Inventing the New Oil: Georgia’s Role in the Development of Biofuels

October 14, 2008

Ross Harding, Vice President-Business Development, Herty Advanced Materials Development Center and Ron Barmore, Director of Project Development, Range Fuels, Inc.

Ross Harding, Vice President-Business Development for the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center and Ron Barmore, Director of Project Development for Range Fuels, Inc., discussed Georgia’s role in the fast-growing advanced biofuel industry.

Mr. Harding has spent most of his career focusing on global industrial technology and resource development. While at Herty, he founded the Georgia Biofuels Commercialization Center. He is the founding partner of Verdant Resources LLC, a clean technology company focused on energy efficient buildings. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Queensland University of Technology in his native Australia, and an M.B.A. from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Barmore served as a critical force in the development of Range Fuel’s new biofuel plant in Soperton, Ga. which produces ethanol from abundant, sustainable, non-edible plant material. He has spent the majority of his career developing alternative energy projects. He is a member of the Council of Sustainable Biomass Production and serves on the executive committee of the Pine 2 Energy Coalition. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelors of Business Administration and a major in Accounting.