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v4n39 :: september 29 - october 5, 2005

OUTOFENERGY?
Fuel alternatives abound, but the federal government isn’t about to fund them.
> BY PETER KOCH . PAGE 8 <

GETTING A GRIP YOU AUTO KNOW ON DVD MUSIC


PEACE PREVAILS SEXY NEWS PUNK/ PETER HOOK’S
IN D.C. MODELS ROCKERS LOW-END LEGACY
> PAGE 6 < > PAGE 19 < > PAGE 29 < > PAGE 32 <
september 29, 2005 | | 1
week AVTHIS ���������������
coverstory ��������������� ������������������������������������������
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OUT OF ENERGY?....................8 ���������������������������������������������
by Peter Koch
v4n39 > sep 29-oct 5, 2005
streetvoice .................................................................4

reader essay
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where are the jobs? ..............................................5 ������������������������������������
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getting a grip: peace trumps war in d.c. ...6 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������


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by michael i. niman Tracey Q. Davidoff, MD • Jeffrey Leathersich, RPA-C
1-877-898-MESO (6376) • www.anewgenesis.com
in the margins ......................................................... 12 at Northeast Holistic Health Center • Williamsville

chew on this ............................................................ 13

artviews ....................................................................14

artist of the week: ann emo........................... 15


interview by anthony chase

avstaff on the boards ......................................................... 16


E D I TO R I A L
managing editor …………… lauren newkirk maynard
theater editor ………………………………………anthony chase stagefright ................................................................ 17
film editor ……………………………………………………… m. faust
arts editor …………………………………………… cynnie gaasch
music editor ……………………………………… donny kutzbach theaterweek............................................................18
associate music editor …………………………… mark norris
calendar editor ……………………………………… mark norris
staff writer ……………………………………………………peter koch
photographer …………………………………………… rose mattrey you auto know ........................................................19
assistant to the publisher ……………………deborah ellis by jim corbran
PRODUCTION
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eddy dobosiewicz, nancy mccarthy
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rell, michael kelleher, andrew kulyk, michael i. niman, movie times ............................................................ 26 ����


arthur page, chuck shepherd, edward yadzinsky


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CO N T R I B U TO R S
matthew barber, jennifer behrens, eric jackson-fors- on dvd/bandwidth ..............................................29


berg, laura legere, bill mahoney, carlo minchillo, laura
gloves•coats•rainwear


nathan, tracy morrow, k. o'day, george sax, girish
shambu, joe sweeney, kevin thurston
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music: can you hear the hook in it? ���
circulation director …………………………… craig reynolds
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low-end legacy of peter hook ...................... 32
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by donny kutzbach
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september 29, 2005 | | 3
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OUTOFENERGY?
cover story

Fuel alternatives abound, but the federal government isn’t about to fund them.
> BY PETER KOCH <

“Where the hell’s the improvement?!” calls to mind. Its 83-mpg fuel efficiency far
Tony Fini, a retired Blasdell schoolteach- outstrips the meatier Corvette, though.
er, is standing in his Mundy Street drive- With a tiny 16-hp Kohler engine, the “Car
way, eyes wide and shoulders shrugged. of Fini” tops out around 57 mph. Like the
His frustration is palpable as he compares Jeep, though, an upgraded engine could
the fuel efficiency of two cars for me—a make it more appealing to everyday con-
2000 Mercury Grand Marquis (“the same sumers. “With a 23-horsepower engine,
as a 2005,” he says, “they didn’t change this car could probably get 70 mpg and go
’em”) and a 1973 Pontiac GTO. The dif- 70 mph,” Fini says. It’s this 70-70 formula
ference—21.5 mpg to 18.5 mpg, respec- that Fini thinks could sell if it was put into
tively—is only three miles per gallon. “You production, but for now his cars sit in a
mean to tell me in thirty years,” he says, shed collecting dust.
disbelieving, “that they really couldn’t It’s not that he hasn’t tried to get finan-

