For the past couple of years I have spent many nights at the home of Bob and Camille—often commiserating over Piedmont’s financial losses. Their home at Oilseed Community, which they dubbed “Camelina,” was a touchstone for many of us. And when they moved into “Yellow,” and re-christened it “Troutsfarm” they became an anchor for our bend in the Moncure road.

Now that Piedmont is making a profit, I no longer have to sing the blues when I visit their abode. But then again, they are leaving. They are off to Ghana on a wild biodiesel inspired adventure in which they might turn human fecal sludge into fuel.

Their impending departure is a gigantic loss for me. It leaves me jilted and bitter. In my small minded moments I hope they are presented with a short chain feedstock that will never convert into a long chain fuel. But I am just jealous.

I should be happy. Piedmont turned a profit for 2011, and again in the first quarter of 2012. Who would look down their nose at 5 profitable quarters in a row?

But Matt is leaving. He’s off to Asheville where all the cool people live. Dana moved there first—and off he goes. Anna just moved to Asheville. The venison she served at her send off party was exquisite.

Leif’s leaving. Next month he is officially leaving the employ of Piedmont Biofuels and joining the staff of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina. That makes sense. What makes Piedmont profitable is the heavy, hot, nasty, smelly work of moving liquids around. And Leif has done more than his share of that. On one level the work is deeply gratifying. But who wouldn’t trade it for a higher paying desk job in the “policy layer?”

It could be I am jealous of him too. I work at Piedmont, and Piedmont is starting to make a regular profit for the first time in its life. That’s a wonderful time of life. We can share profits and increase wages and invest in pieces and parts. Really, it is all we have ever worked for.

But we are surrounded by losses. Nick Meyer died the other day. He came on a Piedmont tour and offered to give us all of his money because he was dying. We politely declined and edged him over toward the Abundance Foundation. He was a weird fellow.

Abundance and Piedmont cleared space for him, and we wrapped our arms around him, and he contributed work and time and money to everything from the PLENTY to local food Friday to our nascent tilapia project. He was generous, and kind, and often off topic. I liked Nick. And I thought Tami did a wonderful write up about him.

I never had a chance to discuss profits with Nick. He was drawn to us in the losing years.
At my last conversation with him he was looking for work. I hired him to supervise the construction of a “nature interpretive trail” around our campus. Instead of showing up for work, he died.

Earlier this year we lost Oilseed Community. That was a housing project that we brought to fruition. At the time we thought that we needed the money to stay alive, but now that we have started generating profits, no one even misses the revenues that once came from rents. We thought Oilseed would live on as a community asset without us, but it has recently imploded and become something very different from what we are all about.

This should be a celebratory time for us. It turns out that community scale biodiesel really can work. It can be environmentally, and economically sustainable. We are proving it. We just published the best LCA2011of our fuel ever. This ought to be a good time to be at Piedmont.

With apologies to the gospel writer, Mark, I sometimes wonder “What should it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose Bob and Camille, and Matt and Dana, and Anna, and Leif, and Nick, and Oilseed all at the same time?”

No telling. We could say that all is not lost. And we could also say that everyone we are losing is cheering mightily for our newfound profits.

I suppose there is a chance that everyone but Nick might come back some day. And even Nick will visit our dreams and thoughts.

In the mean time I suppose it is best for us to just keep doing our thing. The fact that we are now a profitable endeavor is something we should shout from the rooftops. It could be the losses are behind us…

He’s also a fan of Elaine’s on Franklin.

The other night we were driving to Chapel Hill and he complained that he had never had “any decent Italian food.” In his opinion pizza was “Americanized” and “all Italian places are chain roadhouses with nothing interesting on the menu.”

Clearly, at age thirteen, Arlo was suffering from “Italian deficit disorder.” I busted a left onto Franklin St. and in no time we were parked at Vespa. I figured that would be the remedy.

And it worked. He experienced some authentic chicken parmigiania, had a taste of anti pasta, sampled some roasted red pepper sauce and asparagus (which is in season here right now).

