Jean Williams Examiner.com Environmental Policy Examiner  A Northwest band has been chosen to write the sound track for the movie/documentary Green Light: The Sustainable Oroville Project. It will be written by Portland musician Keegan Smith. The movie will be framed around the concept of a small town--in this case, Oroville, Washington--that draws together entrepreneurs, enlightened city planners, local businesses, and farmers--to propose and design ways to be a sustainable and energy efficient community—without any direction or involvement from the federal government. A major component of the story is the installation of a canola seed crushing plant, with contracts from local farmers to grow the seed. According to Keegan Smith and the Fam’s web site--the band is an eclectic mix of musical heavyweights, producers, and bandleaders from the Northwest's thriving music scene. The fundamental instrumentation of the Fam is comprised of: Tyrone Hendrix (drums), Chris Chard (bass), Josh Wuerth (guitar), and Justin Dodge (keyboards/producer). However they frequently feature all-star performers on various other instruments such as brass and percussion. Kelsey Smith, Keegan’s sister, manages the band. Kelsey is very close to her brother and she considers the band to be part of a close knit family. “Keegan is an amazing story teller,” said Kelsey. “He connects with people by walking and dancing through the crowd. It energizes his audience and perpetuates a sense of familiarity that makes them feel at home." In the case of the Sustainable Oroville movie, the message is green industry and sustainable living. The Keegan Smith and the Fam band hooked up with the Sustainable Oroville project through a mutual friend, Kevin Pile, of EcoTrain Media Group, because they had been in discussions about the project for a year. Add Comment  A hotel designed for Passivhaus performance is being developed in Oroville, Washington, using prefab containerized components Green-building advocates are paying attention to the Green Built Hotel planned for Oroville, an agricultural community in north central Washington. The hotel is unusual not just because its prefabricated panels will be shipped in containers to its destination at the south end of town and then assembled in fairly short order. The building is being designed to perform to the Passivhaus standard, which would make it one of the first Passivhaus hotels in the country. The project will use components from prefabricated-housing producer bôd Structures. Known until very recently as American Container Homes, bôd Structures aims to build good quality houses more quickly and for less cost than is typically possible using standard construction techniques. The company’s product line includes single-family and multifamily structures; small commercial buildings such as classrooms, clinics, and hotels; and dormitory-like buildings for emergency use. Continue reading click Here  Oroville, Washington is rapidly emerging onto the sustainable green energy global platform. The town has put out the welcome mat for green businesses, with plans that include the first hotel built with Passive House standards. The majority of Passive structures have been built in Germany and Scandinavia, which incorporates tightly sealed, energy efficient construction. Accommodations in the small town near the Canadian border are scarce and currently include a bed and breakfast, a city-owned camp ground, and some lodges outside the city limits. As new businesses move into the area, more hotel space will be needed for tourists, visitors, and potential employees. Continue Reading: Sustainable Oroville to build first U.S Passive green energy hotel  Oroville plant to produce canola oil for biofuel use A plant in Oroville, Washington, is in the final stages of planning for a facility which will crush canola seeds to extract oil for use as a mechanical lubricant and diesel fuel additive. At the onset, most of the canola seed will come from farms in Canada, but the company is looking into procuring seed from local farms as well. To learn more, read "Oroville One Step Closer to Producing Canola Oil" on the Sustainable Oroville website. To read directly on WSU's website: Click Here American Container Home is bôd Structures 11/16/2010
 Along with American Container Homes new name - bôd Structures, comes a new and improved look and business expansion. As the global housing demand grows, bôd Structures is the ideal product for international markets as the product easily and efficiently transports due to our patented DOMO Technology™. The company has set up showrooms in Mexico and distribution in Canada with new requests coming in regularly. In order to meet the international demands, bôd wanted their name and image to reflect the modern and advanced technology they are supplying. bôd Structures is still very much an American company with domestic pre-built and site-built products. They are also generating green jobs with a growing workforce and national export products. To learn more about bôd Structure please visit their website at www.bodstructures.com  Tim King directing the crane operator OROVILLE – With the delivery of several roller presses to Oroville, it seems that Tim King’s dream of making canola oil is one step closer. The presses arrived at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at the old Oro HeavyPack Warehouse off 14th Street where they will be housed. The presses, weighing several tons each, were unloaded by a tall crane from a dual-trailered, semi-tractor under the watchful eye of King and those gathered to mark their arrival, including a documentary team from Tacoma-based T-Town Productions. The crushers and other equipment will be used to set up a pilot plant to crush canola seed into oil