GREENING THE INFRASTRUCTURE

LARGE AMOUNTS of our internal infrastructure are overburdened and unable to accommodate much-needed economic growth, write Ellen Drew and her colleagues at the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) in the report on page 14 of this issue. Titled "RCAC Helps To Guide Rural Communities," her

article explains how the organization serves a needed function in funding new water and solid waste facilities. Her article discusses the community greening and sustainability movement, which is expanding nationally to foster healthy communities that manage to be responsible environmental stewards, while maintaining a sustainable economy. Regional solid waste agencies, independent food processing generators and commercial waste haulers - all figure into the equation. In cities such as Portland, Oregon, commercial sectors accounted for 75 percent of waste generated in a city of about a half million people.

In a far more rural area than Portland - in Costilla County, Colorado, with a population of 3,663 - Jay Mashburn (also with the RCAC) on page 16 tells the story of how RCAC helped to find funding and provide technical assistance to launch a "cutting edge" biodiesel plant. He tells of how the county's abundant use of diesel fuel, and the success of growing oilseed crops tested in the mid-1990s, led to identifying biodiesel as a promising energy source. The goal was to create a successfully operating community-scale facility to demonstrate the feasibility of making biodiesel available to the private sector.

Project construction started in early 2004- Production is 400 gallons per day. This size, adds Mashbum, supplies the community with economy of scale, in terms of labor, needed technology and selling by-products. RCAC provided technical assistance, mostly in advice and encouragement from its two professional engineers.

Costilla County is at an elevation of 8,000 feet, a high elevation creating temperatures ideal for canola crops. Canola produces nearly twice as much oil as the common biodiesel stock - soybeans. The biodiesel process generates cakes of pressed canola seed, which can be fed directly to livestock and are high in protein and fat. Biodiesel staff package the canola cakes in 100-pound sacks for sale directly to residents.

Biodiesel processing technology was changing rapidly during the design and construction phases. For example, reports Mashburn, the project phases went through four iterations of costs and benefits before selecting a cleaning technology. Right now, the plant is using a filter and centrifuge to reach American standard specifications for biodiesel.

The biodiesel plant requires about 1,000 acres of land to grow sufficient canola for a year. While canola is not necessarily a primary crop, it is an excellent rotation crop for farmers. Looking for the right analogy to describe operations, the author calls the plant "much more like the local baker where cooking is done in batches." While not yet operating at 100 percent capacity, the produced biodiesel can be used straight in vehicles during the summer months as B100 grade.

It's all part of this issue's theme of greening and sustainability - as we together concentrate on weaving together the fabric of ecoquality into goals of renewable energy, organic agriculture and the right way of living. -J.G.