We had an extraordinary meal, and when it was over, Tami dropped off a “Compliments to the Chef” card. That’s the card many of our members carry around and slip in with their checks. It says, “I came here today on fuel from your used cooking oil. Thank you.”

The waiter took it back to the kitchen with our check, and apparently someone noticed because they sent our a free serving of tiramisu.

I couldn’t help but think that something was working. Our biodiesel drivers are also eaters. And we are successfully linking eaters to dining establishments which provide feedstocks for our fuel.

And each day ends in defeat. I claim what minor victories I can. Things like, “The plumbing works.” Or “I can get power to the pump.” Or “I now have the card swipe talking to the dispenser.”

Long time member Seth Elliott and his daughter Ava stopped by for some B100.

One of the perks of this miserable task is that I get to apologize live to the members who come to fill up. Seth Elliott has been a baker around Carrboro for a long time, and was one of the first members of our Coop.

He bought a mobile pizza oven which he pulls around to parties. His business is called Stone’s Throw Pizza, and it sounds like a no brainer for anyone wishing to throw a pizza party. Simply hire Seth to do the work.

As I make baby steps, the whole site goes up a notch. The external filter has been removed so that the “hose dance” is no longer required of our members. The dispenser which arrived “fire engine red” is now Piedmont Green. The bollards have a fresh coat of paint. Little things, mostly done while waiting for telephone technical support from the dispenser company, who tells me the problem lies with the card swipe vendor. Or from the electrician who blames the plumber. Or from the card swipe company that blames the electrician.

It’s maddening. But here is where we stand. You can swipe your card and the pump will turn on, and you can dispense fuel for a brief time. How much goes into your tank is based on how fast you are. You might get 7.5 gallons. You might get 4.2 gallons. We can see these gallons, and we can charge your card, but in order to fill your tank you need to swipe over and over again.

It’s completely lame.

It has to be something in the wiring. We are successfully reading cards, and telling the pump to turn on, but once fuel is being dispensed, we don’t seem to be returning a signal which says, “don’t shut off until I’m done.”

So we are still working on it. Sorry. The Carrboro location does get better every day….

We’ve done these events for years, and they have ebbed and flowed. Last night was big. I think Katy gets a point for organizing it. We went to Glass Half Full, and to Milltown, two accounts in Carrboro from which we collect their used cooking oil. Two accounts that we are grateful to have.

Brian was there. He is the president of our Coop board. Carol was there. She is also on the board. Nick was there. He’s a former intern, and he was complaining about the lack of action on Energy Blog. It was a large turnout last night.

I had a hundred wonderful conversations ranging from new debt raising methods to equity investments to mobile phone applications to basic gratitude for the creation of our fuel.

There is an inescapable aspect to this business, in that people are grateful for what we do. People like to be free from the petroleum grid. And people like to be able to have a beer with Link, and Ray, and the people who make their fuel possible.

Tami and I experienced this first hand a week ago when we drove our fuel delivery truck in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in Raleigh. Twenty thousand people lined the streets and we were perpetually greeted with rounds of applause, folks giving us the “thumbs up,” and shouting from the crowd that we were “truly green.” It was edifying.

We haven’t been able to figure out how to pay people with fame or edification—but it feels good just the same. A lot of people care deeply about what we do.

Last night I came home to a warm house and a dying fire. And I had Nick’s comments lodged in my brain.

This morning Link loaded up a brand new dispenser which I delivered to our Carrboro Public Works location. We tore out the dead unit and plumbed in a beautiful new unit. Tomorrow I move on electrical to make it live.

It’s been down for over a month. Part of that was our fault. Instead of jumping on it with a professional repair crew we languished around in our own little “do it yourself” state of mind. It turns out we are not real good at repairing a 17 year old dispenser that has been eaten alive by B100 and has been out of production for a decade.

I’ve thought a lot about this. If we were BP we would have a “hot swap” in stock. And I have also thought about how it is not unusual for a dispenser to “go down.” When that happens at a gas station, you have another 4 pumps to choose from.

But we don’t have that. We have one pump. With no backup. And when we order a replacement unit we need to put 50% of the cash down in order to take delivery.

