|
Subscribe!
770-267-8371
|
|
Thursday
September 2, 2010
|
|
|
|
Marketplace
|
|
Sections
|
|
Service Center
|
|
 |
|
Local company on biodiesel forefront
Published June 25, 2008
WALTON COUNTY — With fuel prices rising and people loathing the thought of filling up the tank, a handful of Walton County residents are looking for local answers to the energy crisis.
In a few weeks, the industrious crew at Down to Earth Energy hopes to be producing gallon after gallon of biodiesel in an effort to fuel up in a different way.
“The biodiesel industry is important because it’s a renewable energy,” said McKay Johnson, one of the partners in the fledgling company. “We are growing the raw material, making fuel out of it and using it locally.”
The project, located at a former junkyard-turned-farm, uses a combination of animal fats and plant materials to create diesel fuel that can be used in trucks, tractors or any other vehicle that runs on diesel fuel.
Johnson said their biodiesel production was part of an effort to look for various sources of energy other than currently dominant oil.
“Petroleum, in the next 50 years, will hit peak production and then it will start to decline,” Johnson said. “We need to find alternatives. This is one of the steps we need to make as a society.”
Partner Rick Huszagh said Down to Earth Energy was only a small step in that process.
“It started as a way to create renewable energy,” Huszagh said. “We cannot grow enough for all our fuel needs, but it’s a start.”
Yet despite the limitations, the project has big plans.
“Our goal this year is to do 250,000 gallons,” Huszagh said. “Next year, the plant will do 1 million gallons.”
With production set to start before the end of the month, everyone involved said the sky was the limit for Down to Earth Energy.
“We want to be a model for biodiesel production,” Johnson said.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
