Kevin Maas, a Bainbridge Graduate Institute colleague, and his brother Daryl, are the founders of Farm Power Northwest. Tomorrow they break ground for an anaerobic digester (shit composter) up in the Skagit Valley. The digester creates energy from manure by burning the methane and thus preventing the release of this dangerous greenhouse gas. It also reduces runoff and odor usually associated with dairy farming “waste.” This particular digester will handle the waste from two farms.
Some of the dignitaries on hand for the groundbreaking include Congressman Rick Larsen and representatives from the US Department of Agriculture to present a $500,000 federal grant; state senator Mary Margaret Haugen and "First Husband" Mike Gregoire will present a $500,000 state grant (joined by representatives of Skagit County and the Washington Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development). Shorebank Pacific is their lender.
Kevin developed his business plan while attending BGI and I just wanted to give he and Daryl a huge thumbs up for their continued success and for the achievement of this important milestone.
About Me
- Brian C. Setzler, CPA
- Portland, Oregon, United States
- I am a Portland area CPA with more than 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, CPA, business consultant, parent and activist. I have an MBA in Sustainable Business and serve on the faculty at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (www.bgi.edu) teaching accounting and finance. I also teach and advise other CPAs on sustainability and advising start-up businesses. I am the founder of TriLibrium (www.TriLibrium.com), a triple bottom line accounting firm, and TriLibrium Wealth Management (www.TriLibriumWM.com) a full service financial advisory firm.
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2 comments:
I am always so proud of the work that my colleagues at ShoreBank Pacific implement through their loans. It continues to surprise me that a bank can help positively change the environment through loans. If you would like to learn more about us, I am happy to invite you to view our blog at http://shorebankvoices.swirlspace.net/blog/. Right now, only ShoreBank's Chicago-based bank has a blog; however, we have the same mission and plan on facilitating far more conservation loans!
Ann Childs wrote the following:
Oh, it was a good day. Sunny, in October, in the Pacific Northwest. Stunning Mount Baker presiding, there was a surprisingly sumptuous clump of folks gathered at the nexus of two dairy farms, where Farm Power will connect them in a venture to integrate milk, cheese, poop, bedding, cleaner water, cleaner air, fertilizer,-- there's more.
Oh, it was a good day. People standing together in appreciation and affirmation that I had not expected: Inter-generational Skagit farmers, senators, bankers who will take a chance, organic farmers, county, local, federal, and private funders and guarantors, Puget Sound Energy who committed from the get-go to buy the renewable energy. The BGI community: Michael Lichtenberger and lovely daughter Maddy, David Bangs, Demi, Nathan, Julia, Christy, and others I did not get a chance to connect with.
Oh, it was a good day. Seriously, to hear the Brothers Maas described as "the Bill Gates and Henry Ford of Manure"--? You know it was a good day!
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