I have been hearing about all of these Bio-Fuel technologies such as creating a fuel out of algae, etc., and I know this lake that is filled with algae, so if I could get paid for cleaning up the algae in the lake and then get paid again by turning the algae into a clean bio-fuel I would be so psyched. But to get to this point I think a Flex Fuel Research and Info. center would be a good place to start. We could work with OSU and their bio-fuels department, while at the same time educate and develop the Flex Fuel/Bio Fuel market from the ground up. It would be great to get the exclusive rights to import Japanese Flex Fuel motorcycles, like the one found here:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/624/2761/Motorcycle-Article/Honda-Releases-Flex-Fuel-Motorcycle-in-Brazil.aspx

and have a shop to service and fill them up with various biofuels while developing new technologies and educating the public at the same time. And then just duplicate this across the country.

Oregon has an established Renewable Energy Standard of 25% renewable energy by 2025. Within this standard, as a result of legislation passed in 2010, the State must derive at least 4% of their renewable energy from a variety of ocean energy technologies, such as tidal, wave and/or wind from jetty mounted devices and ocean thermal. While these important goals go a long way toward encouraging ocean energy development by identifying WHAT the desired goals are, they fall short of defining exactly HOW to achieve that target. Without a clearly defined strategic ocean energy development plan that confirms the pathway to Oregon’s goals, the State will lack a strategy for building generation capacity and demonstrating that ocean energy can be or is part of their renewable energy portfolio. My proposal is to develop a STRATEGIC OCEAN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT PLAN for Oregon. Development of this plan will be modeled after a similar effort that has been successfully completed for ocean energy development in Scotland. Anticipated benefits: a) provides an economic "blueprint" for generating economic benefits from this industry, b) identifies associated technologies and accelerates investment, c) implements strategy and planning to set priorities, d) informs policy agendas, e) improves collaboration and f) informs decision-making.

Ethanol fuel production from food industry waste products
Ethanol is a manufacturing waste product from any food containing yeast and ethanol can also be made from other food industry waste products containing sugar or carbohydrates. These industrial waste products are currently being burned off or sent to our landfills. An industrial recycling progra... more

Ethanol is a manufacturing waste product from any food containing yeast and ethanol can also be made from other food industry waste products containing sugar or carbohydrates. These industrial waste products are currently being burned off or sent to our landfills. An industrial recycling program could be developed to route these byproducts to fuel production before they are contaminated by mixing with other trash. A grant for alternate energy could be used to build the ethanol plant and after the initial start up the ethanol plant could be run using it's own product as the energy source. The fuel could be used for any city or state vehicle rated for E85 flexible fuel which includes many factory standard models. The businesses are currently paying for this waste product to go into the landfill so a recycling program could include a reduction of their fees to act as an incentive. Many food manufacturers also generate empty 55 gallon drums which may be useful as containers for the waste products to be recycled. If a business has barrels but no waste products that business could donate their barrels to another business and receive a discount on their garbage bill. Ethanol rich slurries can also be used to "boost" fuel production from other biomass like lawn clippings and make that more efficient as well. After the industrial recyling program was established and successful the program could be expanded to include grocery stores and the production side of restruants. Limiting the program to the production side would prevent health hazards from food that has been involved in human consumption. The benefits would be reduced ethanol pollution, reduced carbon emissions from burning waste products and use of cleaner E85 fuel, reduced landfill as well as reduced fuel costs for the State. Trash is a certainty in our future, this would be a way to make trash work for us and our environment. Once the program is in place it could be marketed to other communities like a franchise.

Invest in manufacturing for renewable resource technology; solar, wind, geothermal & wave. Oregon should put itself on the forefront of development and manufacturing in order to create a new generation of jobs, to attract new businesses, attract federal and state incentives, attract investors, entrepreneurs, and to spur competition. We should make our state a model for what the entire country should be doing and hopefully inspire other states to join the movement. We should be at the forefront of this technology getting us poised to compete with Germany on exports.

Add a curriculum at the public high school level to prepare students to enter this field. Make a training program available for anyone (at any age) interested in joining the sustainable technology movement and/or provide internships.

Legislators should levy a new tax for pollutors and disburse the funds as incentives to the sustainable technology business sector. This will encourage businesses to clean up their act and will encourage job growth in sustainable technology.

Climate science warns that a sustainable world must return to less than 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are rapidly approaching 400 ppm. How to actually reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations is a daunting challenge. Can the Oregon economy sequester more carbon than it emits on an annual basis?

Leading edge developments and best practices in energy efficiency, renewable energy and agriculture technology and policy offer a path to achieve this seemingly impossible goal, while simultaneously stimulating economic development and job growth and improving energy and food security.

Convene a collaborative process to engage key stakeholders in a comprehensive review of Oregon energy and agriculture policy and associated economic development strategies. The goal is to design a 2030 Roadmap for Oregon’s Nega-Carbon Economy.