations.
The process you've heard
about in Maine will NOT make biodiesel and WILL damage your diesel engines.
Beware of people telling you that it is safe to make goop that
they call biodiesel and put it in your engine! Do your homework!
Follow my link at left for more information and links to reputable information.
