In this video, a young woman describes the process that AppstateBiofuels is using to "close the loop" on biofuel production. What that means is that they want their operation completely self-contained. They are using solar power for electricity and hot water generation, and the water used in the biodiesel creation process is reclaimed using a variety of ecological methods in their onsite greenhouse. On days when there is not enough sun, they use a generator powered by their very own biodiesel. Sounds pretty good! I thought that this looked like some sort of University project, so I did a little searching and dug up their site. According to their site:

"The Collaborative Biodiesel Project is a student-led initiative at Appalachian State University and is partially funded by the EPA P3 Award: Student Design Competition for Sustainability. The purpose of the project is to create a closed loop biodiesel processing facility that provides for its own energy needs, and recycles its waste products. We have examined all aspects of the process in order to find sustainable ways to close the biodiesel loop. Our mission is to create a sustainable biodiesel processor model that can be easily replicated by others."

Check them out, and follow their process from start to finish. They do a good job of explaining exactly what it is that they are doing.

[Source: Youtube and Appalachian State University]