Spanking Ester Sustainability

are you gonna waste that?

By Leif Forer

More in the Spring 2009 issue

Dear Ester,

What defines a waste feedstock--does chicken fat qualify? Is WVO really W?

WNWN


Dear Waste Not Want Not~

First of all, we have to define waste.  

There are probably as many opinions about what qualifies as waste as there are hairs on your head (for the sake of this comparison, I am hoping you are not bald).  

I go with the good old capitalist definition that says if it has no economic value or, better yet, bears a cost, then it is waste.  

That means most "Waste Vegetable Oil" (WVO) collected from behind restaurants does not qualify as waste.  Neither does poultry fat, pork tallow, or beef lard, all of which have market value.

If you want a true waste feedstock, look no further than your municipal wastewater treatment plant.  

According to a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study by Shaine Tyson in June, 2002, an average of 1.75 gallons (13 pounds) of trap grease is generated per person per year.  
One surprising example: I have found that a typical live poultry plant in North Carolina (ironically that's what they call the plants where the birds are slaughtered) will process around 300,000 gallons of fats and oils per year in its wastewater stream.


Dear Ester,

Do you like the efforts you've seen for Sustainable Biodiesel Certification?

SJ


Dear Sustainability Junkie~

The traditional capitalist definition of sustainability has historically meant sustaining growth in profits quarter after quarter indefinitely at any cost.

We know that it was a silly and short sighted understanding of sustainability, and that natural capitalism (as made famous by Amory Lovins and Paul Hawken) and triple bottom line economics dictate that we must look after people and planet, in addition to profit.

From a planet/ natural resources perspective, that boils down to not taking more than you put back and, really, striving to be regenerative by putting more back into the pot than you take out.

The lifecycle analysis (LCA) is an essential tool for establishing a baseline for sustainable biodiesel and targets for constant improvement. It is also essential to establish LCA baselines for petroleum-based fuels so that the weaknesses and benefits of any alternative can be compared against the status quo.

Deciding what is sustainable and what is unsustainable can be a complicated business. The Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (SBA) and Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) have been banging their heads against a plethora of questions and managed to develop a couple sets of principles.  

Though the SBA's baselines are still a bit vague, it is implementing pilot programs to test actual practices compared to the principles and scoring them on a scale of 1 to 5.  SBA plans to publish complete criteria and practices in 2010.

The RSB has yet to quantify their principles by establishing what to measure (indicators), how to measure (metrics) and what to compare the measurement to (baselines).  The RSB has been circulating its published principles far and wide for the past six months as it gathers feedback from stakeholders and plans to establish indicators, metrics and baselines in late 2009 or 2010.

Ester is Piedmont Biofuels Industrial’s Leif Forer. Send questions to Leif@biofuels.coop or P.O. Box 661, Pittsboro, NC 27312