PHOTOS BY ROSE MATTREY


have done better than three miles per gal- cial help with his cars. In fact, he applied
lon?” numerous times for grants through the
Fini’s question is the same one that mil- Department of Energy, the Army and the
lions of Americans are asking themselves Postal Service. But thirty years later, the
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, whose only recognition Fini has received for his
destructive winds wiped out strategic oil work are two $300 grants from NYSEG,
refineries and raised the average price and the admiration of Saturday mechan-
of gasoline to an all-time high across the ics. “I don’t see a penny from it, nothing,”
country. Fini’s is more than just a pass- he says.
ing interest in automotive fuel-efficiency, Fini is fed up with the lack of support
though. In fact, he’s spent the past 30 from the government and auto industry.
years hunched over the bulky machines in and built over 100 gasoline-powered mod- In the late morning sunshine, Fini shows All they know how to do, he says, is put
his garage—a vertical milling machine, a el airplanes. In high school, his favorite me around his cars. The designs range stumbling blocks in the way of innovative
belt sander, a band saw, an arc welder, a subjects were math and industrial arts. He widely, from a utilitarian jeep to a futuris- individuals. “These people need a kick in
MAG welder and a drill press—construct- took industrial arts classes at Buff State, tic solar car to a curvy sports car. The jeep the head,” he says. One example he cites
ing cars that can achieve up to 100 miles earning his BS in 1970 and a master’s by is styled roughly after a CJ-3B Army jeep, is how he lost one of his patents. The US
per gallon of gasoline. Fini is convinced 1973. That year, the Organization of Pe- with an airy, open cab that closes with a Patent Office requires exorbitant mainte-
that one or more of his designs (he’s troleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut detachable roof. Its 23-horsepower engine nance fees—$450 per patent after three
made eight vehicles, including a hybrid off oil to the United States, sparking an gets 60 mpg and can reach a top speed of and a half years, $1,150 after eight years
go-kart) could be the future of cheap, energy crisis. Forty percent of the coun- 57 mph (a figure that can be increased at and $1,900 after 11 and a half years—so
efficient automotive travel in the United try’s consumer oil vanished in an instant, the price of some fuel efficiency). Despite inventors can hold onto their intellectual
States, but only if he gets a boost from the sending gas prices skyrocketing. While its relatively weak engine, Fini insists that property. A few years ago, Fini missed a
right people in the auto industry or gov- everyday motorists grew frustrated with it can handle any weather, because he en- payment on one of his patents, because
ernment. But it seems like the only event long lines at filling stations and exorbitant gineered it so that each tire receives an he was in the hospital recovering from a
that will prompt genuine interest in his prices at the pumps, Fini saw something equal amount of the vehicle’s weight. In thyroid surgery. When he realized his er-
fuel-sipping efforts is a serious change in else—the opportunity to make money. fact, he used it to commute to Frontier ror, he sent in the payment, but they re-
the federal energy policy. Or, perhaps, a “The government said there was an en- High School year-round for 15 years. fused it. “So now I’ve lost a perfectly good
hurricane. ergy crisis, so I answered the call.” Using design for no reason other than a late pay-
“Everybody likes this one,” Fini says next,
THE MAD SCIENTIST inventive transmission designs (he has his hand resting gingerly on his sleek red ment.”
10 patents) and lightweight chassis, Fini sports car, “it’s sort of a junior Corvette.”
Fini has always tinkered with engines, an hatched several fuel-efficient vehicles that If he manages to find some financial
obsession that began when he was a child And that’s exactly what the “Auto Di Fini” support down the road, Fini would like
not only look good, but work well, too.
CN05_040 AV Okt 9.75x2.875 sep29 FINAL 9/27/05 10:12 AM Page 1

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• Oktoberfest weekend on Thursday the 13th to Saturday the 15th, with prizes from .
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3
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8 | | september 29, 2005


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above: The “Auto Di Fini” flanked by Tony Fini’s other high-efficiency vehicles.

