Energy: The World’s Largest and Most Progressive Industry

The shift to renewable energies provides an unparalleled opportunity for entrepreneur-driven technological change.  Energy is without a doubt, the largest enterprise in the globe. At USD $6 trillion a year globally, whereas agriculture accounts for USD $ 700 billion and worldwide all defense spending constitutes only USD $1.3 trillion. The world will consume 50 percent more energy per day by 2030. Forecasts show that the global renewables market will reach USD $262 billion by 2013. This is a GREAT opportunity for all utility companies to adopt renewable forms of energy that are now available through renewable energy advanced technologies.

Come join 45,000 exponents of eight sectors of the renewable industries, in a five-day Global Renewable Energies Advanced Technologies, Summit & Expo - GREAT EXP0 2009 - in the US capital.  Featured sectors of renewable energy include:

· Agroenergy/Biofuels Solid, liquid or gas fuel consisting, or derived from living and recently dead biological material (biomass), which can be used as fuel for industrial production.  Most commonly, biomass refers to plant matter grown for use as biofuels, but it also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibers, chemicals or heat. President, Superior Council of Agribusiness, FIESP, Roberto Rodrigues, states that Agroenergy is going to change trade relations and the economic geography of the world.

· Ethanol Energy Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from plants.  It is made by fermenting and then distilling starch and sugar crops such as maize sorghum, potatoes, wheat, sugar cane, even cornstalks, fruit and vegetable waste.   It is not a fossil fuel: manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect, it is biodegradable and it significantly reduces harmful exhaust emissions. Ethanol blends can be used in all petrol engines without modifications (The IndyCar Series is using 100% fuel-grade ethanol during the 2007 season). The Interamerican Ethanol Commission, led by Governor Jeb Bush has the objective of strengthening the national goal of replacing more than 75% of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025, and has championed ethanol as one of the principle sources to achieve this goal. Governor Bush recommends an ambitious energy policy in which the United States will consume 15 billion gallons of ethanol annually by the year 2015.

· Geothermal Energy Generated by heat stored beneath the Earth’s surface. 
  Geothermal heat originates from the Earth’s fiery consolidation of dust and gas over 4 billion years ago.  At earth’s core – 4,000 miles deep – temperatures may reach over 9,000 degrees F. There is no smoky air around geothermal power plants. They can be built in the middle of farm crops and forests. Installations are easy on the land. In fact, the land area required for geothermal power plants is smaller per megawatt than for almost any other type of power plant.

· Hydrogen Energy Needed for motive (automobile) power or electricity (for stationary applications) is derived from reacting hydrogen (H2) with oxygen.  While the primary purpose is to eliminate the use of carbon-based fossil fuels and thus to
   reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a secondary goal is to provide an energy carrier to replace dwindling supplies of petroleum. Under the Renewable Energy Law, China takes the hydrogen and fuel cell technology as one of its important thematic priorities. In China, hydrogen vehicles, (domestic vehicles and public transportation) will develop in harmony with economic growth, before 2020, hydrogen-based electric power and small-scale back-up power generation units will enter into the market.

· Hydropower The force of energy of moving water. With hydrokinetic energy, there is more than energy to be harnessed, there is also a spirit of innovation that is generating a lot of enthusiasm throughout the country, particularly in coastal states. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates hydropower can add at least another 23,000 megawatts by the year 2025, with a total growth potential of nearly 90,000 megawatts.  That 2025 estimated potential includes 13,000 megawatts from ocean, wave and instream hydrokinetic technologies.

· Ocean/Tide Power The oceans have a tremendous amount of energy and are close to most concentrated populations.  Tidal power is a form of hydropower that exploits the movement of water caused by tidal currents or the rise and fall in sea levels due to the tides. Congress has reauthorized the Coastal Impact Assistance Program for 2007-2010, with the purpose of assisting states in enhancing their onshore infrastructure. Congress appropriated funds for seven coastal states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, and coastal political subdivisions to implement this program.

· Solar Energy Describes technologies that convert sunlight into electricity and in some cases into thermal or mechanical power. Types of solar technologies include: architecture and urban planning, lighting, water heating, cooling and ventilation, photovoltaics, solar power-plants, solar chemicals, solar vehicles, desalination and disinfection. We are entering the solar era, the primary reasons for the inevitable dominance of solar energy of the world, is the demonstrated cost-effectiveness of photovoltaic cells to generate and distribute electricity. The increase in demand for solar energy is rampant, not only in the United States but around the world.

· Wind Energy Is the conversion of wind energy into more useful forms such as electricity, using wind turbines. Petrobras, the Brazilian-government-controlled oil company, plans to invest US $18.2 billion from 2008 to 2012 from which, US $1.9 billion will be applied to energy development (biodiesel, wind energy and other alternative sources).