I worked on Carrboro plumbing until noon, then ran off to North Hills Mall to discuss a new dispensing location. These days I wear dry cleaned shirts instead of my oil soaked uniform. Instead of turning valves and helping out “production,” I spend my time with banks, and with shopping mall administrators, and with granting agencies. Today was a difficult wardrobe day.

Sometimes I’m on the end of a wrench, or shoveling fish fat, sometimes I am dressed up and playing “President.”

My new job is to build new locations of the B100 Community Trail fast.

All of which is merely a lame apology to Nick for not updating the world here. We’re slammed. We are going ninety miles per hour. We are looking forward to restoring Carrboro to its former glory, and to the next Grease appreciation night.

3- 07-2012 Piedmont Biofuels is named on  the first ‘Best for the World’ companies list.

B Lab released the first ‘Best for the World’ lists recognizing companies creating the most positive overall social and environmental impact. The ‘Best for the World’ companies score 50% higher than nearly 2,000 other sustainable businesses, and in the top 10% among more than 500 Certified B Corporations, in the most comprehensive and independent assessment of overall corporate impact.  B Lab also released separate lists of the ‘Best for the Environment’, ‘Best for the Community’, and ‘Best for Workers’.

“These companies are leading a global movement to redefine success in business,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co founder of B Lab, the nonprofit organization that certifies B Corporations and governs the independent third party standard used to generate the comparable assessment of corporate impact.  “These companies are the best in the world at being the best for the world,” Coen Gilbert added.

The ‘Best for the World’ lists are featured in the just released 2012 B Corp Annual Report.  Businesses recognized for their extraordinary performance include:

- For Overall Impact: Better World Books, Global Green Energy Corp, Green Building Services, Larry’s Beans, Method Home Products, Moving Forward Education, Namaste Solar, New Resource Bank, Next Street, Partnership Capital Growth, Piedmont Biofuels, PREM Group, Re:Vision Architecture, RecycleBank, South Mountain Company, Southern Energy Management, SQA Pharmacy Services, The Redwoods Group, and Virginia Community Capital.

- For the Environment: Brightworks, Bullfrog Power, Ecovations, gDiapers, Global Green Energy Corp., GoLite, Green Building Services, Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products, IceStone, Larry’s Beans, Method Products, Namaste Solar, New Leaf Paper, Patagonia, Piedmont Biofuels, Preserve, Re:Vision Architecture, Salt Spring Coffee, Southern Energy Management, and Sustainable Solutions Unlimited.

- For the Community: Agora Management Corporation, Cap Global, Care2.com, Change.org, Ecovations, FMYI, Hershey Cause, Ideal Network, Mal Warwick Associates, Moving Forward Education, New Resource Bank, Next Street, PeaceWorks Technology Solutions, Prem Group, SQA Pharmacy Services, thedatabank, The Redwoods Group, and Virginia Community Capital.

- For Workers: Change.org, Exponent Partners, First Affirmative Financial Network, First Rate, Inc., Heller Consulting, King Arthur Flour Company, Namaste Solar, Partnership Capital Growth, PeaceWorks Technology Solutions, Rally Software, Re:Vision Architecture, Relevance, South Mountain Company, Sungevity, The Caprock Group, and thedatabank, inc.

Six companies were recognized as ‘Best for the World’ in multiple impact areas: Namaste Solar (Environment and Workers); Re:Vision Architecture (Environment and Workers); Change.org (Community and Workers); PeaceWorks Technology Solutions (Community and Workers); thedatabank (Community and Workers); and Ecovations (Environment and Community).

B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.  B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and just good marketing; 2) accelerating the growth of the impact investing asset class through use of B Lab’s GIIRS impact rating system by institutional investors; and 3) promoting legislation creating a new corporate form that meets higher standards of purpose, accountability and transparency.  To earn certification, B Corporations must achieve a minimum score on the B Impact Assessment, which measures a company’s impact on its workforce, suppliers, consumers, community, and the environment, and are legally required to consider the interests of these stakeholders, not just shareholders, when making decisions. Learn more at bcorporation.net, benefitcorp.net, and giirs.org.