to open a non-polluting automobile fac- trucks and passing 55 mph speed limits na-
tory on the old Bethlehem Steel site that tionwide. Despite these actions, Asian car
produces “a couple of lines of energy-ef- companies were finally able to get a foot-
ficient” Finis. While the economic benefit hold in the American marketplace. Toyo-
for Fini, himself, is obvious, he also points ta, Nissan and Honda produced small, re-
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out that thousands of WNYers could be liable, efficient cars that Detroit coudn’t
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employed there and an attractive new compete with. In the mid-1980s, however, ���������������
low-cost, fuel-efficient vehicle would be oil prices collapsed and consumer myopia
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available to American consumers. But he set in as Americans again asked for larger,


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doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. safer, more powerful vehicles. Detroit had

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“I quit, really,” he says, and then trails off, lost its hold over the small car market, so
“I’ve spent enough time...” it was happy to accomodate the new de-
mand for bigger vehicles by refocusing its
Fini refers often to what he calls his “three
efforts on high-margin trucks and SUVs. ������������������������������������������������� ���
enemies”: oil companies, automobile
companies and the federal government. While the bigger, more powerful gas-hun- ����������������������������������������� ��
In his mind, they are enemies of innova- gry vehicles became the norm here, small,
diesel-powered cars grew fashionable and
����������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������� �������� ��
tion and of the enterprising individual, ����������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������� ��������
mostly because they profit from ineffi- affordable in Europe. ������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������ �������� ��
cient automobiles (especially the oil com- What most people don’t realize is that ��������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������� ��
panies and politicians) while everyday these sorts of changes don’t start with the �������������������������������� ��
consumers suffer. Tony’s inability to gen- automakers. European carmakers didn’t
erate interest from the car companies is make smaller, fuel-efficient fleets because �
really a symptom of a much more deeply they were concerned about the environ-
��
rooted, complicated problem: a lackluster ment. They did it because they were
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energy policy geared toward short-term forced to. The governments changed
profit and, more importantly, long-term their energy policies, including raising ��

FREE or LOW-COST
collapse. taxes on gasoline to reduce consumption. ��
Europeans became conservation-minded, ���
A BRASH NEW WORLD ��
health coverage from
and decided they really couldn’t afford to
America’s current energy policy is fool- fuel big vehicles. It’s as simple as that, and Children under the age of 19 ��
hardy at best. Nowhere is this more clear it’s sound energy policy, accepted by the ���
than in the transportation sector, which
accounts for a full 65 percent of our en-
ergy consumption. We’ve been lagging
behind our European counterparts in in-
rest of the world.
In Britain, for instance, where about two-
thirds of gas prices are taxes, they’ve got
Fidelis Care. ���
��
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it down to a formula—raising fuel prices Family Health Plus, Child Health Plus and Adults ages 19–64 ���
frastructure and new, clean technologies ���
for nearly 30 years, and Bush’s new $14.5 by 10 percent reduces fuel consumption Medicaid are New York State-sponsored health
by seven percent, as consumers start us- ��
million energy policy indicates that we insurance programs offered by Fidelis Care.
ing fuel more efficiently. Currently, Euro- ���
won’t be catching up anytime soon.
peans pay an average of $6 per gallon for
America is Big Car Land when compared gasoline, and about $4 of that is govern- • Choose your own network doctor or pediatrician ��
to the rest of the world. The nation roared ment taxes. All that tax money is then re- • Quality care from hospitals and specialists ��
out of WW2, riding an economic boom. invested in transportation infrastructure • Emergency services, eye care, dental care and more ��
The federal government built a national and alternative fuels research.
interstate system and gave out housing Health insurance from Fidelis Care
loan guarantees, allowing people to leave A love of big cars is not an intrinsic value provides the benefits of quality healthcare, and ��
the crowded inner cities for the new subur- for Americans. The British didn’t arrive
here and try to trade in their horses for the security of knowing your family is protected. ��
bia. The burgeoning middle class bought So if you’re a New York State resident and don’t
cars en masse and began commuting to moose. The simple difference is that, un-
like other countries, our government has have health insurance, or need coverage for your child,
work and going on road trips. As trips
became longer, cars got bigger and more given neither the auto industry nor con- call Fidelis Care today and see how we can help. ���

comfortable. They grew in importance sumers any reason to make cars smaller ���

and size across the board throughout the or more efficient. Detroit certainly isn’t
’50s. However, a few hiccups—namely the going to change its tune without a govern- ���

environmental movement in the 1960s ment-induced change in the marketplace.


and temporary oil shortages in 1973 and Quite frankly, Detroit’s Big Three couldn’t ��
afford to invest in new programs if they
1979—put the brakes on behemoths.
wanted to right now. They are rapidly los- ��
The 1973 shortage, created by an OPEC ing ground in the only market in which ��
embargo, ushered in an era of change they have any substantial hold: trucks and ��
for most industrialized nations. European SUVs. That’s because foreign companies ��
car companies, with help from govern-
ment agencies, began producing smaller
have jumped head-first into the SUV
market in the past five years. Audi, Hyun- 1- 888-FIDELIS ��
��
vehicles and developing alternative fuels. dai, BMW, Lexus and Nissan are among (1-888 - 343- 3547)
America initially made some promising those companies currently offering SUVs
changes, creating the Strategic Petroleum (Toyota and Nissan are also doing well in
Proof of age, income and address necessary to enroll. �
Reserve, setting Corporate Average Fuel the truck market). As a result, Detroit has �
Economy (CAFE) standards on cars and been forced to offer unheard-of incen-
continued on page 10 > | |
ENGLISH 5x6 AAF2.indd 1 september 29, 20054/29/05 2:57:31 PM
tives to buyers (0% APR or $6,000 cash than ours. On top of it all, the new energy
back, employee discounts to the public), bill gives $8.1 billion of its $14.5 billion
rendering the once huge margins they in tax breaks to none other than the oil
made on these vehicles paper-thin. companies, whose profits are up nearly 50
Lynn Hardie, director of Clean Commu- percent already. I guess one hand washes
nities of WNY, agrees that car companies the other, right?
aren’t entirely at fault for the gas-guz- David Garman, the U.S. Energy Depart-
zling status of the American automobile ment Under Secretary, summed it up
fleet. She says that the Bush administra- pretty well in a recent interview with Busi-
tion pulled the plug on companies that nessWeek: “We have not begun to turn the
were previously working to develop al- corner. We are utterly dependent on oil.”
ternative fuels. “In the 1990s, the auto WHAT KATRINA SHOWED US
industry started developing alternative
fuel options using federal funds, because On August 28, while Hurricane Katrina
none of them knew which would capture was whirling just off the Gulf Coast, very
the imagination of the marketplace,” few Americans were thinking seriously
she says. Some of these options included about conserving gas. Sure, gas prices had
compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, been steadily rising for about three years,
electric vehicles and SSVs for ethanol us- but we weren’t about to cancel our vaca-
ers. “When George W.’s administration tions because we had to pay a few extra
stepped in, it wanted to look at fuel cells bucks at the pump. But then the storm
that would be implemented 30 years out,” swept over the Gulf’s oil and gas refiner-
Hardie says. “As a result, they cut funding ies, halting their production and sending
for technologies that they thought would the average price of gas to over $3 per gal-
be rendered obsolete as soon as fuel cells lon.
became available.” So American manufac- Conservation was suddenly on the lips of
turers simply stopped working on alterna- every American. Commuters took public
tive fuels. According to Hardie, it’s hard transportation and rode bicycles to work.
to blame them. “Every time they want to And those who had neither option suf-
make 100 of this or 500 of that, they’ve fered economically. Prices rose on every-
A WNED-TV Production got to stop an entire line and re-tool it. thing from produce to steel as the price
They can’t build an entire plant until of transporting goods climbed. In a single
they’ve got a market for it.” And without
