Date: May 4, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) presented its 2009 School Recycling Award to Wake County, North Carolina during a Board of Commissioners meeting today. The annual award recognizes a successful and innovative program as part of efforts to promote and encourage paper recycling in schools, businesses, and communities.
“We are pleased to recognize the Wake County Government School Recycling Program for their successful paper recycling program,” said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. “Recycling is one of America’s great environmental success stories, providing green jobs and giving new life to used products. Continued support of our existing infrastructure – and programs like FEED THE BIN - is more important than ever, so that we are prepared to continue to meet increased global demand as the economy rebounds.”
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Date: May 4, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
By Richard Craver.
JOURNAL REPORTER/Media General News Service
Professor Abdessadek Lachgar
Biodiesel is not likely to replace gasoline as the main source of transportation fuel in most of our lifetimes.
But Wake Forest University researchers are convinced they have a formula for a catalyst that could lower the cost of producing biodiesel enough so that it could provide 5 percent of the nation’s needs.
“If we, as a nation, can do that, that’s enough biodiesel to replace the need for oil from a country such as Iraq,” said Abdessadek Lachgar, a chemistry professor at the university and one of two officials supervising the project along with Marcus Wright, a lab manager and investigator in the biodiesel work.
Biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning fuel that also reduces tailpipe emissions. It depends primarily on feed stock crops.
One goal of the Biofuels Center of N.C. is developing a statewide industry that would produce at least 10 percent of the liquid fuels sold in the state by 2017. According to the center’s Web site, there are 15 companies in North Carolina working with biofuel, including one in the Triad - Gortman Biofuel LLC of Winston-Salem, which produces a 100 percent version of biodiesel.
Analysts say there’s been plenty of competition and methodologies for producing a lower-cost catalyst for biodiesel, but little sustainable, cost-effective success at this point.
The most commonly used raw material for biodiesel is soybean oil.
But the high cost of soybean oil has stifled major production efforts. It was at 36.7 cents a pound yesterday, but the price has been double that at times in the past two years, rising with the cost of fuel oil. At many biodiesel plants, soybean oil accounts for as much as 80 percent of the operating cost.
Wake Forest’s Terrafinity project doesn’t depend on soybean oil. It relies on a method that, like making sausage, may produce results but is not for the squeamish.
The Wake project uses vegetable oil waste, animal fat waste, recycled cooking grease and even extracting oils from municipal sewage and water treatment plants. Other scientists are exploring algae as a source. The researchers get some of the raw materials for free, and for now pay a nominal price for other supplies.
Every alternative fuel option could help motorists in the long term, according to Lachgar and Gwyn Riddick,
the regional director of the Piedmont Triad office of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.
“Combining all these feedstock sources to create biodiesel can ease reliance on diesel and the burdens that accompany that dependence,” Lachgar said.
Lachgar said that the main challenge with using the waste from vegetable oil, animal fat and recycled cooking grease is the high presence of free fatty acids, which significantly impair biodiesel production.
That’s where the Terrafinity catalyst comes into play. Researchers are developing an inexpensive method for converting the free fatty acids into biodiesel with a yield greater than 98 percent in less than 15 minutes.
The catalyst can be produced for 11 cents a gram in the laboratory, although Lachgar said that the per-gram cost will be significantly reduced in a commercial setting.
The initial build-out cost for the project is about $85,000 - $70,000 for a building large enough to handle production and $15,000 for the equipment and safety features. Researchers are pursuing grants and eventually plan to pitch their technology to energy companies such as Duke Energy Corp.
Lachgar, his team and the university have enough confidence in Terrafinity that it is being considered for a “know-how” classification, meaning they feel it is more important to seek copyright status for the technology rather than just a patent.
About 10 percent to 20 percent of academic-licensed technologies at the university include know-how or copyrightable material, Stephen Susalka said. He is the assistant director of the office of Technology Asset Management for Wake Forest University Health Sciences.
Lachgar said that researchers are targeting a commercial-grade company to produce the catalyst in large quantities, as well as end-user companies that will use the catalyst for biodiesel production downstream. Marshallton Research Laboratories Inc. of King is working with researchers. Its officials deferred comment to Wake Forest.
