Issues & FAQ's
This is my commentary on economic opportunities we should sieze in the face of dangers before us:
In Buncombe County we face many dangers and opportunities: The rising costs of fuel; creating jobs with good wages and benefits, cleaning our air and water, providing efficient and effective local government, introducing important technological innovations, and all those other things we need to do to prepare for the future and its challenges. Folks talk about these things, but -- like for the weather -- don't ever seem to do anything about them. I am a Democratic candidate for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners in the upcoming May 6 primary, and I will act on the issues facing us -- not just talk about them.
Hurricane Katrina caused horrible disruptions, forcing local governments to struggle to get fuel for their vehicle fleets: Their ambulances, patrol cars, Mountain Mobility buses, and all those other vital machines we depend on. Will the next national emergency affect us? Of course it will. Will we be prepared?
Paying the rising costs of energy, including diesel fuel for these agencies, diminishes the budget left over for public education, public health and safety, emergency preparedness and other services we depend on from Buncombe County government.
It takes planning and action to protect the things we care for: our families, our neighbors, the blessings of a clean environment, continued opportunity for coming generations to equal or surpass ourselves, just like our parents and grandparents prepared the way for us. Science and technology, entrepreneurship, and efficiency can be harnessed by citizens and government to tackle these tough challenges. As people to match our mountains, we can bring creative energy to bear and we can create positive results. We can foster a team spirit of readiness and local self reliance. In my business, planning for continuous improvement, use of best practices learned from research, taking advantage of technological advances, and just-in-time production are the norm.
I now offer a proposal for a plan which will create jobs, provide an affordable and secure source of fuel for the fleets of emergency and core services vehicles, and create cleaner water and air in the process. Among the underused and wasted resources we have in Buncombe County are the nutrient rich wastewater from the Woodfin MSD plant, the landfill gas from the old County landfill downhill from the sewer plant, and land that Buncombe County government planned to lease to Progress Energy for one dollar a year to build a diesel powered peak electrical generation facility. Combine these resources with the biotechnology research capabilities of our great university and community college system in North Carolina and we can create a Green Energy Park. Government can be part of the solution, and not just part of the problem.
A promising use of this land, and other currently underused resources, would be to grow highly productive, oil rich strains of Blue Green Algae as feedstock for production of biodiesel. Buncombe County government is already purchasing and blending biodiesel for use in its vehicles. To carry out a plan to create such a new industry will attract new investment to our county. Working together, with innovation and creativity, we can create affordable, clean energy, good jobs, cleaner air and water, and the most valuable renewable resource of all: hope.
Keith Thomson is a systems engineer and the President of SysAdmin Services, Inc., a local information technology services company. He served as secretary of the Buncombe County Energy Commission from 1982-1984 and was a founding board member and secretary/treasurer of the Asheville Buncombe Clean Air Community Trust from 2002-2005. His company developed the first generation of the Buncombe County government website in 1997. Keith's campaign website can be found at: www.keithforbuncombe.org
Sources:
2008 Emerging Issues Forum NCSU Speakers http://www.ncsu.edu/iei/forum/2008/look-listen.php
http://www.scribemedia.org/2007/11/15/glen-kertz-valcent-vertigro-algae-biofuel/
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-07/greenest-green-fuel
News story- Algae Oil Bio-Diesel using Sewage as a feedstock
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
Vertical algae fuel farming
http://www.globalgreensolutionsinc.com/s/VertigroFAQ.asp
CNN Money.com Valcent vertical growing systems are profitable
Glen Kertz - 100,000 gallons of Biodiesel per acre
Cellulosic gasoline breakthrough
http://www.blueridgebiofuels.com/