Visit many of the most important and historic houses of worship in the government incentives, it doesn’t pay to
day, I overheard three separate people
(one of whom owned a hot rod) say they
United States including Western New York’s Our Lady of Victory Basilica. stop a line. were considering a hybrid for their next
However, the Big Three have shown that vehicle. Our only fuel source—gasoline—
they are willing to be innovative if the mar- was priced out of our reach, and the vul-
Wednesday, October 5 at 8 pm ket demands it. General Motors, a com- nerability of our energy policy was laid
pany known here for making some of the bare practically overnight.
world’s biggest autos—Hummers, Chevy While the idea of a nation’s energy policy
www.wned.org Suburbans and GMC Yukons—is mak- is abstract, it is easy to understand when
ing a splash in China by building a tiny you have to fork over an exta fifteen bucks
minivan called the Wuling Sunshine (a everytime you fill your SUV. Katrina was
joint venture with Chinese car companies a catalyst, of sorts, fast-forwarding us to
S.A.I.C. and Liuzhou Wuling). The Sun- a time when gasoline will no longer be a
shine, which averages 43 mpg city driving, cost-effective energy source, showing us
sells for the equivalent of $5,000 USD. what happens when you don’t have alter-
While it’s short on creature comforts, with natives built into your infrastructure.
seats only a third as thick as those in West-
ern models, a quarter the horsepower of All of the comparisons to the oil shortages
American mini-vans and a top speed of of the ’70s revealed what environmental-
81 mph, the Sunshine is a wildly popular ists and inventors like Tony Fini have been
model in China. That makes perfect sense screaming for years: Our energy policy
in a country that has only recently become hasn’t changed in 30 years, and we need
industrialized. Small business owners and to do more.
fine arts interior design music business photography graphic design relatively affluent peasants are forming a In short, Katrina served as a wake-up
middle class there—one that has enough call to a country that badly needed one.
money to afford automobiles, but only It caused consumers to change some
inexpensive models. The other determin- of their consumption habits, and to call
ing factors are strict government policy for more fuel efficient vehicles. Unfor-
regarding fuel-economy regulations and tunately, though, as gas prices slide back
taxes on gasoline. All these things have down to around $2.80, people are already
Fall “Visit Villa” Nights added up to the Wuling Sunshine vault-
ing GM to number one in the world’s fast-
settling back into their routines. Katrina
came close to forcing change, but it will
est growing market. What could they do be impossible without help from the gov-
Oct. 13 and Nov. 9 here with the right incentives? ernment.
Careers But Bush’s new energy bill does little BIODIESEL AND THE WNY OF
FINE ARTS Art Education - Gallery Staff - Stage Design - Cartooning - Illustration more than maintain the status quo. It TOMORROW
INTERIOR DESIGN Architecture - Construction - Commercial Furniture casts our lot wholly with hydrogen fuel
Dealerships - Historic Preservation - Corporate Space Planning cells, a technology that won’t be readily Fortunately, despite our government’s
MUSIC BUSINESS Recording - Promotion Management - Music Education - available for at least 15 years, and it does failure to earnestly promote alternative
Music Therapy - Performer almost nothing to promote alternative fuels, there are many people, both entre-
PHOTOGRAPHY Commercial Advertising - Fashion - Forensic -
fuels in the meantime. Huge tax breaks preneurs and environmentalists, who are
Medical - Photojournalism
are still available on Hummers, even as working locally to bring alternative fuels
GRAPHIC DESIGN Commercial Printing - Advertising - Multimedia -
federal tax breaks have been reduced to your vehicles.
Web Design - Desktop Publishing
for those buying hybrids. The bill only The current nationwide alternative fuel
suggests that CAFE standards (currently craze is biodiesel, a completely renewable