I. Membership Survey

Brian wishes to send out the member survey on price changes and other issues. He wants to access the constant contact database, so he can send the cover email to the membership, with him as the reply-to contact. We could set up a “board@biofuels.coop” account that could be used for these types of communications going forward. Even though petro diesel is almost up to $4.20 itself now, it still seems an opportune opening to gain some member insights.

Lyle agrees and believes it will be a simple and easy change. Joe agrees it is still timely and good to get member input. Carol likes the idea, and is also concerned about Board members sending out lots of messages to membership. She suggests that the President has access to membership and only uses it when the entire Board approves. Lyle and Joe concur. The option of setting up a board@biofuels.coop account sounds good for this purpose and for future needs as well. Carol suggests coopboard@biofuels.coop

***Based on later discussion of Grant for new pump stations (see below), Board recommends adding two more questions to the Survey to Members:

#1 Who do you know that owns a business located with good traffic access on or near a main road, owns their property and has room for a biodiesel pump, and would be a good fit for the pump and Piedmont Biofuels?

#2 Where are the best locations for new pumps? Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Raleigh, Cary, elsewhere?

II. Blazing the Trail—Wilmington Update

Permits pulled, builder hired, and site work has begun, but there is a snag with the fire marshal on secondary containment. Lyle is working on whether PBI’s double-walled tank standard will satisfy, or he may have to adjust the plan. There is also a money issue in Wilmington—co-op members who committed to finance half the cost are wavering because of delays, leaving the project $14,000 short. The project is going forward anyway; Lyle is ordering equipment, and paying for permits, though financing is tight and PBI is tight on cash. Selling memberships in Wilmington will not cover the remaining costs and shortfall. Lyle is looking for creative options: may extend credit line until opening, then may float pre-pay or bond. Overall economics of Trail remain sound. With expected one refueling trip per month to Wilmington, we should be out of debt on this project in 2 years time.

Pre-pays of advance fuel buys would definitely help to generate cash to cover build costs. Need Wilmington to be pumping fuel by May.

III. Blazing the Trail—Grant Money for two more pumps

Lyle filed another grant for $68,000 to build 2 new pumping stations plus upgrade to e-fueling at Pittsboro and Moncure pumps, where we have some leakage from people not reporting and paying what that they are taking. Breakdown of grant: 6k for Moncure e-fueling, 6k for Pittsboro e-fueling, 28k for Chapel Hill station, 28k for Greensboro station. Grant dictates that new stations should be up by June.

Discussion about best locations for new pump:

· Even though there is grease collection there, some Staff believe that Greensboro is not a good idea.

· Raleigh/Cary/Apex seems like a better location to some of the Staff. (Carol strongly agrees.) Whole Foods Cary is one possibility.

· Chapel Hill–University Mall has expressed interest for a station near the recycle center.

· Weaver Street in Hillsborough is another option with support.

· Some advocating for Durham

· Somewhere along 751 is an option, though may pull business from Pittsboro

· Chapel Hill Elliott Road Whole Foods

Factors for new pump locations:

i. Looking for rent-free location.

ii. Looking for space with easy access.

iii. Lyle wants to use the same vendors in Wilmington to build the new stations.

iv. Tacit understanding with Carolina Biofuels that PBI won’t encroach in Durham. CB is focusing more on wholesale, so PBI could commit to just focusing on retail.

v. Lyle will be reviewing sites immediately.

NOTE: This is a matching Grant. Challenge is coming up with matching funding.

POSITIVE NOTE: Money is coming from Dept. of Energy through Triangle Clean Cities. Good news is that they still want to give us money for these projects.

IV. Financial Update

PBI got used to making money in 2011. Important to note that financing of projects is tight and PBI is tight on cash. Thus far have lost money in 2012 Jan, and Feb looks the same. Hoping to make money again in March.

V. Brian on iPhone apps:

He will finally be going to meet with John Hollingsworth next week to finalize the details on release 1 of the app – standby!

