Boyd named to national alternative energy panel

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the appointment of Rodney Boyd, general manager/CEO of McMinnville Electric System, to the Biodiesel and Other Technologies Independent Review Panel.

Boyd will be traveling to the National Renewable Energy Labs in Golden, Colo., for an upcoming meeting ‘ with the U.S. government covering the entire cost of the trip. Boyd feels his appointment is due, in large part, to MES’s ongoing biodiesel power generation project.

‘It’s because of the work we have done in the past with our project and the Department of Energy,’ Boyd said. ‘They have been impressed with our level of professionalism and expertise on this particular subject. It’s really quite an honor to be asked to serve on this panel.’

Boyd has been involved in alternative power, particularly biodiesel, for several years, making a name for himself in regional and state alternative energy circles along the way. He most recently served on Gov. Phil Bredesen’s task force for alternative energy.

‘I went to Nashville a couple of weeks ago and spent two days up there with a group of about 50 of the who’s who of alternative fuel experts in the state of Tennessee,’ Boyd said. ‘The governor brought in the best.’

The group spent two days drafting a plan for the role alternative fuels will play in Tennessee’s energy needs for the future.

Boyd talked about biodiesel and the effect it will have on the future of energy in America, and around the world.

‘Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that is a direct replacement for petrodiesel in most diesel engines,’ Boyd said. ‘It can be domestically produced. It can be grown on the soil of the farmlands of Tennessee, or any place else in the United States.’

Boyd is one of only six people from the business community selected for the panel. In addition, between 20 and 30 people from industry, government and academia will attend this review as well.

‘The McMinnville Board of Public Utilities is pleased and proud that Rodney has been chosen as one of only six nationwide to serve on this important review panel,’ said MES board chairman Jeff Golden. ‘This can only shed a positive light on our community and underlines the great work that MES and Rodney accomplished with our recent biodiesel project.’

Boyd pointed out that biodiesel will probably never replace petroleum products completely, but will certainly play a major role in future U.S. energy needs.

‘It’s not the answer to our dependency on foreign oil,’ Boyd said. ‘But I think it’s certainly part of a portfolio that needs to be taken into consideration when we look at the direction of fuels in the future.’

Boyd says he does feel biodiesel will work in conjunction with other alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind and hydroelectric, along with other renewable fuels like ethanol, to help significantly reduce oil dependency.

Biodiesel has peripheral benefits as well, according to Boyd, not the least of which is providing a lucrative crop for Tennessee farmers, as well as farmers around the nation.

‘My hopes for what we’re doing, and we’re already seeing this occur, is that farmers who once had ground that wasn’t profitable to farm, because they couldn’t make a living off it, will now be able to plant a viable crop on that farmland,’ Boyd said. ‘They can plant soybeans and harvest them and provide income that will make those fields productive again.’

Boyd says he hopes the move toward renewable alternative fuels will encourage a return to family farms as a significant segment of agribusiness.

‘As ethanol comes on, with corn production, and biodiesel comes on, with soybean production, you’re going to see more farmers getting back into farming, and putting ground that wasn’t being used for anything back to work for something good,’ Boyd concluded. ‘This has a trickle-down effect that goes all the way down to the bottom, it really does.’

Boyd also pointed out another unique aspect of biodiesel produced from soybeans, in that, in a roundabout way, it incorporates a number of alternative sources by its very nature. As a visual aid, Boyd held up a vial of soybeans and posed an interesting question, with some thought-provoking answers.

‘If you think about it, what goes into making a soybean’? Boyd asked. ‘Water, that’s hydro-power, sunlight, that’s solar power, air, that’s wind power. This is nature’s own little battery that can be put to use to provide energy, and it’s renewable. It has all the components of all those alternative fuels. All we’re doing is taking what nature makes and using it for fuel. It’s very simple, and very effective.’

Boyd says he is looking forward to working with and learning from the other experts he will encounter at the meeting.

‘These are major research and development people,’ Boyd said. ‘These are the folks that are way out on the edge of technology, and we’ll be learning what they’re doing. We’re going to be reviewing some of the proposals they have. It’s a great opportunity to learn what’s going on with alternative energy sources in the U.S.’