The STRAIGHT Poop

As you can see on our website, Fibrowatt has an interest in developing projects in a number of states, including Georgia. Interest in Georgia should not be a surprise as Georgia is the largest agricultural producer of broiler chickens in the U.S., with an annual value of greater than $4 billion. Poultry production is the largest segment of the Georgia agricultural economy by far.

While Fibrowatt has long been interested in Georgia, to develop a project in a particular area requires that a number of key factors fall in place – mainly the interest in power companies to purchase the renewable energy generated from such a plant, the interest of area growers in such a solution, and of course the interest of a local community to host such a plant. Read more »

On July 11, 2010 the Wall Street Journal published an article “Looking to Litter” that highlights Fibrowatt and how the company has developed a distinctive approach to renewable energy. By utilizing a resource like poultry litter, Fibrowatt has not only developed a unique niche in the U.S. renewable energy marketplace but it has done so to the benefit of the poultry industry – providing a sustainable solution for what poultry growers generate in large quantities – poultry litter.

By highlighting Fibrowatt’s unusual fuel, the Journal also suggests what Fibrowatt has been emphasizing for quite some time – that it is increasingly important that the U.S. embrace a whole host of materials as valuable renewable resources.

As we all know, online resources can be a great way to get information. Get on the ‘net and you have a freeway to a load of information. Sometimes when I’m looking for something I go online and look at product reviews. I find one – but there is one problem – the product review is extremely old, too old to call it reliable. The question that has to be asked is how accurate the information I’m looking at is?

For instance, if I wrote all over the internet that I was a millionaire, you’d possibly believe it. I would love to be, but unless that daily scratch off has a big surprise for me, I’m absolutely nowhere near being a millionaire – despite what had been said and what you may believe. The point is don’t believe everything you read online.

Have you ever “Googled” Fibrowatt? I have. If you have, I am pretty sure you found the same things that I’ve found. When you “Google” Fibrowatt, you find a ton of information. Some of it’s good – some of it’s bad. But what is the truth?

Of the many websites and information that does come up, there is one called FibroWatch. See for yourself – read it – seems like pretty scary stuff!

Well now, let’s look a little closer. How accurate is that information? Read more »

If you ever watched the Fox television show “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?” you will know that a fifth grader is pretty smart these days. Further evidence of this is an article today in the Raleigh News & Observer about a fifth grader from Pinehurst, NC. Apparently fifth grader Nick Kuzma entered his findings on the use of poultry litter to break down oil into the N.C. Science and Engineering Fair and came out with an “Exemplary Project” award for his efforts. Nice job, Nick.

What Nick demonstrated is that poultry litter is pretty biologically active – a fact that explains why we manage poultry litter the way we do. We are careful to transport the litter in tightly-contained trucks and store all of the litter delivered to our plant in a fully enclosed Fuel Hall – under “negative pressure” to contain some of the products of this biological activity, like ammonia and “odor” components. We specifically plan for a certain amount of storage time in the Fuel Hall so that this activity will result in a better final fuel for our boiler.

While we are quite impressed with Nick’s findings, we just hope that we will not have to compete with this pretty smart fifth grader for the poultry litter we plan to use for our two plants in North Carolina.

As we have heard from Chairman Johnson, on Monday May 17, 2010 the Surry County Board of Commissioners voted to end negotiations with Fibrowatt regarding the development of the FibroHills Biomass Power Plant within the county. This action came as a result of a long and very contentious debate over the future direction of Surry County and pressure from residents in nearby Elkin.

It is unfortunate that the Commissioners had to endure so much pressure over their support for this project. We believe the county’s invitation for Fibrowatt to locate in Surry County was the right decision and would have brought about a number of important benefits for the county. Amongst the benefits would have been jobs and significant tax revenue and local spending. Furthermore, the FibroHills project would have helped support an important local industry, by providing the local poultry growers with a long-term alternative option for litter management and would have provided an important and needed new source of locally-generated renewable energy. Regrettably, Surry County and the local poultry industry will not be able to reap the benefits of this project. Read more »