to be sold for lubricants and for adding to diesel fuel to create lower emission bio-fuel. The left over meal from the crushing can be used to create high-protein cattle feed as well. For now, most of the seed to be crushed will come from Canadian farmers, but King has approached local farmers about adding canola production to their regular crop rotation. King, manager of Carbon Technology Transfer Center LLP, said this was just the first of 15 truckloads of equipment that will be housed at in the packing facility owned by Gold Digger Apples, Inc. The company is leasing the building for now and may try and purchase it in the future, according to King’s timeline. Among the equipment that will be used to crush canola seed into oil will be 1500 metric tons of expellers, with cookers, flakers, electrical switch gear and materials handling equipment, such as drag lines, augers and conveyers. The next step after the equipment is moved into the building, said King, is to secure additional financing through a loan or investment. He said the company needs a minimum of $600,000, but $1 million would be optimal. As much as $400,000 would be used as a revolving loan to purchase canola seed. CTTC hopes to have the money in place within the next two weeks. “We really aren’t looking at your typical venture capital types,” said King. “They all want quick, high returns with no risk.” With $600,000 in capital, the company would purchase new technology crush equipment, an expander and centrifuge within 30 days. From there they could set up a permanent 200-ton a day crush line and make modifications to the building and be operational in three to four months, according to the timeline. The $400,000 revolving loan would be used to set up contracts from Canadian brokers for delivery of approximately 100 tons of canola a day or two Super B truck loads at $40,000 per day. A portable crush plant would be set up to crush the 100 tons of seed a day into oil to be sold until enough equity was built up to reinvest in a value-added bio lubricant plant, reads the timeline. The meal left over from the crushing would be sold as cattle feed until equity was built up to reinvest in a value-added feed mix and pelletization plant. From there the company hopes to replicate the Oroville pilot facility across Eastern Washington and the Pacific Northwest, with additional phases in Spokane, Omak and Douglas County, for total of 12 plants, five in Washington State, within three to five years. “Oroville is doing something no one else in the country is doing,” said Ryan Skinner of Sustainable Oroville, which is helping to get the word out about projects like the canola crushing plant and a proposed “green” hotel in Oroville on the web site www.sustainableoroville.com. “Oroville is going forward with projects like these and without the government getting involved,” Skinner said, adding that the Web site has brought positive attention to Oroville from other industries looking for a forward-thinking community. Skinner also applauded Roni Holder- Diefenbach, Executive Director of Okanogan Economic Alliance and Chris Branch, Oroville’s director of Community and Economic Development. They, along with Arnie Marchand and Pam Leslie of LM Energy, as well as interested area ranchers were on hand for the arrival of the presses. Photo's courtesy of: Roni Holder-Diefenbach, Director of the Okanogan Economic Alliance Pam Leslie of L&M Energy LLC  From Cathy McMorris Rodgers Headquarters: Some good news to report: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently made clear that it distinguishes between emissions from biogenic sources – such as biomass and biofuel – and fossil fuels in its draft guidance, "Federal Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Reporting." This is welcome news for all those – like you and me – who believe that responsible development of biomass is essential to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Last week, I joined a letter sent to Nancy Sutley, Chairwoman of the CEQ, commending the CEQ for its decision, while also encouraging them to work with other federal agencies – especially theEnvironmental Protection Agency, which continues to not differentiate between biogenic emission sources and those from fossil fuels – in developing a "sensible, consistent, scientifically-based policy that recognizes the carbon-neutrality of biogenic sources."  Entrepreneur Tim King has a vision and it is about rural communities having sustainable green industry, with local self-fulfilling and interactive systems that enable businesses and farmers to support and leverage each other. On Wednesday, September 29, after years of planning and searching for a suitable community, the first shipment of equipment for a canola oil-seed crushing plant arrived in Oroville, Washington. The equipment was from a plant in Alberta that updated to new machinery. King took advantage of a rare deal and bought the used equipment. Tim’s journey to Wednesday’s event started in the mid 70’s, when he became interested in an alternative crop to grow, other than wheat, and canola came to his attention. Canola, once considered a Canadian specialty crop, has become a huge cash crop in North America. According to Wikipedia, production from Canada and the United States brings in between 7 and 10 million tons of canola seed every year. Continue reading: Canola crushing businessman envisions self-sustaining rural communities  The first of approximately 15 semi-truck loads will make it's way to Oroville this Wednesday. A crane will be heading south from Penticton, BC to off-load the equipment and begin to store it in warehousing provided by Gold Digger Apples Inc. Economic sustainability has begun! |
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