Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter coming to Business of Clean Energy in Alaska 2011 Conference - April 28-29

I went to the first Business of Clean Energy Conference in 2009 as a blogger but last year I was out of town.  Now I'm getting emails announcing the conference will be April 28-29 this year.  Governor Ritter heads an impressive list of Outside speakers coming, including Jes B. Christensen, Managing Director, Danish Board of District Heating. It's worth clicking the link.

Here are some pictures and a video I found from 2009 that apparently never got up.  The Conference is sponsored by REAP - Renewable Energy Alaska Project.



I really thought I'd posted this video at the time of the conference, but I can only find a draft of the video with Caitlin Higgins (the Executive Director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance.) It was also about the time my son was hit by a car so maybe I was a bit distracted. So here it is now.
























There were a number of organizations sharing their messages in the lobby.











There's a quote up on their registration page:

'I think really the focus on energy (in Alaska) started with the discussion that took place at this conference,'

Gene Therriault, former energy policy advisor for Alaska.

Think about it. Therriault was energy policy adviser for Alaska and he thinks the focus on energy (in Alaska) began at the Business of Clean Energy Conference! Let's assume he was talking about Clean Energy and not oil which has been a hot topic in Alaska for 40 years. The first Business of Clean Energy Conference was in 2009. So I'm guessing what this means is, the first time he was aware of clean energy was two years ago. I guess for some Republicans, you have to attach the word Business to a topic before they can get comfortable with it. I can see why the conference would want to be associated with starting the discussion on a topic, but I'm not sure why they want to imply that clean energy wasn't on the agenda in Alaska until 2009. But, perhaps, for the business crowd it wasn't.

As I recall, the hook for the business crowd was that clean energy also meant saving money, and this year with $4 a gallon gas back in town, I would imagine it might be of interest to more businesses.