Lyle reported on the numbers from 2011.
415 members. 52,00,000 gallons pushed to the trail.
Took idea from last meeting and added restaurants as members.
It is estimated that the average member burns 40 gal a mo, so we are most likely powering 100 vehicles.
Suggestion: Do a membership survey and find out who’s driving what, how many miles a month, and how many vehicles and families are actually running on biodiesel.
Piedmont Update: Piedmont has hired Katie to work in the control room and work on membership and oil collection. Carol offered to help her develop the customer survey.

Wilmington:
Builder #1 quit and has been replaced. As soon as a quote arrives from the new builder Clean Cities will give us half of the build price and Wilmington members are ready to provide the other half as a low interest loan.
The goal is to get the Wilmington site up and running by April, and to hold our annual meeting there.
The location is excellent. It is on the property owned by Tidal Creek, the local coop grocery store.
The contractor from Goldsboro builds gas stations, and could build future stations if this one works out.

App:
Brian has been working with John Hollingsworth and they have the process worked out to take all the data from McCayne to create a Piedmont app.
Brian’s company will donate a free account ($39 a mo) to Piedmont to design and host this app.
Pumps will have one color, restaurants another, and users can ask for either one.
Members can instantly find out where they are and what partner/member restaurants are around them.
We hope to add “hot prospects” – restaurants that are potentially on our trail.
The app. will allow members to choose to eat at our restaurants, or they may choose to reach non-member to approach them about joining the network and flag them for follow by Piedmont.
This food to fuel network is real, and can be replicated in other markets.

Next meeting:
Annual Meeting will be a combined Ribbon Cutting in Wilmington. We will set the date at our March meeting.
We have 2 UNC W alumna on our board….work it!
Future plans:
Went from 40-52k to the trail in 2011
Forecast:

3% tax hike –

StickerMule.com – come up with a sticker that represents the WCO, and the driver that we can stick under every windshield asking if they are a member.

Last Saturday I turned 50. Tami threw a remarkable soirée at Small Café in Pittsboro. It was edifying. And it made me grateful for the remarkable community we have there. After the tent had come down, and the chairs and tables were safely back at the plant, my brother Glen and I crashed for a couple of hours, then drove to Charlotte. From there we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then to Guadalupe, a protectorate of France.

There we boarded Monet I, a 52-foot single hull sailboat captained by Tim Matheson and an assorted crew of Canadian sailors. Glen is an experienced sailor with many races and a couple of ocean crossings under his belt. I’m more of a sailor in waiting.

From Guadalupe we sailed to Dominica, which is known as “Nature’s Island.” Without a port deep enough for giant cruise ships, and without a runway long enough for giant airplanes, Dominica is not yet a “tourist destination.” And as such is has yet to be despoiled.

I’ve done some “eco-tourism” in the past, to places like Nicaragua, and Guatemala, where the tourist infrastructure is not well established. The difference with Dominica is that the country is still lush with forests. Unlike Nicaragua, where the mountainsides have been denuded, where you can see topsoil rushing into the sea in giant plumes, the volcanic soils of Dominica are held firmly in place.

I’ve done some sailing in the Virgin Islands, a part of the world that is rife with tourists, and even there you can see scars on the hillsides, with the occasional plume of thick black smoke from a diesel generating station.

We hiked inland to waterfalls and swam in deep pools of potable fresh water. We ate fresh grapefruit, bananas and breadfruit from shanty vendors on the side of the road. We drank the local beer atop a mountain at a bar that had not yet received “current.” In the absence of electricity, they dug deep into ice coolers with headlamps to ensure their guests were served.

This was a voyage marked by flying fish, clear waters, extraordinary views and a country that is truly undiscovered. Our Captain felt that Dominica is one of the greatest destinations on earth, and I’m inclined to agree.

I awoke early this morning, and while I am delighted to take a turn “letting the chickens out,” and reloading the woodstove, I find myself deeply grateful for having been included in another wonderful sailing adventure.

Today is the annual board retreat from The Abundance Foundation. Time to switch gears, shake the salt out of my beard, and re-engage with my normal life…