Generating commercial revenue from university patents is big business at Wake Forest and other research-oriented universities. The tech- transfer office works with faculty, students and staff to identify, protect and transfer research discoveries to the commercial sector for development into new products.
In October, Wake Forest was ranked by Forbes.com as the No. 2 university in the country for return on research investment based on discoveries made by medical and technology researchers. For 2006, Wake Forest had a 41 percent return on investment, or about $61 million on research spending of about $146 million.
One roadblock is that there are few retail outlets for biodiesel in North Carolina. On the Nearbio.com Web site, there are three listed in the Triad - Gortman Biofuel at 39 Barrier Road in Lexington and Triad Biofuels at 2775 Turner Road in Lexington and 1242 Dorris Ave. in High Point.
“We sell our B100 biodiesel to everyone but don’t pump it into on-road vehicles,” said Derrick Gortman, the owner of Gortman Biofuel.
“It’s hard for me from a cost perspective to run different blends, so I run it at 100 percent. If people want to blend it themselves to run in their vehicles, legally they can but they take on the legalities of the blending.”
Gortman said he uses primarily vegetable oil waste for his biodiesel blend, but has experimented with other options.
“If someone can come up with a less expensive way, that would be great since it’s hard for me to break even right now compared with straight diesel,” he said.
Steve Troxler, the state’s agriculture commissioner, said that biofuels can play an important economic-development role.
“We can stimulate our economy and boost jobs, strengthen our energy security, and help the environment by growing crops and livestock and turning some of that biomass into biodiesel,” he said.
Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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Date: April 30, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
RALEIGH, N.C. _ An early proponent of sustainable farming and a television news station are among the recipients this year of awards given by North Carolina’s 25 land trusts to individuals and organizations that have been a critical part of land and water protection in the state.
The four awards are given to businesses, governments, volunteers and others who lead efforts to protect the state’s streams and lakes, forests, farms, parkland, and wildlife habitat. This year’s recipients are being honored at the annual North Carolina Land Trust Assembly, held April 30-May 1 in Raleigh.
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Date: April 30, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
RALEIGH, N.C. – Progress Energy has received approval from the N.C. Utilities Commission for a new program that offers customers a variety of incentives for energy-efficiency improvements to existing homes. 
The Home Energy Improvement Program, which Progress Energy proposed in November 2008, offers rebates for home improvements such as heating and cooling upgrades, duct testing and repair, energy-efficient window installation, attic insulation and air sealing. Customers will be able to select from a list of pre-qualified contractors across the state to perform the work.
The Home Energy Improvement Program will launch in July and will be available to North Carolina customers in single-family, multi-family, and manufactured homes. Progress Energy plans to offer the program to South Carolina customers later this year.
A similar program targeted to commercial, industrial and government customers launched on April 23. Customers can learn more about the Home Energy Improvement Program at www.progress-energy.com/heip.
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Date: April 29, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been awarded a grant expected to be valued at $17.5 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy and President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for an innovative interdisciplinary research center to develop solar fuels from next-generation photovoltaic technology.
The UNC initiative is one of 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) being funded at U.S. universities and research institutions to accelerate scientific breakthroughs for advanced energy technology development, the White House announced Monday (April 27) in conjunction with a speech by President Obama at the National Academy of Sciences. The UNC center is the only EFRC funded in North Carolina and one of 16 that received Recovery Act funds for job creation.
The UNC effort, directed by Thomas J. Meyer, Ph.D., Arey Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, will involve collaborations with more than 20 faculty in the departments of chemistry and physics and astronomy at UNC, as well as scientists at N.C. State, N.C. Central and Duke universities, as well as the University of Florida.
“What a great moment for Carolina: a shining example of our collaborative culture; an area of keen interest and deep expertise in our faculty; an effort of intense international interest and importance; and all pulled together by our own Tom Meyer, one of Carolina’s great visionaries, who built his entire career as a scientist and leader here in Chapel Hill,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp.
