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Hudson
Valley Biodiesel Coop
2006 Proposal
We are about to embark on an adventure to bring together
folks from diverse backgrounds, interests and ambitions to form a coop to
build, operate and share in the production of biodiesel. Our main purpose will be to form a working
structure for collaborating in achieving these goals. The rewards of our labors will be quality
homebrewed biodiesel to power our cars and trucks and to heat our homes and the
formation of a community of advocates for a sustainable and environmentally
responsible lifestyle.
Those joining this coop will participate in one or all of
the different tasks necessary to convert waste restaurant vegetable oil into
quality biodiesel. Some of the initial
tasks will be to:
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Find an 80 gallon used electric hot water heater
to server as our processor
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Collect 55 and 20 gallon polypropylene barrels
from car washes to store WVO and biodiesel in.
v
Find restaurants who want to participate in
supplying us with their WVO.
v
Collect enough WVO such that on April 1st
we will be able to start brewing our first batch.
v
Bring other salvaged or reusable supplies
On April 1st, we will come together with the hot
water heater, barrels, and WVO and the necessary plumping hardware and
electrical components to assemble an Appleseed processor. From this humble beginning our challenge will
be to develop a working relationship such that we can brew at least one batch
each week and share in consuming our output.
Leveraging last year’s successful coop formation I would
like to propose the following structure for this year’s coop. Organizationally, active participant
(members) will join the coop with an initial $50 fee. This fee goes towards the initial outlay
needed to buy parts to build the first processor and purchase the necessary
chemicals and supplies. Each member will
need to contribute a collectively determined number of hours per week toward
the making biodiesel. In reward for
one’s participation biodiesel produced by the coop will be available to members
at $1.00 per gallon, to be equally available to all members in good
standing. If extra biodiesel is
available, and the membership endorses this concept, biodiesel will be
available to the public at $2.50 per gallon.
Whereas each member has responsibilities outside of the
coop, participation can be at any or all of the different tasks. One goal of this coop will be as an
educational advocate for alternative and sustainable fuels and as such each
member is encouraged to participate in all of the different tasks. Tasks range from collecting oil, preparing
the oil, filling the processor, running the processor and mixing chemicals,
emptying the processor, washing the biodiesel, transferring the washed
biodiesel into storage and dispensing biodiesel to members. There is also a need for a treasurer, a brew
master and a task coordinator.
Participation will be counted in hours regardless of the task involved.
This Tuesday we will meet to discuss this memo and begin to
get organized and divide up the initial tasks such that we will be able to
build our processor on April 1st.
If anyone can find a used 80 gallon (or 50 gallon) electric hot water
heater that is in good shape or can start to collect 55 gallon barrels, please
do so. If you have any questions
regarding what to scavenge, please give me a call. I believe we have some WVO already and we
need to set guidelines as to what quality WVO we will collect so as not to
create more problems than we have time and energy to solve.
Anyone interested in participating in building the
processor, working at the coop or attending the biodiesel workshop on April 1s,
please join us in these efforts. If you
don’t own a diesel car (yet) or heat your house with heating oil, we welcome
anyone interested in sharing this adventure with us. There will be a $25 fee for the workshop but
nothing but encouragement if you want to come learn and participate in the new
coop.
Please email me or give me a call if you have questions or
concerns that can’t wait until Tuesday, March 21st. The meeting will start at 6:30 and should
last until 8:00 or 8:30. We will make
some small batches of biodiesel to get the excitement building.
Please check out this website before the meeting. It is a great resource. http://biodieselcommunity.org
Regards,
Jerry Robock
(914) 380-2888
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