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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2017-01-18, Page 5Wednesday, January 18, 2017 • Huron Expositor 5 St. Anne's student reconfigures County withholds promised funding for tractor for biofuels arts centre until obligations are met Justine Afkema Clinton News Record Evan Krebs's interest in alternative fuels motivated him to take on a unique pro- ject for his Ford 3000 tractor. The grade 12 student and Hensall resident, whose family farms cash crops as a secondary income, recently reconfigured his tractor to run on biofuels including soybean and canola oil. Krebs is working on the project as a part of the energy specialist high skills major he is a part of at St. Anne's and as a 4H project. The idea was something Krebs heard of and pursued out of interest. "It was just something I came across," he said. "Dif- ferent people have done it before; a lot of people have done it with cars running it off used vegetable oil from fast food restaurants:' Krebs got his oil from a company in Listowel called Energrow Inc. Energrow sells oil seed presses to farmers which farmers can use to press their own protein meal. They can then sell the leftover oil from that process back to Energrow, where the oil is resold. "So this is one of the appli- cations you can do with that leftover oil," said Krebs. The reason he got oil from Ener - grow as opposed to say, the grocery store, was due to the specific filtration process of the oil. As for reconfiguring the tractor itself, that part was relatively simple for Krebs. "The only thing that was reconfigured was the sec- ondary fueling route," he said. • Krebs attached a second tank onto the front of the tractor for the oil. From that tank, the oil goes through a heated fuel filter to take out any foreign material and a plated heat exchanger. It then meets back up with the diesel fuel path at a three- way valve and goes through the normal fuel injector of the tractor. The News Record caught up with Krebs the day he was testing the tractor to see what fuel was the most effec- tive out of four options - 100% canola oil, a soybean oil and diesel mix, a 50/50 soybean and canola mix and straight diesel. The agricul- ture technology class assisted him that day using a special machine to test horsepower and torque called a dynamometer. Krebs commented on the results saying, "compared to straight diesel, with the 100% canola oil we saw a 19% decrease in horsepower and a 40% decrease in torque. With the half soybean half canola mixture, we saw 0.37% decrease in horse- power, but torque went down 22%." They had an issue with the soybean and diesel mix, and were unable to test its capabilities. Krebs called the results promising." He said they knew the results would be slightly lower for the biofuels compared to regular diesel. And while he was hoping 100% canola wouldn't decrease quite that much, the half s ybean half canola oil as q ite effective as th re wa hardly any decr ase in rsepower and a workable decrease in torque. Krebs said while wide- spread application is still hypothetical at this point, the fuels are applicable, and for some people's situations, they could implement the biofuels tomorrow. He noted that he has heard of some farmers who use biofuels for tractors, but it is uncommon. Krebs gave credit to his energy specialist high skills major at St. Anne's for the opportunities he's been able to have with this project and others. "My experience with SHSM (Specialist High Skills Majors) program has been excellent," he said. "I've had so many training opportuni- ties in [things like] solar pan- els, working at heights and renewable energy training." He mentioned that, this project included, he has been able to tag along with several agriculture technol- ogy classes, a different SHSM program than his own. He said it's "really neat, espe- cially for our area seeing as we're so agriculturally based." He talked about vari- ous trips the agriculture technology class has done and how they partner with local farmers. "It really gives those in the agriculture " Justine Alkema/Clinton News Record Grade 12 student Evan Krebs stands in front of his tractor that he reconfigured to run on biofuels industry a head start with new technologies:' The St. Anne's program was the sole agriculture - related pilot project when Ontario's Education Ministry rolled out the Specialist High Skills Major concept in 2006. Others have since been implemented. As for Krebs' own future, he said he is interested in engineering, "so maybe alternative fuels are some- thing I can pursue in the future." Darryl Coote Postmedia Network 1 luron County council has put a hold on money it had promised for the Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity until its umbrella organiza- tion Blyth 14/19 meets its obligations. The county signed off on the county's economic development board's deci- sion in summer 2016 to give Blyth 14/19 $100,000 a year for the next five years to fund the development of a centre the organization says will make Blyth a multi -discipli- nary arts and innovation hub. However, Huron County CAO Brenda Orchard told council Jan. 4 that staff did not have the "authority" to release the first allotment of money to 14/19 because conditions in the original agreement weren't met. HAVE AN OPINION? The Huron Expositor welcomes Ietters to the editor. They must be signed and accompanied by a phone number for information clarification. It is important to note, letters will not be printed without the author's name attached. All letters are subject to editing due to possible space restriction. Letters can be dropped off at the office, mailed or emailed: The Huron Expositor 8 Main St. P.O. Box 69 Seaforth, ON NOK 1 WO Shaun.Gregory@sunmedia.ca 1.1 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com To dole out the monies, Bylth 14/19 needed to give county staff a comprehen- sive business plan on how the centre would be finan- cially sustainable as well as show proof of partnerships it has made with arts organiza- tions throughout Canada to show that it will be a centre of Canadian arts. "The business plan that we are looking for is the busi- ness plan on how this build- ing, this creative world insti- tute, will be successful and sustainable. How they would keep the lights on, what kind of programs they would offer, the revenue they would get from that programing, how they would be sustaina- ble, and develop a function- ing business," CAO Orchard said. What staff received was a cash flow report detailing how money would be spent. Huron staff met with the organization in December 2016 and suggested -best practices on developing a business plan and suggested it adopted a memorandum of understanding process to secure partnerships as a way to prove ties have been made. Orchard said staff's sug- gestion is for council to release the money this time as this is a project about growing the community and they do want it to succeed. "However, they have taken steps assuming that money was in place, so to not give them money would cost them some hardship," she said. Councillor Bernie MacLel- lan, who also attended that meeting with the CAO in December, said he told Blyth 14/19 that since they hadn't met its obligations he doesn't see why council should give them the money. Aiti cHuRcu DI sc-roR,, You are invited to attend these area churches ST. THOMAS ANGLICAN 21 Jarvis St., Seaforth Church Office 519-527-1522 r hol s irit@tcc.on.ca Y p Rev. Shaun Eaton - Priest -in -Charge Sunday January 22 Worship at 9:30am followed by Annual Vestry meeting Everyone Welcome EGMONDVILLE UNITED CHURCH Rev. Christine Hossack Worship January 22 —10:30 Come and brighten the weary January days with us as we worship Like us on Facebook www.egmondvilleunitedchurch.com BETHEL BIBLE CHURCH An Associated Gospel Church 126 Main St. Seaforth 519-527-0982 Interim Pastor: Rev. Laurie Morris January 22 - 11 am Guest Barry Hawkins Sunday School - 9:45 am January 29 - 11 am Baptism Tuesday Evenings: Youth Group - 6:30 - 9 pm B a G Club - 6:45 pm Wednesday Evening: Ladies' Bible Study - 7 pm (S -Nursery EVERYONE WELCOME FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 59 Goderich St. W. Seaforth 519-527-0170 Rev. Dwight Nelson Lorrie Mann - Organist Sunday, January 22 -11 am Saturday, January 21 - 5:30pm Robbie Burns Pot Luck Supper • Sunday School Provided as Needed �'' ALL WELCOME