Grass Energy: Fuel for a Rural Renaissance? (Vermont)

[jpak]

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/OPINION04/707170363/1024/OPINION04

The biomass energy activities at the recent UVM/Governor's Institutes engineering camp demonstrate what Jock Gill has been talking about.

On July 3, students came to Votey Hall with displays of bagged biomass pellets, posters about various "cocktails" of mixed biomass they'd tested, and homemade pellet burners. Jock was there to explain biomass potentials, lead a tour to a biomass-fueled boiler room, and visit an early Vermont experiment in commercial ethanol production.

Jock lives in Peacham, but he's often found at conferences, forums, schools, and farms throughout the state. He's the guy with the trim white beard, glasses, and mischievous grin – the one talking a mile a minute about his passion, grass.

Jock is the founder of Grass Energy Collaborative (GEC), the leading proponent of grass biomass energy in Vermont and the main reason it's now on our policymakers' radar.

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