By Bob Bouyea
Executive Editor

With gasoline prices hovering above $2.50 a gallon in the Lowcountry, the search for alternative fuels is on the lips of every politician and state official. But to some extent, “alternative fuel” has become nothing more than a buzzword.

And some alternatives aren’t alternatives at all.

Case in point, U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-Charleston, recently sent out an “Energy Alert” saying the “search for alternative energy sources is inevitable.” In his alert he outlined four alternative sources of fuel. But two of his alternatives involved drilling for oil. He proposed drilling offshore, including off the South Carolina coast, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

While this would relieve some of our reliance on foreign oil, it doesn’t relieve our reliance on oil, which is the real issue we face.

Another alternative Brown and his opponent in the upcoming election, Randy Maatta, have been touting is the development of hydrogen fuel cells.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology is in its early stages, and the jury is out as to whether energy can be produced efficiently and at a cost that is palatable to consumers. South Carolina has certainly, and rightfully, jumped into this arena to become a leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology. But this fuel source is more than a decade away.

There is no doubt that South Carolina should pursue this technology, but we should not rely on this as our only hope of reducing our reliance on oil.

In another lifetime, I lived in Western Colorado, where oil companies where pinning their hopes on developing oil-shale technology. Considering there are more than 1 trillion barrels of oil trapped in shale enticed several companies to develop the technology to release the oil.

After years of research and development, however, the companies gave up. The technology proved too expensive, and the price per barrel of oil extracted from the shale couldn’t compete. The last of the U.S. projects ended in the early 1990s. Today there is only one company, located in Australia, that is still trying to prefect this technology.

Will hydrogen become the next oil-shale project? From the research and development that has occurred, it looks promising.

But there are other alternative fuels that few are talking about, and that is the proven technology of renewable fuels. I’m talking about ethanol and biodiesel.

One person who is doing more than talking is Dean Schmelter.

Who is Dean Schmelter?

He is a businessman who owns several water treatment chemical companies across the United States and he lives here. He is also a co-founder, with Jim Thompson of Charlotte, N.C., of the yet-to-be-built Southeast Biodiesel, the Lowcountry’s first biodiesel facility.

He is purchasing a building in the Noisette project area, on the former Navy shipyard, and retrofitting it to produce 2 million gallons of biodiesel a year. The cost to build such a facility could range up to $4 million, but Schmelter said he’s doing it at half the cost by completing a lot of the design work himself.

Biodiesel can be made out of many different renewable sources, such as soybeans. However, Schmelter plans to contract with companies that collect yellow grease for disposal from restaurants. The company will refine the yellow grease into biodiesel fuel and glycerin, which is a byproduct of the biodiesel process. The glycerin, which can be used in soaps, adhesives and plastics, will be sold, Schmelter said.

The end product looks and smells like cooking oil. It can be used either as an additive to diesel fuel or can be used straight.

He points out that the first diesel engine, built by Rudolf Diesel, ran on peanut oil.

One of the major benefits of using biodiesel is it reduces emissions. Using it straight will reduce up to 77% of emissions, including the black cloud that is indicative of diesel engines, Schmelter said.

Schmelter decided to get into the biodiesel business after complaining to his mechanic about high fuel costs.

“I drive a diesel and I was upset with the high costs after Hurricane Katrina hit. My mechanic said, ‘So why don’t you do something about it.’”

So he did.

While this contribution will be a drop in the bucket in solving our reliance on oil, it’s a start. And he is not alone. There are two other biodiesel producers in the state. One is in the Taylors area and is producing 10 million gallons annually. Another one in Estill is in its permitting stage to produce the fuel.

As far as ethanol goes, there are no production plants in the state. However, E10 (a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) and E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) are available outside the Lowcountry. By choosing to use the ethanol blend, South Carolina has displaced more than 6 million gallons of conventional gasoline with ethanol.

So when we pull up to the pump and sigh that sigh of submission at high gas prices, we need to ask ourselves “What are we going to do about it?”

Bob Bouyea is executive editor for the Business Journal. E-mail him at bbouyea@charlestonbusiness.com.

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