Down To Earth Energy

Little Road trip today out to visit Down to Earth Energy in Monroe GA. about 20 miles from Athens. It is a solar powered, small batch, recycled grease bio-diesel facility, producing 3,300 gallons of B5, B20, B1000 a day. They have three buildings aside from the rebuilt barn where they make the bio-diesel, each roof completely covered in solar panels. It is a 115kw system, which provides 80% of their power, and they are working on installing a diesel generator to run on bio-diesel to provide the rest.

Hard to see, but the B20 is $2.40 and the B100 is $2.30 a gallon.

They partner with Clean Energy Bio-Diesel, an Atlanta based company that picks up used grease and delivers finished bio-diesel. Their biggest customer is Whole Foods in Atlanta.

 Solar hot water system is used to keep the finished bio-diesel hot, and for a variety of other work at the facility.

The roof space of 3 main office/production buildings provide power with  a $750k solar system. 

The bio-diesel is produced here in this re-built barn. This type of facility is the future: self sustaining, recycling, small batch production for regional delivery. 

When we went out to Down To Earth Energy the other day we saw a 2005 VW Golf for sale. Just about all VW diesels before 2005 will run on bio-diesel with no conversion. Just run some B20 mixed in with your regular fuel for a bit. Otherwise crud from the inside of the tank will dislodge & clog your fuel filter. This one had been running on bio-diesel from the plant for years, and was being sold by one of the chemists. So...he bought it! It gets 50mpg, 80% cleaner than regular gasoline, we can put our folding bikes in the back, & travel long distances with-out looking for charging stations. Our transportation choices are as fossil fuel free as we can be!