The future of energy … is now!

April 26, 2010

The 2010 Future Energy Conference (#FEC) was held at the Oregon State Convention Center in Portland, April 21 – 22. A triad of leaders, NEBC, NEEC and the Portland Business Journal, presented this event. This was my second FEC event and it was significantly better than last year’s program with respect to the depth of content, quality of speakers and improved conference venue. There were about three dozen different presentations over the two days. The broad range of topics included: renewables, energy efficiency, on-site generation, financing, and public policy. The high caliber audience contained a variety of E’s from double E’s to PEs (with several PhDs also in the mix). This liberal arts maven was working hard on sticking to the big picture and not the mind-bending details of chemical expressions.

As a luncheon keynote, Mark Sedler of Intel Corporation shared his company’s portfolio strategy with respect to Renewables and Efficiency. He clearly articulated that one strategy does not “fit all” across businesses and sites. Variable cost structures merit different approaches and techniques that make economic sense to the company and its shareholders. He surmises that our business success is not based on a silver bullet as we move away from a fossil fuel-/ carbon-based economy but on a variety of proven scalable energy sources and sustainability strategies.

Rather than share a tapas-sized recap, I’ll focus on a talk titled Biofuels Technology Update. This presentation described three different approaches to creating biofuels using camelina, poplar and algae as feedstocks. Seattle-based, Duncan Mitchell, AltAir Fuels, LLC presented his assessment on the merits of camelina, a low maintenance weed (similar to flax) though his technology is feedstock-agnostic. His technology can also work with inputs such as jatropha or algae in the future as it converts these feedstocks to fatty acids as the basis for his green jet fuel. Key to success will be his use of the current infrastructure for supplying and distributing jet fuel as it would allow “business as usual” for airlines and aviation manufacturers. From a capital cost and behavior standpoint this makes total sense in securing its adoption after meeting all state and aviation testing requirements.

I also learned about the advanced generation in ethanol, cellulosic fuels and chemicals from Carrie Atiyeh of ZeaChem Inc. which uses poplar trees (not corn) as the feedstock for the cellulosic ethanol energy production process. Its system of efficiently harvesting these fast growing and low input trees includes leaving behind six inches of plant growth without disturbing the roots and degrading the soil for a 10 – 15 year window. From a cost standpoint, the Federal government has helped advance ethanol through its funding initiatives including loan guarantee programs providing a signal to the marketplace. ZeaChem’s future demonstration project is located in Boardman, OR.

Finally, Professor Shulin Chen provided us with an in-depth look at Washington State University’s research in algae. It has high productivity, captures CO2, uses non-arable land, has high energy density potential and as a bio-based fuel utilizes the same transportation fuel infrastructures. Though promising, there are still many field studies that are required before we can count on this as a viable fuel source, not the least of which is having an energy positive product where more energy is produced than consumed in the production of this biofuel (not a small obstacle to overcome).

Great minds around the world are working on the complex challenges of a more secure and eco-friendly energy supply. We are bound to prosper as we identify the mix of energy sources that will fuel our economies for the next century and beyond.

This conference was truly a valuable experience and I am happy to announce Seattle’s FEC inaugural in the fall. I will post more information as it becomes available under my (Eco-) Events tab. Lastly, a special shout out to Robert Grott, Executive Director, Northwest Environmental Business Council (NEBC).

Our race to the future is already in progress so don’t wait and climb on board, now!
–alex

Filed under: clean tech,Energy efficiency,green marketing,sustainable development

Tags: alternative energy, biofuels, clean tech, nebc, new energy economy, renewables