Celebrating biodiesel production in Durham

The chain link fence lined with barbed wire doesn’t exactly make Durham’s Green Oil Campus look like the most welcoming location. But drive through the gate, and you’ll meet some of the most friendly, passionate environmental advocates around. I visited the campus Friday because Carolina Biodiesel, one of the many organizations operating behind the fence, was celebrating a recent upgrade that will allow the organization to produce commercial quantities of biofuel (they’ll start by producing about 1,000 gallons a week, but will eventually make up to 3,000 a week).

Several other organizations are also housed on the Green Oil Campus, including Greenway Transit’s pedicab and biobus and limo rental service. Here’s some more info about the campus:

Other enterprises based at the site include sister organization Forests of the World – a fair trade company, My Taller — a Hispanic mechanics shop, and YIKES! a new non-profit youth organization. The Green Oil Campus, as the Durham headquarters location is called, was born when Carolina Biodiesel leased the old Exxon-Mobil/Standard Oil Fuel Depot on Angiers Avenue a year ago from Orange Recycling, a local commercial recycler running its fleet on biodiesel. The site has since then been in a process of conversion from an unsustainable, polluting paradigm into a pioneering biofuels distribution point and a community center for environmental education.

The campus also features a large warehouse space that will be turned into “The EcoLounge,” where organizers hope to have semi-regular Friday night “enviro-edutainment events” and Saturday afternoon workshops.

The campus is located in Northeast Central Durham, an economically challenged neighborhood, and the folks who work there are trying to build relationships within the community.

Neighborhood children are encouraged to pop over and say hello and can often be spotted shooting hoops in the campus’ driveway.

If you ever have a chance to pop over to the campus, definitely take advantage of it.