Bioroot Energy » Founder’s Blog

Make more than excuses

Jay — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:13:47 +0000

Don’t look to Washington’s finest for credible energy and climate solutions. Legislation, perhaps. Our politicians spend a lot of their time appearing in dignified settings courtesy of the US taxpayer, meeting important (and not so important) people, shaking lots of hands, listening and talking, smiling and chatting amiably with one another like lovable, peaceable Smurfs.

So our politicos are good at face time. But they’re terrible at addressing our biggest problems. Like balancing the federal budget, reducing trade [...]

Twenty Years To Get Renewables Right (Or Else)

Jay — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:50:57 +0000

Why act now to develop clean, renewable liquid fuels made from carbon wastes and biomass at a community or regional level? It’s simple. Your kids’ and grandchildrens’ gas tanks (and wallets, if they still exist) could be empty in twenty years if we don’t.

Look at the graph and be afraid. It did not come from Earth First! It did not come from the Sierra Club. It was not drawn by Socialists or Nazis [...]

Too Good To Be True?

Jay — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:55:14 +0000

A common comment at events where Bioroot Energy has presented is that our business vision to turn municipal waste and biomass into clean, green transportation fuel sounds too good to be true.

Fact is, the core technologies Bioroot Energy seeks to deploy are already proven. It’s a plasma gasifier, connected to a gas to liquid (methanol) plant. Making a proprietary alcohol fuel formula that is already EPA approved but has not yet been commercialized. Making a cleaner, [...]

It’s a great idea, but…

Jay — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:18:35 +0000

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

- Bertrand Russell

Of course it’s a great idea to convert society’s wastes and sustainable non-crop biomass into clean fuels that blend directly into today’s transportation fuels.

Think of the hard and soft benefits to be gained from converting almost everything no longer wanted (trash, waste biomass) by people into a renewable energy product that [...]

Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks

Jay — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:16:53 +0000

So amid the chaos of market upheaval due to declining demand, spurred on by the new “less is more” mantra of increasing consumption efficiencies, at least one industry guy is pointing where fuels in general are headed, in my opinion. Fuels, like the rapidly changing vehicles we all drive, need to be better in every respect, not just price, but sourced from feedstock diversity, cleaner, produce local area benefits, and ultimately be more profitable to local [...]

Forest Service slowly embraces Tester plan to log 10,000 acres a year for 10 years

Jay — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:12:42 +0000

“One of the most contested parts of Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act is the plan to log 10,000 acres a year for 10 years. On Feb. 24, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told Congress he wanted “approximately 20 10-year stewardship contracts offered in targeted areas around the country that could provide a steady supply of forest products.”

Missoulian article

Road Transportation Emerges as Key Driver of Warming

Jay — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:32:10 +0000

In a paper published online on Feb. 3 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers described how they used a climate model to estimate the impact of 13 sectors of the economy from 2000 to 2100. They based their calculations on real-world inventories of emissions collected by scientists around the world, and they assumed that those emissions would stay relatively constant in the future.

In their analysis, motor vehicles emerged as the greatest contributor [...]

Why Here? Why Now? Why Not?

Jay — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:21:34 +0000

There’s never been a more opportune time to develop an alternative energy company from the ground up to meet the needs of a dramatically changing world.

Or, one could easily understand, it might well be the worst time to start an alternative energy company, especially considering today’s horrible economy. Good thing we’re not looking for a loan yet. Nobody’s lending money, especially to punk startups like Bioroot Energy. Yet, here we are being “contrary” to conventional wisdom: [...]

Let’s Make Energy History in the Bitterroot

Jay — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:29:30 +0000

Hi Ravalli Republic reader,

Thank you for visiting Bioroot Energy and taking time to learn more about our mission and goals.

We believe this project could rapidly become one of the most important alternative energy projects in the world, and one of the first of hundreds or even thousands of similar projects to come. Ours could be the first community in America to turn its trash to green energy, without using incineration, or we could be one of [...]

Turning “Nothing” Into Something Clean & Green

Jay — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:21:13 +0000

The idea of turning solid waste and biomass into energy isn’t new. Look at any coal-fired power plant, for example. Look at waste management companies in league with cities all over the world incinerating solid waste to create electricity, spewing tons of contaminants ’round the clock into the atmosphere at a massive global scale.

Don’t kid yourself that all these emissions don’t already impact your life. They most certainly do, and it will only grow worse unless [...]