WVO Designs

2012 Collective Biofuels Conference

WVO Designs attended the 7th annual Collective Biofuels Conference this past weekend in beautiful Temecula, CA.   We thoroughly enjoyed meeting the attendees and learning from the inspiring presenters.    The conference was geared towards grease collection along with small-mid scale biodiesel production and distribution.  Although I only use SVO myself, I was able to glean some good information on the oil collection business and further my knowledge about Biodiesel.   I also left with a renewed sense of and enthusiasm and commitment to using alternative fuels.

You can checkout the past presentations yourself as they are archived.  The 2012 videos may not be available yet.

One of the highlights this year was learning of the success of Summit Greasecycling’s Dara Lor side soapmaking business.  He and his crew actually make WVO Soap and have found it profitable.    It really pays to try new things and adapt.   Checkout the video on Summit’s homepage.

A focus of Dara’s is on collaboration and sharing of knowledge and skills.  Hey, making information free and open-source is what we love here at WVO Designs.

He was willing and open to sharing his soapmaking knowledge and help other folks with his business model.  Dara also has experience in the legal issues surrounding collecting WVO and has recently successfully secured an exemption for small scale WVO collectors in Colorado.   He’s looking for help to form a legal working group around WVO collection in other states.

I was also intrigued by Jonathan Meuser’s talk on Biofuel from Algae.   Algae can easily produce up to 25% oil compared to their mass.  That’s an extremely high yield, now all we have to do is figure an efficient way to grow it, invest in infrastructure etc.

Jonathan had some interesting analysis on the energy needs of the US compared to the biofuel production capability.  His presentation should be online soon.

Another interesting was Brian Roberts from the Cowichan Biodiesel Co-op.  I had dinner with him and was very excited about his endeavors.  He is president of a Co-op that has over 170 members.

We also met some other great folks like an Independent collector in Bend, OR, an Ex-executive from Darling.

Finally, I have to give a plug to Temecula.  A small town in Southern California of 100k with very friendly people and fun activities day and night.

If you missed out, be sure to watch for the conference next year.   It was truly a great experience.

-Jason Jelonek

Jason and Leon

Leon and the Beast

Jason, Leon and Graydon Blair from Utah Biodiesel

Rex Moore from Great West Biofuels, Mark Roberts from Springboard Biodiesel, and Leon Griffin