Case Studies: Town of Norwich
Ames Byrd, Norwich Energy Committee
Norwich, Vermont
Ames Byrd left his long career as a private stock market investor in the year 2000, and decided that his next pursuit would be community centered and in the environmental realm. He acted on that decision by becoming a member of the Norwich Energy Committee and a renewable energy consultant.
The Norwich Energy Committee, an "offspring" of the Sustainable Research Energy Group (SERG), was set up three years ago as a model for other Vermont towns to promote energy conservation and renewables. Ames works within the committee and as an independent consultant to educate the community on global warming and pollution issues, and to assist in implementing changes.
It was Ames' concern about global warming that inspired his research and led to significant improvements in the energy efficiency of his own home. He was able to reduce his home heating oil usage by 250 gallons a year (25 percent) by dropping his thermostat ten degrees at night (which saves seven percent on the fuel bill per year), insulating his basement, and optimizing his furnace. The installation of a programmable thermostat helped enormously in regulating heat in his home. Based on what he's learned about energy efficiency, he now performs energy audits in other homes to determine where they could use improvement.
Ames started researching biodiesel three years ago, right around the time that the Norwich Energy Committee was being formed. Armed with information from all his research (including the online source, www.biodiesel.org), he realized that biodiesel could have an impact on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Other motivating factors for Ames include reduced levels of most regulated emissions (compared with petrodiesel), and reduced dependence on foreign sources of oil.
Ames began using B20 for home heating during the winter of 2003. With no suppliers making home deliveries of biodiesel blended with No. 2 oil, Ames blended the "bioheat" himself from B100, mixing it in his fuel storage tank. The tank is inside so he was able to allow the No. 2 oil to reach room temperature before adding the B100 in order to ensure a proper mix. Then beginning in 2004, Ames began using B100 exclusively in his home heating system. To date, there have not been any problems using pure biodiesel in his furnace (running a Beckett Burner). The challenges with B100 usually involve dissolving rubber (e.g., gaskets and seals), materials incompatibility with copper fuel lines, and gelling at low temperatures. To eliminate the fuel line problems Ames replaced the original copper with Viton hose and purchased a pump supplied with a Viton seal. Having previously outfitted his furnace with a small nozzle in order to make it more efficient, he found when using biodiesel, it was not adequate for producing a flame bright enough to be detected by the CAD cell. He simply had his service technician increase the nozzle size so that the flame was large and bright enough to trigger ignition.
After successfully running his Volkswagen Jetta for 10,000 miles on B100, Ames approached Andy Hodgeton, the Norwich Town highway administrator, and they decided to do a test using B20 in one of the town trucks during the winter of '03-'04. No problems were experienced. Encouraged by that, Andy installed a 2000-gallon tank (above-ground) and began dispensing B20 to his truck and one school bus in the Dresden School district. The towns of Hartford and Sharon are also very interested in getting biodiesel into town vehicles and school buses. Andy would love to use it in all the equipment for fire, road crews, and other vehicles, but the town is financially constrained so use of biodiesel is on hold right now. (Note: as of March 2006, the Town of Norwich has approved and is using B20 in all Town vehicles including plows and emergency equipment.)
Ames has been buying B100 in bulk and has a 250-gallon plastic tote with an electric pump for his furnace. He recommends using biodiesel in its pure form within six months of the time it's purchased. He says, "I'd love to have access to a B20 and a B100 pump locally because right now you have to work pretty hard to get your biodiesel." (Note: BioQuantum, Inc can supply B100 (in bulk form) in the Norwich area and it also now available at the pump at Dan and Whit's General Store, Norwich).
Educating people about the qualities and applications for biodiesel is a big part of Ames' work: "It's been my major focus for a while now, so if anyone asks me what I do, I tell them about biodiesel." He has done local talks on biodiesel and has even set up a table outside the post office to hand out information. He's also participated in a few conferences and workshops.
Ames has been successfully demonstrating real life applications for using B100 year round, generating interest and enthusiasm in his community with first-hand accounts of using it to heat his house and fuel his car. He wants people to understand how relatively uncomplicated it can be to use pure biodiesel, and regards the few challenges he's encountered with B100 to be well worth the effort considering it's many benefits.