Said Meyer, “This is great news for UNC and for North Carolina. It will enable us to become national and international leaders in what may be the most important endeavor of our time, creating a sustainable energy future.”
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Date: April 29, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
WAKE FOREST, N.C. — Most lawns in our area are planted with fescue grass. Fescue is a cool season grass that isn’t well-suited to surviving our region’s long, hot summers. In order to keep it alive, fescue requires approximately one inch of water per week contributing to the depletion of our area’s water supply.
Beginning May 1, the Town of Wake Forest is introducing an initiative designed to promote water conservation by giving away warm season grass seed for those willing to convert their fescue lawns. As part of the Town’s “Great Grass Giveaway” Wake Forest will provide enough bermuda grass seed to cover up to 8,000 square-feet of lawn to any Wake Forest homeowner willing to plant a new lawn or reseed his/her lawn with bermuda grass seed.
Bermuda grass is a more drought-tolerant variety of grass requiring approximately one-third the water of fescue.
To qualify for the free bermuda grass seed, Wake Forest residents must simply agree to remove the fescue grass from their lawn. The program is not designed for residents with existing bermuda or other warm season grass seed lawns.
To schedule a time to pick up your free bermuda grass seed, contact Betty Pearce at
(919) 554-6120.
The “Great Grass Giveaway” program will continue on a first come, first served basis until the supply of bermuda grass seed is exhausted.
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Date: April 28, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
In celebration of National County Government Week, themed “Greening Our Future,” Durham County’s North Carolina Cooperative Extension Office will host a presentation on mini vegetable gardening.The class will take place from 10 a.m. to noon May 8 at the Durham Cooperative Extension Building, 721 Foster St.
Participants will learn about vegetable gardening basics, soils and building raised beds.
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
To register for Mini Vegetable Gardening 101, Michelle Wallace, consumer horticulture agent for the Durham County North Carolina Cooperative Extension Office, at 919-560-0525, or via email at prjones@durhamcountync.gov.
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Date: April 27, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
RTP, N.C. — On Thursday, Sept. 17, The Sesa Group will host North Carolina’s First “Green” Career Expo. Hybrid Future – 2009 Career Explosion will take place at the Morrisville Outlet Mall on 1001 Airport Boulevard near Research Triangle Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Responding to President Obama’s “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” which includes the nation’s largest investment to date in clean energy, energy efficiency and green jobs, Hybrid Future is a one-day event where job candidates will be able to meet with notable local, regional and national companies who have positions to fill immediately. The event will also feature a full day of professional development workshops focused on Mock Interviews and Job Skill Assessment.
To register your company for this event visit www.nchybridfuture.com or call 919.995.8498.
The Sesa Group is a boutique event management and branding shop in the Triangle. The company specializes in coordinating special events, activating national in-market product launches, and creating custom eco-conscience teambuilding activities. Visit www.sesa-events.com to learn more.
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Date: April 23, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
By DENICE THIBODEAU
Media General News Service
DANVILLE, Va. - Years ago, Jimmy Farlow started looking for ways to achieve maximum energy efficiency in a retirement community he hopes to build someday behind his family’s restaurant, Mary’s Diner.
During the course of those explorations, Farlow discovered SIPs — structural insulated panels, which are expanded polystyrene foam cores bonded on both sides by oriented strand board (OSB).
Farlowwas so impressed by the process that he purchased SIPs of America, in Lumberton, N.C., and moved it to Blairs last year.
SIPs are a “green” alternative to standard building products, Farlow said, that can reduce en-ergy costs in a home or business by as much as 60 to 75 percent because they create air-tight build-ings that use far less energy for heating and cooling.
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Date: April 23, 2009 | Contributor: Jennifer Wig
RALEIGH, N.C. — In recognition of Earth Day 2009, Secretary Gene Conti announced the results of the N.C. Department of Transportation’s efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle waste materials in 2008.
“The department’s mission statement includes a commitment to environmental sensitivity, and we take that seriously,” Conti said. “Our staff is constantly looking for new ways protect the natural beauty of our state, while building on the practices we already have in place to keep waste out of local landfills.”
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