Biofuel symposium draws attention to alternative energy options

FLORENCE -- In an effort to look forward with environmental issues such as saving fossil fuels, area experts and community members gathered at a Biofuel Symposium at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library on Wednesday.

Hosted by the Shoals Environmental Alliance, three speakers discussed biofuel resources options available to Alabama and where the future lies locally and for the state.

"Biofuels have the potential to bring a lot of economic development to the (Tennessee River) Valley," said Ralph Boroughs, project director for research and technology applications at the Tennessee Valley Authority in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Boroughs said biofuels also improve air quality by reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

"With biofuels, we have many more potential fuel sources, including domestic," Boroughs said, adding that the expanded fuel options would make us less dependent on a few Middle Eastern sources for fuel.

Ernst Cebert, assistant research professor in the department of natural resources and environmental sciences at Alabama A&M University, said the university has conducted extensive research in biofuels, especially the canola plant.

"It's a crop that has proven to be a good winter crop in the South," Cebert said.

He said soybeans are the primary crop used to create biodiesel in the United States.

"Interest in canola in the state has skyrocketed," he said. "The potential for the crop is slowly gaining ground."

Biofuels don't necessarily solve all environmental problems, Boroughs said, but added it would help with energy conservation and improved energy efficiency.

Mark Bentley, executive director of the Alabama Clean Fuels

Coalition in Birmingham, said the future is looking better for greater accessibility to renewable forms of energy.

"It's really the beginning of the lifecycle of biofuels for this country," Bentley said.

Local governments, he said, are joining forces and trying to bring about change and building more biofuel options within the state.

Florence Mayor Bobby Irons said the city has already investigated alternative fueling resources for government vehicles.

"This is our future. We really have to be serious about our biofuels and fossil fuels," Irons said. "We've been looking and trying to prepare the city for how to get equipment for alternative fuels and move our equipment over to those capabilities."

There are four operating biodiesel plants in Alabama; there are no ethanol plants, but that's changing throughout the state, Bentley said.

The U.S. Department of Energy has created a Clean Corridor program and will award a grant to install six retail E-85 and five biodiesel refueling facilities along Interstate-65 in Alabama.

"It will provide public access to alternative fuels from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico," Bentley said. "It will be a big benefit to the State of Alabama."

Jeremy Rogers, president of North Alabama Biodiesel, said his company has plans to locate a biodiesel plant in Florence by October 2007.

"We're forming a co-op so individuals can purchase directly from us," Rogers said.

Dorothy Craven, of Waterloo, attended the symposium and said she is interested in seeing more happen locally with biofuels.

"I think we need to take much better care of our planet and need to do that quickly," she said. "I learned that there are a lot more available alternative energy resources out there."

Staff Writer Kenda Williams can be reached at 740-5720 or kenda.williams@timesdaily.com.