Cleantech Policy Conference: Bush, Biomass and Brazil

What’s the best way for the global community to speed up the dissemination of clean technologies? The first step is good policy, the likes of which can be shaped by a gathering such as this week’s Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC). If all goes well, mixing tech execs with delegates from 120 countries could increase adoption rates of all kinds of clean technologies.

Cleantech titans such as Vinod Khosla, SunPower’s PowerLight CEO Thomas Dinwoodie and Nth Power founder Nancy Floyd have been sounding off on panels with governmental reps from around the world. Since you’re unlikely to have time to sift through all of the transcripts, we’ve pulled together the big news for you.

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President Bush’s Address to WIREC:
President Bush beat his tired renewable energy drum today. Bush’s rambling speech consisted largely of a laundry list of clean energy projects his administration has backed: $1 billion for cellulosic ethanol, $1.2 billion for hydrogen cars and $1 billion for solar, plus his hope for $2 billion from Congress for an international clean technology fund. The one energy source that cracked the 11-digit mark was nuclear energy, which has the support of $18.5 billion in federal loans guarantees.

Too bad he still says he’ll veto any attempts to repeal tax breaks for the oil industry that might help further fund renewable research.

USDA and DOE to Invest $18.4B in Biomass:
USDA Secretary Ed Schafer and DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman unveiled plans to invest $18.4 billion over the next three years in 21 biomass R&D and demonstration projects. Almost half of the projects are attached to universities, many of which focus on gene research in feedstocks. Other projects are working on far-out-sounding fuel-creation processes, among them a rapid solar-thermal chemical reactor and a microwave-assisted pyrolysis system.

But the most appetizing project, from the Regents of the University of Minnesota, is getting $576,368 to research and analyze lignin as a facilitator during saccharification by brown rot fungi. Yum. A complete list of all the projects is on the press release.

U.S. and Brazil Have Shared Little Biofuel Tech:
President Bush a year ago went to Brazil, where he met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the two agreed to share alternative fuel technologies. But since then, little has happened, and Brazil is losing its patience, Cleantech Media reports.

Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C., said progress “has not been impressive.” Marcus Jank, the president of the Brazilian sugar cane association, said the two countries should not only be sharing technology on biofuels and bioplastics but also advice on raising venture capital and launching joint ventures.

Together the U.S. and Brazil produce about 75 percent of the world’s ethanol, Jank noted, and could be doing far more to share biofuel technologies around the globe. Perhaps that Organization of Biofuel Exporting Countries isn’t so far off after all.

Photo credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News.com

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