Symposium on Energy 11/30/09

Building Intellectual Capital for a Green Economy

Speaking at a symposium hosted by the Clemson University Restoration Institute at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), energy secretary Steven Chu said the world is changing and America must be a leader in the new “green economy.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Restoration Institute invited the energy secretary for a one-day “Symposium on Energy: Building Intellectual Capital for a Green Economy.” The symposium was part of an initiative by the institute to position South Carolina at the forefront of alternative energy research and development.

To prepare for this shift to a "green economy", the United States is investing $80 billion in the near-term to help drive the green economy, including money for research and development of alternative energy sources. As part of that initiative, the energy department awarded the Restoration Institute and its partners a $45 million grant Nov. 23 to build and operate a large-scale wind turbine drive train testing facility at the institute’s research campus on the former Navy base in North Charleston. The award was matched by $53 million in funding from public and private partners and is the largest single grant ever received by the university.

The university’s track record of fostering public-private partnerships — as demonstrated by the successful CU-ICAR model — places the Restoration Institute and the drive train testing facility at the forefront of a developing industry.

The symposium was sponsored by South Carolina’s electric cooperatives, a group of 20 independent, not-for-profit, member-owned electric utilities that operate the largest electric power system in the state.

Presenters included Imtiaz Haque, executive director of the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center at CU-ICAR; Bobby Hitt, manager of media and public relations for BMW Manufacturing Co.; Jim Newsome, president and chief executive officer of the S.C. State Ports Authority; and Nick Rigas, director of the renewable energy focus area at the Restoration Institute.

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