Events

September 1, 2016 at 7:30 pm

Sustainability Studies | Community Scale Solutions for a Low Carbon Future, Sept. 19

Community Scale Solutions for a Low Carbon Future photo with windmill and solar panels

The Sustainability Studies theme at Ohio University is collaborating with the PawPaw festival to bring Lyle Estill, president and co-founder of Piedmont Biofuels and to Athens.

Lyle Estill

Lyle Estill

Lyle Estill is a serial entrepreneur who has been actively invested in biofuels, wind energy, solar, and sustainable food production for decades. He is the author of five books, ranging from biodiesel to local economy, and numerous essays, articles, and blog entries about social and sustainable enterprise.

Estill will speak at the Paw Paw Festival at 1:30 on Sunday, September 18. The title of his talk is, “Strike Outs, Base Hits, and Home Runs; Sustainable Businesses I Have Loved.”

ABSTRACT:

My daughter keeps a list of my “flops” in business. From snail farming to vermiculture composting to my multi decade failure to produce paw paws—she pretends to have a record of it all. I would prefer it if she would measure me by my successes—from craft distillation to wind energy production, but I suppose that is just a father-daughter thing. I’ll take a preacher’s run through a bunch of them in this talk.

Estill at podium

Lyle Estill will speak at Walter Hall Rotunda on Monday, September 19.

On Monday, September 19, Estill will give a public lecture from 5:00 until 6:30 at Walter Hall Rotunda.  The title of Monday’s talk is, “The New Energy Landscape: Community Solutions for a Low Carbon Future.”

ABSTRACT:

There will be winners and losers in our new energy landscape, many of which are mediated by scale. This talk will explore the intersections of policy choices, market pressures, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Estill is the author of Small is Possible; Life in a Local Economy (2008), Biodiesel Power; the Passion, People, and Politics of the Next Renewable Fuel (2005), Industrial Evolution; Local Solutions for a Low Carbon Future (2011), and Small Stories, Big Changes; Agents of Change on the Frontlines of Sustainability (2013).  His most recent work is Backyard Biodiesel (2015) co-authored by Bob Armantrout.

Sustainability Studies theme logoPiedmont Biofuels is a small renewable energy company that produces biodiesel in Central North Carolina. Learn more about Piedmont Biofuels and Lyle’s story here: http://www.biofuels.coop/about/our-story.

This event is cosponsored by the Food Studies theme, Environmental Studies, the Mechanical Engineering Department, the History Department, and the Office of Sustainability.

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