Biofuel company eyeing Berkeley site
Berkeley County soon could play a new role converting kitchen grease into electricity.
County Council recently reached an agreement with EcoPlus, Inc., a Charlotte company interested in building a new plant at the county's landfill near U.S. Highway 52 and Oakley Road.
If the deal pans out, EcoPlus could build and operate a new plant that would accept fats, oils and greases from across the Lowcountry and convert them into a dried material that can be burned like coal.
EcoPlus has operated a similar plant in Charlotte since 2002 that processes more than 200,000 gallons a month worth of oils and grease from more than 1,300 places in the Southeast. EcoPlus President Phil Hicks said the technology has a patent and is gaining wider attention for its ability to produce a high quality fuel.
Hicks said if those negotiations work out, the new plant would cost between $5 million and $10 million and employ 15 to 20 people. It also eventually could accept up to 1 million gallons of oil and fat each month, keeping the material out of local landfills or sewer plants.
Read more in tomorrow's Post and Courier.
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willie08 (anonymous) says...
Man can only control what he does to his environment, and how he works with it.
Although we will always have Tsunamis, Earthquakes, and Hurricanes, we can learn to survive them through better technology (Architecture, Warnings, Energy, Organization, Community). We CAN control these things, and we must be smart about them.
Great movement of the earth will continue, and we must be prepared for it. Drilling in on our coasts that are constantly destroyed by hurricanes is pointless, if a hurricane will come and knock it all down, spill oil in our already polluted waters.
We must not add to the problem. Whether you think global warming exists or not I don't care. I listen to the Scientists, who over 90% of the world scientists believe it is real. The cause is our way of life. Now the politicians, EVEN BUSH, are starting to recognize it.
This is a chance for us to really turn our lives around and start becoming dependent on more efficient and environment friendly forms of energy (which already exist, but are not being used to their fullest potential).
The Hopi believe the world was destroyed and rebuilt several times.
They, as well as the Mayans, believe something is going to happen soon to our world. So do Scientists. Let's use our logic.
Why do we not use the already existing earth friendly sources of energy? Why can't we choose BioDiesel at the Gas Station?
Why are we feeding the greedy corporate billionaires by becoming so dependent on them?
There is technology out there that will allow us to even produce our OWN energy and food in very limited space. We can change the way we live completely, if we let the scientists come forth with their technology, and give them the merit it deserves. We live in a century if great inventions and science. We can evolve further as human beings. Do you want us to evolve, or become an Idiocracy?
Let's close the doors to the oil companies, that have done nothing but make us dependent on oil that is ruining our environment (water, marshes, mountains, and air- all of which human life needs to survive) and let's open the door to clean efficient, and never ending energy (sun, wind, wave, biodiesel).
July 17, 2008 at 9:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
angryinjun (anonymous) says...
What does this stuff smell like? Is this another Valley Proteins plant? Then again, given the location, the smell will probably be masked by either the landfill or the boat plant near the landfill.
July 17, 2008 at 10:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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