Last week I attended Washington's Innovation Summit 2009, hosted by the Washington Technology Center. The event brought together many of Washington's leaders in technology, policy, and sustainability to focus on the topics of urban sustainability, manufacturing materials, renewable energy, and healthy ecosystems. There were many interesting ideas and innovations shared. Below are a few of the highlights.
Billy Glover, Managing Director of Environmental Strategy for Boeing's Commercial Airplane group, talked about how Boeing is working to prove the commercial and technical viability of biofuels in the aviation industry. Glover anticipates that viability will be proven in 18 months, though the challenge lies in finding feedstocks that do not compete with the food supply (read an alternative viewpoint from Craig Neilsen in our archives). The aviation industry uses nearly 90 billion gallons of kerosene per year. Replacing that quantity of fuel with biofuel made from first generation feedstocks such as soy would take a land mass the size of Europe. Second generation feedstocks, such as jatropha, halophytes, camalina, and algae, are needed to reduce land mass and competition with the food supply. Boeing is also projecting using a 30 percent blend until production volumes can be reached that support higher proportion blends.
Kelly Ogilvie of Blue Marble Energy, who I've written about previously here, talked about incorporating co-products into every business model. Co-products, or byproducts from a production process, can be used as inputs in the production process of other products. By selling valuable byproducts to other businesses, a company can create a more sustainable business model than it would have if it discarded its byproducts. It is also building environmental sustainability into its business by reusing its waste. Birgitte Ahring, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy at Washington State University, believes in a similar model for the biomass conversion processes she and her team develop. She calls it the carbon slaughterhouse, where everything taken into the process has to be captured and converted into something useful. This includes everything from the methane and chemical byproducts to recycling the water used during the process.
Stacy Noland, founder of the Moontown Foundation, stood out to me as making a real difference in our communities today. The Moontown Foundation is a non-profit organization that is working towards environmental, social, and economic equality through programs that educate historically disadvantaged communities about climate change and improve access to green job training. Training programs prepare participants for green collar careers such as energy auditing and weatherization. In recognition of the fact that behavior change is a big part of energy conservation, the training programs also teach participants how to educate the households they work with about energy efficiency, carbon footprints, and living more sustainably.
I look forward to the 2010 Summit to see how these ideas and others have progressed.
Worldchanging Seattle's Serena Batten will be covering emerging local leaders in clean tech in her series, "Green Tech Watch." Serena has worked in Seattle's technology and finance industries for more than ten years, and is currently pursuing her MBA in technology management at the University of Washington.
Photo credit: flickr/wehardy, Creative Commons license.