Villa Maria College


...everything you’re looking for!
27.5 mpg for cars and 22.5 mpg for light
trucks and SUVs) be raised, something
which hasn’t happened for 20 years!
fuel that can be made from a variety of
sources, including soy, canola and plain
old restaurant grease (that’s right, the
Meanwhile, the European Union recently stuff they make your fries in). It burns
committed to making its passenger cars as efficiently as petroleum diesel, or pet-
Villa Maria College | 240 Pine Ridge Road, Buffalo 716.896.0700 get an average of 39 mpg by 2008. Even rodiesel, but much cleaner because of
China, which hasn’t generally developed its higher oxygen content. And the best
villa.edu an environmental sensibility, is working
on CAFE standards that are more strict
thing about it is that when it’s properly re-
fined, it can be used in almost any diesel
10 | | september 29, 2005
engine without any modifications. says that her company can produce the
“green” fuel for ten cents cheaper than

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While such grassroots efforts usually fail
to take off, some local entrepreneurs are petrodiesel. The new production facility ��������������������������������

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� ������
looking to establish a long-term market will employ about 20 people over the next
here in WNY. couple of years, and its doors should open ��������������������������
by Jan. 1. The plant will have a capacity of
People like Mark Kubiniec, owner of the about two million gallons per year, all of
Sunoco station at the corner of Elmwood which have already been sold to a buyer.
and Amherst, and Tonawanda’s Noco En- That buyer will sell the fuel across the �����������
ergy Corp. have long been working to cre- state. But there will also be some sold lo- � � � �� � � � � � � � � � ��� � � � � � �

