The Tech Alliance typically meets the last Friday of each month at 8:30am.

Please contact Jane Fraser (jane.fraser@colostate-pueblo.edu) to add your name to the email invitation for the next meeting.

Join us for technology discussions and coffee, maybe even donuts...

You can be part of this effort by becoming a member of the Tech Alliance - consider joining today!

Next Meeting:

Friday, 30 January, 8:30-10 am in the conference room at the Latino Chamber of Commerce, 215 South Victoria Avenue.

The recent Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s annual conference in Pueblo on June 6-8, 2008 was a HUGE success. The exhibit room showed off new and upcoming technology for solar, wind and other renewable energies. 

The presentations were well done by each speaker throughout the conference. Attendees were very impressed with Pueblo for hosting this event. The Tech Alliance made many great contacts and helped others link up for possible future projects.

We had a number of notable personalities attend the public events like key-note speaker, Mark Udall, and Governor Ritter.

 

The last CRES conference in Breckenridge had 125 people who paid for the conference or a workshop. This one had DOUBLE that number: 250. Many of the CRES Board members were very leery of holding the conference in Pueblo and we showed them they made a great decision!

 

The Tech Alliance were big advocates to the CRES Board for holding the conference in Pueblo.  Tom Corlett (from Rye) and Carol Tombari (from NREL). indicated that the reason they advocated holding the conference in Pueblo was because of her experience at the Tech Alliance’s conference in April 2007. She said that conference clearly showed her there was interest in this area. She directly credits the Tech Alliance for developing interest and awareness in this topic for the all of southern Colorado. 

Upcoming Events:

"Green Collar Jobs Helping to  Power Colorado’s Economy"  Brad Collins Via LIVE WEBCAST at CSU-Pueblo! Thursday, January 22, 7 pm, Technology Bldg Rm 234, come at 6:30 and network. A December 2008 report from the American Solar Energy Society (CRES's parent organization) highlights the significant role of renewable energy and energy efficiency in generating the green-collar jobs that help power the Colorado economy. By the end of 2007, these industries had directly and indirectly generated over 88,000 jobs throughout Colorado. And that was before major players like Vestas, Conoco-Phillips, Siemens, RES Americas, and others chose to locate here! While the rest of the world continues to hear about increasing layoffs, the EE/RE industry is open for business (and even hiring!) in Colorado. Brad Collins is Executive Director of the American Solar Energy Society and Publisher of SOLAR TODAY magazine. He has guided ASES since February 2001. During his career, Brad has served as an organizational manager, chief development officer, foundation executive, fund raising consultant, solar building researcher, designer, and builder. He holds an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado and an MBA from Regis University. He represents the Society at functions and events throughout the country, and works to educate and advocate for renewable energy technologies among decision makers, educators, media, and the public. Admission is FREE for CRES Members  (Join CRES!) Contributions of $5 from Non-Members Appreciated The Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. More information is available on the CRES website: www.cres-energy.org.

This Week's Feature Segment:

"Internet and Empires" Talk about Google and Other Search Engine Privacy Issues - by: Lauren Weinstein -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings. In January, I was invited to Google's Los Angeles (Santa Monica) facilities to give an informal talk (titled Internet and Empires) on a range of Internet-related topics. Video of that presentation is now available, and since it touches on a number of familiar issues, I thought that it might be of some interest. The topics naturally included a number of the controversial issues related to Google, but also more generally privacy, free speech, ISPs, data retention, government and legal issues, censorship, DOJ, network neutrality, China, and more. The talk ran about an hour and the video will reportedly be available as one of Google's Tech Talks. Windows Media and MP4 versions of the video, as well as a Flash direct playback video streaming version, and an audio-only (MP3) version, are available below (my thanks to Google for providing me with a video master for processing). Please note that all of the opinions expressed in this talk of course are mine, and should naturally not be construed to represent the views of Google, Inc. Thanks. --Lauren-- Video - Windows Media Streaming Version Video - Windows Media Download Version (~36MB) Video - MP4 Download Version (~72MB) Audio Only (MP3 Download / ~15MB) For direct Flash video streaming playback, please click (you may need to click twice if a single click doesn't start the video) on the "click to play" image below (a recent Flash player plugin is required on your system for this image to be present). Lauren's Blog Home Page Green Building and Smart Energy Systems:

The recent Smart Energy Systems Summit (see past events) was a excellent forum to learn about the alternative energy systems and what is being done in the marketplace today. Clearly these technologies are the building blocks for the economy and for jobs that have not yet been created. What we need to do now is develop a vision for alternative energy in our local area, add our voices to the vision of entities like 25x'25.and the 30x30 Workshop  Resources for Smart Energy and Green Building: l FAQs on Solar PV (Photo-Voltaic) Energy Systems l Tax Incentive Energy Project - The Tax Incentives Assistance Project (TIAP), sponsored by a coalition of public interest nonprofit groups, government agencies, and other organizations in the energy efficiency field, is designed to give consumers and businesses information they need to make use of the federal income tax incentives for energy efficient products and technologies passed by Congress as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. l Solar - Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association COSEIA - Colorado Solar Electric Complete home and commercial solar power systems for the Western Slope and the resort communities. Large inventory of parts in stock - www.coseia.org l Wind - Colorado Wind Energy - Our Vision....Wind Energy Works for America's Economy, Environment and Energy Security.  Our Mission....The mission of the American Wind Energy Association is to promote wind power growth through advocacy, communication, and education. l Hydropower - Colorado Renewable Energy Society - Hydropower - The energy in flowing water has been used by humans for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks fashioned water wheels to grind grain, and the pull of gravity on water, effectively harnessed in hydroelectric facilities, has served as a reliable source of power for commercial and industrial activities in modern times. l BioMass - Colorado Renewable Energy Society - Biomass - Biomass technologies include numerous ways of using organic matter to directly generate power, heat, be processed into fuels, or converted to organically derived chemicals and other materials. Since many types of organic matter is constantly renewed, biomass processes offer the benefit of generating oxygen while growing, and their combustion or conversion generates much less carbon and toxins than conventional fossil fuels. l Hydrogen - National Hydrogen Energy - Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies have the potential to solve the major energy security and environmental challenges that face America today — dependence on petroleum imports, poor air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program is working to implement the technology development efforts need to realize the vision of a hydrogen economy. The Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program responds to several recommendations in the President's National Energy Policy, including the development of next generation technologies, establishment of an education campaign that communicates potential benefits, and better integration of subprograms in hydrogen, fuel cells, and distributed energy. It is the lead Federal agency for directing and integrating activities in hydrogen and fuel cell R&D, and is responsible for coordinating the R&D activities for DOE's Hydrogen Program.National Hydrogen Energy l Geothermal - Geothermal Energy - the earth itself offers large supplies of energy. While fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are extracted from the earth and burned, geothermal energy can often be tapped with minimal environmental impact. Heat eminating from the depths of the earth can drive turbines for electricity production or used for direct building heating; and the moderate temperatures underground can supply geothermal pumps with cool water to circulate throughout buildings in the summer.  NREL Geothermal Resources