In March 2011 I was invited to Oklahoma State University to deliver two talks on the future of energy for the School of International Studies Global Briefings Series and at an awards ceremony for the campus Institute for Sustainable Environments. During my visit I was asked to speak with Rob McClendon Host of Oklahoma Horizons show:
Part One: Garry Golden – Energy Futurist
Things I forgot to mention:
Biofuels should be clarified as investing in’next generation’ (non-food) sources such as algae, bacteria that leverage carbon and hydrocarbons from non-food biomass (waste; byproducts; switchgrass, et al). The US DOE has set clear limits on food-based biofuel production and within the industry there is clear direction to move to next generation (non-food) feedstocks. Corn and soy are NOT the future of biofuels! Also – it was a long day at OSU with multiple talks– and I completely misrepresented electrofuels which are based on non-photosynthetic energy conversion.
Part Two: Energy Futurist Garry Golden (Continued)
Notes:
My ’15 years’ (comment shoud have been 1990s, not 1990); Also, I mentioned distributed power generation via fuel cells because Oklahoma has an existing manufacturing base in polymers that could be extended into fuel cells as solid state polymer-based energy conversion.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Garry:
I read with interest your prognostication about portable distributed power generation. I too have come to the same conclusion, based on my belief that our collective futures will be best served by using biomimicry as our guiding design principle. The idea of most devices containing their own power source mimics nature and would be a real “gamechanger”. I look forward to hearing more from you on this issue!