ate inroads for biodiesel. Kubiniec wants cally, Mancini says. “I’ve been speaking to
to add a biodiesel pump at his station, a a couple of local gas stations that would �������������������������������
�������������
$50-60,000 investment. He’s counting like to put in biodiesel pumps.”
on a government grant to help cover the “The ultimate goal is to develop an alterna- �������������
costs, though. “I’m looking to devise a way tive energy cluster of companies and uni- ����
to afford it,” Kubiniec says, “it’s not going versities working together to create a new ����������� ����������������
to be lucrative. It will probably be a break-
even scenario, at least until it catches on.”
economy and market for Buffalo,” Man- ����� ������������������
cini says. Now we are onto something—a
And that’s the key, really. As Kubiniec “green” economy for WNY. Another great ���������������� ��������������������������������
says, “It’s a chicken and egg situation.” feature of biodie-
What he means is �������������������������������������������������������������������
sel is that soy,
that lower prices one of the main
are necessary to
create a demand, “There is no magic bullet. base products
for biodiesel, can
We must learn to niche,
���������������
but until there’s a be and already is
market, prices are grown in WNY.
generally high. So
which will come where appropriate, in what- The byproduct
of turning soy ��������������������������������������������
first, the demand
or low prices? ever form of alternative fuel into biodiesel is
livestock feed.
������������������������������������
Kubiniec says he
has commitments
or energy resources make As Lynn Hardie
points out, “Now �������������
from a number of
small fleets, but
sense.” it’s a sustainable
cycle.”
����������������������������������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
“they’re not going Lynn Hardie’s ��������������������������������������������������������������������� �����������
to do it out of the Clean Communities of WNY grew out of
goodness of their hearts.” In other words, ����������������������������������������������������������������������������
the Department of Energy’s Clean Cities
it has to be priced competitively with pet- program. When funding was lost three
rodiesel. ■ ���������������������������������■ ���������������
years ago, she started it up as a non-profit
Noco is encountering the same problem. organization. Now she obtains govern-
The energy company has been importing ment grants to improve alternative fuel ■ ����������������������������
biodiesel to WNY for three years and sell- infrastructure and to educate local fleet
ing it to local fleets (Town of Tonawanda’s managers about alternative fuels.
municipal truck fleet, regionally head- Hardie thinks that the ultimate solution
quartered NYS vehicles). It costs about ���������������������������������������������������������
to America’s energy dependence is a
20 cents more per gallon than petrodie-
WhatYou Want
crazy quilt of alternative fuels. “There is
sel, making it a hard sell for high-volume no magic bullet. We must learn to niche, ���������������������������������������
customers. In 2003, they ran a demonstra- where appropriate, in whatever form of ������������������������������������������
tion program with the NFTA, where the
NFTA used 168,000 gallons of biodiesel to
alternative fuel or energy resources make
sense.” She thinks that New York will have
����������������������������������������
power 140 of its buses for six months. As to better develop compressed natural gas
soon as the grant money from NYSERDA (CNG) and biodiesel, since we sit on top
ran out, though, the NFTA dropped the of a lot of natural gas and already grow
program. Noco also sells biodiesel to in- soy. She also points out that, contrary to
dividuals, but it has to be purchased in the national energy policy, our state has
expensive 55-gallon drums. So how can been progressive regarding alternative
Buffalo establish a biodiesel market? En- fuels. The Senate is currently reworking
ter Tara Mancini and Linda Hardie. some incentives for biodiesel and ethanol
Tara Mancini is the president of Blue Sky
Optimum Energy, a young company that
is in the process of building a biodiesel
that Pataki put into his latest budget. She
thinks that we will see those incentives ap-
pear in legislation by early 2006. Also, the
AWorld of Career Opportunities
production facility here in Buffalo. Man- state has set up biodiesel pumps along the Daemen College offers educational opportunities for those seeking career
cini claims that her company can manu- Thruway to fuel its own fleet and is cur-
facture biodiesel so efficiently as to make rently studying the possibility of alterna- mobility. Our M.S. degrees will help you develop the skills you need for
it competitive with petrodiesel. tive fuel pumps at Thruway plazas.
A greener WNY does seem within reach.
lifelong advancement.
A native of the Boston Hills area of Or-
chard Park, Mancini discovered biodiesel
while working at Rich Products. One day
One can picture local famers growing soy
that Tara Mancini will make into clean, • Executive Leadership and Change: for all careers and nursing administrators
three years ago, while listening to NPR’s affordable biodiesel. She will sell it to
Noco and gas station owners like Mark
• Global Business: marketing, accounting or MIS
“Science Friday,” Mancini heard a report
about biodiesel. “They were saying all Kubiniec, who, in turn, can pass the sav- • Nursing for RN’s: MS degrees, Certificates and Post-MS Certificates in Nursing,
these wonderful things about biodiesel,” ings onto customers, both individuals and Adult Nurse Practitioner or Palliative Care
fleets. Lynn Hardie will educate the scores
she says. “But they had one problem: they
couldn’t get the cost down.” As it turns of eager new biodiesel customers and • Education: Childhood (1-6) and Childhood Special Ed (1-6), Adolescence Ed (7-12)
out, that’s what Mancini was doing for a WNY will be a bonafide, sustainable mar-
ket for alternative energy. As far-fetched • Physician Assistant
living. Her job was to redesign processing
lines (in Rich’s vegetable oil processing and distant as it all sounds, fuel alterna- • tDPT: Transitional Doctorate in Physical Therapy
plant) to make them more cost effective.
Mancini saw her opportunity to run a
tives like biodiesel might ultimately be the
only route to long-term sustainability for • Certificates in Human Resources and Accounting (no degree required)
green business, and she jumped at it. WNY and the United States as a whole. If
the Bush administration is any indicator,
She spent the first couple of years on R&D,
finding the best ways to process different
I’ll put my money on it. Graduate Open House October 5, from 6-8 pm.
types of vegetable oil, and then built a
And as for Tony Fini, if he can’t get the
current incarnation of the “Auto Di Fini”
Call to register:
pilot plant at the University of Texas. All
the reseach had paid off, and Mancini
off the ground, maybe he can start tinker- 8 0 0 .4 6 2 . 76 5 2 C O L L E G E

ing with diesel engines, instead.


september 29, 2005 | | 11

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