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The Advancing Renewable Energy Conference
St. Louis, Missouri
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The Famous
St. Louis Arch |
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Hosted by the Dept of Energy and the Dept of Agriculture |
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America's Center (Conference Site) |
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Announcing... |
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Bobby walks the talk |
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Flex Fuel Vehicle flexes
its muscle |
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Ethanol Race Car |
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Branding at the pump |
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Buses go green |
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What’s good about
bad? The good that can follow bad. Take Europe in the 15th century, as
it began to emerge from the Dark Ages of centuries 5 through 14. Led
by the Italians, the Renaissance--or rebirth of enlightened
thinking--spurred economics, art, science & humanism, all of which had
worldwide implications. Fast forward to the 20th & 21st centuries
when Americans’ dependence on foreign oil sent us into some pretty
dark days with all sorts of ramifications, spanning pump pain, politics
and involvement in foreign wars.
But recently on a trip to the
Advancing Renewable Energy Conference in St. Louis, Bobby saw the
light as we move from crude oil to corn...from
the switch-blade state of the Middle East to ethanol-producing switchgrass
in the Plain states...and from shelling out bucks at the
pump to stepping up investment in research & development of new &
renewable fuel alternatives.
And this Renaissance, led by home-grown innovation, also has
worldwide implications.
Speaking of home,
the Conference was jointly hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A first-time collaboration
of its kind, the resulting Conference underscores the transition
from embracing traditional boundaries to trying brand new approaches and
liaisons which are focused on making brand new things happen. Energy
and Agriculture used to be pretty much separate lines of business in
the U.S., but now, sweet now, it's business-as-not-usual.
In fact, the
accelerated press
toward commercialization of renewable energy sources is shared by
both public agencies and private enterprises. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 and
the 22% increase in Department of Energy funding triggered by the
Advanced Energy Initiative in February 2006 have sparked good, ol'
American ingenuity and provide investment signals to entrepreneurs. In the
words of Dr. Orbach, Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of
Energy, "The idea here is to use federal money...to show the private
sector that this is an exciting & profitable area to invest in."
Now, we're talkin'.
Each week as we
air Bobby's interviews from the Conference on Car Clinic radio,
we'll update this page with both audio and video. The video files
are large and take a while to download, but we think the wait will
be worth it. Schedule a trip here every Tuesday for
the latest from one of these gentlemen (in alphabetical order):
• Bob Dinneen,
President & CEO, Renewable Fuels Association
• Dr. Robb Fraley, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto
• Joe Jobe, CEO, National Biodiesel Board
• Mike Johanns, Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Vinod Khosla, Co-founder of Sun Microsystems & Founder of
Khosla Ventures
• Ray Orbach, Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy
• Dr. Don Paul, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Chevron
• Randy Swisher, Executive Director, American Wind Energy Association
• Fred Webber, President & CEO, Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers
• Jim Woolsey, Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton & former CIA Director
Each month, we'll
include excerpts from the interviews in our national newsletter,
Life in the Fast Lane.
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Click here for
November's newsletter (featuring Bob Dinneen, Robb Fraley, Joe
Jobe and Mike Johanns).
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Click here for
December's newsletter (featuring Vinod Khosla, Ray Orbach and
Dr. Don Paul).
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Click here for
January's newsletter (featuring Randy Swisher, Fred Webber and
Jim Woolsey).
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