North Carolina is well-positioned to take the lead on energy independence

BYLINE: JOY FRANKLIN

NorthCarolina is well-positioned to take the lead on energy independence

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Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue believes North Carolina could become the first state in America to be nearly energy independent.

North Carolina can create a "green" economy that will lead the world, she said Wednesday at a summit on resolving the energy crisis.

The summit was organized by the Western Carolina University Public Policy Institute and held at Ramsey Center on the WCU campus.

The state has every asset it needs, Perdue said, including an agricultural economy as strong as that of any small country in the world, a ranking of number three in the U.S. and number five internationally in biotechnology industry, and top-flight researchers at our universities.

North Carolinians are beginning to wake up to the potential economic development benefits of sustainable energy, Perdue said.

She pointed to the state's first big commercial biodiesel plant, located in Chatham County and to a plant in Franklin County, which company representatives say is the largest commercial ethanol facility in the United States. The company makes the enzyme that helps turn corn into ethanol.

Piedmont Biofuels, based in Chatham County, plans to convert chicken fat into 1 million gallons of biodiesel a year, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. Vehicles that burn diesel can run on biodiesel. The company started out as a co-op making alternative fuel from French fry grease.

Capitalists are investing millions to build biodiesel and ethanol production facilities in the state, Perdue said. North Carolina can become a major distributive hub for alternative fuels, she believes.

"We can't be totally dependent on foreign oil," she said. "For the sake of the economy and national security... we've got to do more to take care of ourselves."

The state needs a bold energy policy, she said, including possible tax initiatives to encourage the use of alternative fuels.

The state must also reduce energy consumption by retrofitting old buildings and requiring that new ones be LEED certified, meaning they pass the U.S. Green Building Council's system for rating the environmental performance of buildings.

Another speaker, George Ford, a visiting assistant professor at the Kimmel School of Construction Management, Engineering and Technology at Western, talked about energy audit programs that help towns reduce their energy consumption and save taxpayers money.

Larry Shirley, Director of the State Energy Office talked about sustainable energy strategies for North Carolina that include the use of biodiesel, wind, solar and biomass, a resource the state has in abundance.

"We're the Saudi Arabia of biomass," he said.

It's time to "accelerate our game," he said, to take bold steps and reap the environmental and economic benefits.

Other speakers highlighted initiatives and pilot programs already under way in North Carolina that encourage energy conservation and use alternative energy such as methane from landfills. The potential economic development benefits were a consistent theme throughout.

After hearing their reports, Lt. Gov. Perdue's vision of North Carolina becoming energy independent and leading the world in the development of a green economy seemed altogether plausible.

"We hear way too much about blue states and red states," she said.

"My goal for the conversation in this decade is to be about green states."

That's a vision we should all be able to buy into.

Readers can write Franklin at P.O. Box 2090, Asheville, N.C. 28802; phone her at (828)232-5895; or e-mail her at JFranklin@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.