Lake County, Groveland & EDC star at waste-to-fuels conference

TAVARES — The Lake County Department of Economic Growth & Redevelopment, City of Groveland and Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission sponsored an exhibit at the 3rd Annual Waste-to-Fuels Conference & Trade Show in Jacksonville this week.

Lake County was well represented at a recent Waste-to-Fuels conference in Jacksonville with (left to right) Shelly Weidenhamer, Director of Business Development in Lake County for the Metro Orlando EDC, Dottie Keedy, Director of Lake County Department of Economic Growth & Redevelopment, and Teresa Begley, City Clerk for Groveland.

“Many people at the event stated they were impressed with the proactive outreach shown by us having a representative from the City, County and Region at one booth” said Dottie Keedy, Director of the Department of Economic Growth & Redevelopment.

The conference provided a forum for informing the public and private sectors of the economic and environmental benefits of converting waste materials to alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol as well as energy recovery. Exhibitors previewed the newest advances in alternative fuel production products and services, including Lake County-based Raptor Fabrication & Equipment.

Dwayne Dundore, Chief Technology Officer for Raptor Fabrication & Equipment of Groveland, spoke at the conference about his company’s Department of Defense contract that paid for harvesting algae from Lake Apopka and Lake Jessup to develop an alternative jet fuel.

“I have received a lot of feedback from the Waste-to-Fuels Conference in Jacksonville from customers and new prospects and all of it was positive,” wrote Tom Gleason, President of Raptor Fabrication & Equipment in an e-mail. “They all were very positive about the support from Lake County and the City of Groveland. It is nice to know that you continue to support what we are doing.”

For more information about the Lake County Department of Economic Growth & Redevelopment, call (352) 343-9866 or log on to http://egr.lakecountyfl.gov.