Renewable Energy Conference

I just returned from Bendigo, Victoria. Bendigo is a regional city within Victoria, and one of the more successful regional centres. The conference showcased how regional Australia could benefit from a growing renewable energy industry. This reiterated how climate change should not be discussed in terms or "economy" vs "environment". Rather, addressing the full costs of carbon emissions will create tremendous opportunities for economic growth (especially in regional areas) addressing the problem.

I got to give an interesting presentation, and if I figure out how to host files off of Blogger, I'll try to post it here. A number of people seemed to really like it. I may have ruffled a few feathers in the fuel cell industry when I said that it was very difficult to make investments in the fuel cell space now after the tremendous exposure that fuel cell companies received in the last ten years. However, with my years at Ballard, and my exposure to Plug, UTC, GM and other fuel cell developers, I still am pretty confident I know what I'm talking about.

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) interviewed me for their radio segment, which discusses portions of my talk. If you want to listen to it, it's listed here. It was great to see the enthusiasm at the conference, and it was good to meet up with some entrepreneurs. If anyone reading this blog has any questions about anything I mentioned, be sure to leave a comment and I'll try to respond.



Note: the picture and the interview (I imagine - although I suppose I provided most of the content) are copyright the ABC.

Renewable Energy Conference

There is an interesting conference happening in September in Bendigo, Victoria, regarding renewable energy. I'm going to be speaking at the conference, giving an overview on how venture capital investing works, and some of things that VCs are looking for in new investments. If you think this might be interesting, I recommend that you look into it.

A national conference on ideas, examples and action being presented in Bendigo, Victoria on 16th, 17th and 18th September 2007.

Regional Australia is particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of alternative energy supplies. Energy for transport as well as industrial, mining and agricultural development is essential if regional Australia is to develop and continue to play its role in the long term success of the Australian nation.

The conference presentations will address questions such as:

· what are the most likely sources of renewable energy for regional Australia?

· what is the state of development of these different sources?

· how accessible are these energy sources to people in regional Australia?

· what needs to happen to make them readily available? and

· what can regional communities do to assure their access to renewable energy?

Keynote presentations from government, business, academic and community leaders will be complemented by a focus on practical renewable energy initiatives.

For more information or to download a registration brochure: www.renewableenergyconference.com.au