USDA, DOE to host renewable energy conference

Rural Cooperatives, July-August, 2006

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel Bodman have announced that the two agencies will co-host a national renewable energy conference to help create partnerships and strategies necessary to accelerate commercialization of renewable energy industries and distribution systems, the crux of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI). The conference, Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance, is scheduled for Oct. 10-12, 2006, in St. Louis, Mo.

"Keeping America competitive calls upon us to work together to expand sustainable, market-driven, domestic energy sources," Johanns said. "The October conference will build upon the President's vision for overcoming our energy challenges and help create new wealth opportunities in rural communities."

"Never has reducing our dependence on foreign oil been such a pressing issue," Bodman said. "We have the will and the means to replace significant quantifies of foreign oil with homegrown fuel. We are hopeful this conference will identify major impediments and critical pathways to get more domestically grown, renewable energy sources out of the laboratory and into consumers' hands as soon as possible."

The conference will focus on biomass, wind and solar research and commercialization. It will seek to identify major impediments, review challenges and make recommendations to help accelerate renewable energy technology development; examine key incentives that would help promote certainty and reduce risk for investors and developers in the marketplace; review challenges of developing new distribution systems and raise public awareness. The conference should be relevant for those from diverse sectors, including agriculture, energy, transportation, financial and investment, federal and state government and elected officials.

Information and on-line registration for the October conference will be available on the Internet at: www.advancingruralenergy.com