Opportunity Knocks...Softly

The first time Michael Spear mixed up a batch of biodiesel in his kitchen, he followed the instructions to the letter, and it came out perfectly. 

The second time, the blender exploded, spewing 145-degree vegetable oil mixed with potassium hydroxide and methanol all over the kitchen. It was a five-hour cleanup, and Spear learned not to use a household blender for harsh industrial products. 

But the biodiesel worked. The Fort Myers man with a background in trucking has been making it for his own use and for friends for the past five years. Now he has plans for a company that would not only produce this renewable fuel, but potentially tap into markets for carbon credits and renewable energy credits. 

Efforts to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gases could provide new revenue sources for a state and region knocked out by the collapse of the housing market, and small entrepreneurs and major corporations see money to be made in efforts to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In Southwest Florida, Spear has plans for agriculture and manufacturing operations that would benefit from a carbon market. And Lykes Bros. Inc. launched a new division in January to show other companies and landowners how to make a carbon-credit market work for them. 

But one thing is needed: consistent demand. 

That’s why they and others are banking on the Obama administration and Congress to adopt cap-and-trade policies that would jumpstart the carbon-credit industry. (Please see “A Primer,” p. 24.) 

FLORIDA OPPORTUNITIES 

“If something changes at the federal level and there is mandatory cap-and-trade, I think you’ll see a surge of participation,” says Laila Racevskis, an assistant professor in the University of Florida’s Food and Resource Economics Department and director of Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute. And with its abundance of forestry and agriculture, “Florida has a huge opportunity to provide offsets.”