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Central Carolina C.C. receives $195,000 biofuels grant
Posted: 05-05-2008 : PITTSBORO, N.C.
PITTSBORO – Central Carolina Community College’s Biofuels program has received a $195,000 grant from the Biofuels Center of North Carolina. The funds will be used to purchase equipment for the college’s Biofuels Production Laboratory at its Chatham County Campus.
“With this grant money, we’ll be able to customize our training process to meet industry needs,” said Andrew McMahan, Central Carolina’s Biofuels Coordinator/Curriculum Developer. “We’ll have biofuels training resources that will be more comprehensive than that at any university in the state. The college is at the cutting edge on biofuels and we’re positioned to be state leaders in workforce development for this emerging industry.”
The college will soon break ground on a new Sustainable Technology Building at the Chatham Campus. The building will house the Sustainable Biofuels, Sustainable Agriculture, and Green Building programs.
Central Carolina has offered biofuels through its Continuing Education Department since 2001. It is planning an Associate in Applied Sciences degree in Alternative Fuels. So far, close to $700,000 in grants and other funding has been received to develop and equip the program.
“In our Biofuels program, we are training students for the biofuels industry we have in North Carolina today, which is biodiesel,” said McMahan. “We are also looking forward to the day when we are able to turn any cellulosic material, such as wood chips and sweet potatoes, to fuels.”
Central Carolina C.C.’s grant was one of 15 grants and loans awarded in the Biofuels Center’s first round of funding. The 15 were selected from 75 proposals received in four biofuels areas: agriculture, innovation/research, industrial production, and workforce development. The grants totaled $2.55 million.
“North Carolina imports 5.6 billion gallons of liquid fuels annually,” said John Ganzi, Biofuels Center president. “These proposals put the state on the path to reducing its dependency on foreign oil and liquid fuel imports.”
The Center, located in Oxford, was established by the General Assembly in 2007 with a $5 million appropriation. Its purpose is to implement North Carolina’s “Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership,” facilitating and supporting the development of a sustainable biofuels industry in the state. The long-term task of the Center is to develop a statewide biofuels industry to reduce the state’s dependence on imported petroleum-based fuels.
"Seldom has a state the opportunity to create an entirely new industry sector, but sustained support will ensure North Carolina reaches its goal of growing and producing 10 percent of its own liquid fuels by 2017 – or about 600 million gallons," said Steven Burke, Biofuels Center Board Chairman.
Piedmont Biofuels Industrial, in Pittsboro, a state pioneer in the commercial production of biodiesel, also received a grant: $250,000 to build a bio-refinery. For a list of all grant awardees or further information, visit the Center’s web site, www.biofuelscenter.org/.
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