The family-owned refinery on East Panama Lane says it changed its name to Kern Energy in recognition of its changing profile as not just a maker of low-carbon combustible fuel, but also because it plans to begin refining 100-percent renewable diesel by the end of next year.

But there’s more to it than that. Besides plans for a 250-kilowatt photovoltaic solar array, the refinery is actively looking to expand its use of what are called biogenic feedstocks, beyond the tallow it blends now to include organic waste, municipal solid waste and biomass such as woody ag waste.

“To me,” President and CEO Jennifer Haley said, “I believe the future is finding those waste streams that otherwise would be land application or landfill, or in another iteration, burning.”

Despite the name change, this is the same company that has blended biodiesel since 2012, when it became the first small refiner in California to do so. It was the second refiner in the United States to produce renewable diesel by co-processing biogenic feedstock with conventional diesel to produce transportation fuel.

There’s plenty of incentive to continue Kern Energy’s transition, including federal, state and local encouragement and subsidies. Additionally, California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard aligns with Kern Energy’s efforts to reduce its environmental footprint.

Haley said her hope is that state policymakers will continue to leave room for innovators like her company to meet the state’s low-carbon standards without being told how to do it. There has been a tendency for state officials to “sort of put their thumb on the scale and pick technology prematurely” in a way that discourages innovation.

The company wants to keep energy reliability high and costs low for families, Haley said, at a time that some large refineries in California have recently stopped making gasoline.

What’s notable about Kern Energy’s efforts, she said, is its size. As a 185-employee, family-owned refinery in continuous operation since 1934, she said Kern Energy competes against much larger refiners with access to huge amounts of capital.

The state is on its side, in a sense. A representative of the California Energy Commission noted by email that renewable diesel, primarily used in transportation, is consistent with the state’s carbon-reduction goals.

“Bottom line,” spokeswoman Lindsay Buckley wrote, “a variety of state policies are driving the transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable and zero-carbon fuels and electricity.”