The Climate Change Summit

Breaking news!... A big Climate Change Summit took place here in Miami last Wednesday June 25 and Thursday the 26th. This week Miami Greentech reports on the Summit...

I am happy to report that the Green wave is growing stronger by the day, it was an impossible task to register for this event two weeks in advance. Even if you had contacts in the Florida government there simply was no way to get registered!

To start, we have to clarify that this summit is an initiative from the Florida's Governor Charlie Christ's Office, as such it had it's load of political content. But, overall it was an eye opener. I saw things about the state's green industry that I never expected to see.

So, who was there and what was the content?

The summit was comprised of three components (1) an exhibitors floor with around fifty different stands (2) a series of talks about different aspects of climate change with one moderator and four panelists each and (3) breakfast, lunch and dinner banquets with a key note speaker each. If you need to have the exact information this is the link to the AGENDA

(1) Exhibitors. Some non-profit organizations where there (such as the Environmental Defense Fund), as well as attorney's firms (trying to position themselves as greentech specialists), some consulates (for political reasons I suppose), all the Florida major Universities (FSU, FIU, FAU, UF, UCF, USF), and a very interesting group of Greentech companies, many of which (I am happy to report) are based in Florida! Companies such as Blue Earth Solutions (styrofoam recycling), Carbon Solution America (carbon consulting firm), and Volcano Energy Group (energy optimization products); Big companies such as FPL, Chevron and GE were also part of the mix.

(2) Talks. Some were a waste of time (from a business perspective), like the one entitled "Preserving God’s Creation" with a panel conformed of two reverends and one rabbi. Some, on the other hand, were extremely interesting. There was "Going Green Makes Economic Sense" part 1 and 2, in which panelists came from businesses such as Mitsubishi, Honeywell, IBM, Kyocera and Wachovia and the conversation was about the different ways each player was getting into the green industry. Also on the panel where representatives from Greentech companies. we heard about Solarsa a Florida based company that focuses on "solar cooling", and about T3 Motion, a company that developed an electric personal vehicle that has zero gas emissions used mainly for law enforcement (and perhaps soon to be used here in South Florida).

The highlight of these talks was the "International Leadership Roundtable" where the governor himself was a panelist together with the consul general of UK, Israel, France and Japan, as well as a parliament member from Germany who is an eminence in solar power (and could not stop talking). Each country was very proud to mention how they are "world leaders" in Greentech. Germany and Spain are leading in solar power generation, the UK is tapping into extracting energy from ocean waves and currents, France is lagging behind in comparison to Europe but was glad to point they are ahead of the US and Japan is even implementing different dress codes for summer and winter while setting the temperature in government buildings to 82^o in summer to save on energy spending for a/c (to learn more click here). Last, but certainly not least Israel is leading in technology development with more brain power than any other country per capita, as well as leading in water initiatives (they have the biggest desalination plant in the world, and are number one in recycling water at 75% with a far second Spain with 12%).

(3) Keynote Speakers. The CEO of FPL Lew Hay spoke very poorly and it was easy to catch that he was reading his speech for the first time while addressing the audience. We heard from Ray Anderson Founder of Interface Inc. the world largest manufacturer of carpet based in Atlanta, Georgia and how they are aiming to become carbon neutral in 2020 (to learn more click here). And the big ending with the "governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger who did his Hollywood style speech with humor and politics but little content.

Overall the experience was interesting and I am looking forward to next year's event to get a sense of the growth that this wave achieves in 365 days

For now I say... SHALOM!