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emily landsburg ’01 makes Sewage part of the Solution
For most environmental
activists, sewage water
represents a biohazard
— part of a growing
waste disposal problem that
threatens to upset the planet’s
ecological balance. For Emily
Landsburg ’01, it’s part of the
solution.
Landsburg’s company, Black-
Gold (blackgoldbiofuels.com),
has created the FOG-to-Fuel
system, a device that converts
sewer water into renewable
energy. “FOG” stands for “fats,
oils and greases,” three components
of wastewater that can be
chemically altered to produce
biodiesel and other eco-friendly
byproducts using the technology
developed and sold by Black-
Gold. Until now, the filtering of
FOG has presented a budget
concern as well as a health
hazard for sewage treatment
facilities. By turning the waste
into sellable fuel, BlackGold’s
invention transforms a liability
into a revenue source.
The company’s motto —
“Converting our crudest wastes
into our cleanest fuels” — emphasizes
the environmental
and economic implications of
its flagship product. Landsburg
further points out that the
system has benefits from a
national security perspective.
If used widely enough, the
technology has the potential to
improve the U.S. economy by
limiting American dependence
on foreign oil and making the
country less vulnerable to energy
shortages as a result of
natural disaster.
“It’s a pretty simple proposition,”
says Landsburg. “The
more energy independent a
nation is, the more secure it
can be.”
BlackGold began as a subsidiary
of The Energy Cooperative,
a utility provider based in Philadelphia.
The original venture,
co-founded by Landsburg in
2004, was a green energy initiative
on the part of the cooperative.
The project was aimed
at encouraging government
agencies and commercial businesses
to use biodiesel by making
both the fuel and its delivery
as affordable as possible. The
search for a cost-effective way
of generating green energy
from otherwise useless materials
led the company to focus on
the wastewater industry and,
ultimately, drove the invention
of the FOG-to-Fuel technology.
As interest in biodiesel grew,
the project gained momentum,
and BlackGold officially split off
from The Energy Cooperative
in 2008.
What started as a regional
effort has since gone national.
BlackGold already has begun
receiving widespread acknow-
ledgment for its environmental
conservation efforts, including
a Renewable Energy Leadership
Award from the governor of Pen-
nsylvania. The company ranks
third on Bloomberg Business-
week’s list of America’s Most
Promising Social Entrepreneurs
of 2010. Its client list includes
the city of San Francisco, which
purchased the first commercial
B y gr a c e La i d L a W ’11
BlackGold founder Emily Landsburg ’01
speaks at the 5th Annual Canadian Renewable
Fuels Summit in 2008. BlackGold converts
sewer water into renewable energy.
PHOTO: NATIONAL BIODIEsEL BOARD
NOvEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
65
FOG-to-Fuel system in 2009.
BlackGold owes much of its
success to the expertise and
enthusiasm of Landsburg, who
was named CEO shortly before
BlackGold separated from The
Energy Cooperative. Before
she arrived in Philadelphia, the
young entrepreneur already had
built and sold her first company,
a seasonal business that maintained
boats. Water was familiar
territory for Landsburg, who
spent four years on the sailing
team while at Columbia. Before
long, however, she decided to
branch out. “I really loved building
businesses, but I wanted to
be in a field that had more of an
impact,” Landsburg says.
Though BlackGold occupies
a very different niche than
her first company, Landsburg
believes that her previous experience
as an entrepreneur
was good
preparation for
her current work.
“There’s a certain
scrappy resourcefulness
common
to all start-ups,”
she says. There are
common challenges
as well, such as the
pre-revenue phase
that all new businesses
must deal
with while facing
deadlines and satisfying
investors
without the benefit
of independent
cash flow. By the
time she started
BlackGold, Landsburg
had already
become an expert
at saving time while
cutting costs.
She is quick to
distinguish, however,
between
financial and human resources.
Landsburg believes that even
in an economic downturn, it is
possible for start-up companies
with limited means to attract
talented workers. In fact, she
thinks that the recession may
have given BlackGold an edge
in the hiring process. “In an
environment like this,” she says,
“people are more willing to take
risks, and in that sense, it’s a
great time to be a start-up. We
have some fabulous employees.”
Those who knew Landsburg
during college are not surprised
that she has made a career as
an entrepreneur. Carina Schoenberger
’02, who sailed with
Landsburg at Columbia, says
that her friend has never been
afraid to disregard convention.
During a team trip to Miami,
Schoenberger remembers
Landsburg wandering off after
practice to chat with local fishermen
about the equipment
they were using.
“She’s definitely a perpetual
student,” Schoenberger says.
“She learns from everything she
does.”
While at Columbia, Landsburg
majored in applied math — a
program usually reserved for
SEAS students. Her decision
required a special waiver from
the Office of Academic Affairs.
“I wanted to focus on applied
math, but I loved the Core,” she
explains. “It offered a little bit of
everything, a great overview.”
This enthusiasm for tackling
a wide range of subjects may
explain Landsburg’s willingness
to take on the hectic schedule
and broad-ranging responsibilities
of a small business owner.
“I’ve always liked having my
hands in a lot of different projects
at once,” she says.
Landsburg is confident that
there will be more entrepreneurial
undertakings in her
future, but not for a while.
“At some point, much further
down the road, I’d like to start
more businesses,” she says,
“but for the foreseeable future,
this is my sole and total focus.”
Grace Laidlaw ’11 is majoring
in creative writing and psychology.
She is director of Columbia’s
peer counseling hotline and
contributes regularly to CCT.