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Regional Climate Change forum

Featuring speaker Dr. Radley Horton from The Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) has announced a forum on regional climate change.

Changing global climate conditions promise to bring about a range of challenges and issues for the Kentucky and the region. At this unique forum you will discuss what the global climate models are suggesting for this Kentucky along with the associated implications, challenges and opportunities. For details and to register click here Regional Climate Change Forum or go to KSTC and click on the Regional Climate Change Forum banner.

Space is limited so register early. Student pricing is available, please email (bflexter@kstc.com) or call (859-233-3502 ext. 221) Barbara Flexter for details. For additional information or questions, please contact Kris Kimel at 859-229-6161.

Venture capital flowing to Clean tech

With venture investments in clean energy having $2.7 billion in the past couple of years, clean technologies are poised to experience rapid growth. From the inside of one of the premier events in the field, the CleanTech Investor Summit, KSTC's own Sean O'Leary is twittering the action. How big is this? T. Boone Pickens just spoke.

High tech, high growth

One of the things heard last week at the Visioning Kentucky's Future conference is the connection between high tech and high growth. It certainly makes this stat relevant. Our southern neighbor North Carolina has just recorded the highest fiver year rate of growth in biotech jobs in the nation.

Running in Place

The Lane Report's recent article, Pep Rally for Boldness, goes to the heart of why creativity and innovation matter to Kentucky. The commonwealth simply can't afford to accept the status quo and hope to keep pace.

This figure is staggering:

At the current incremental rate of growth, the state will catch up to the national average household income in 157 years. Small improvements will only allow us to keep running in place. 

Plug-in Hybrid Cars could reshape how consumers think of energy

What is the total cost of getting 106 miles to the gallon?

Taking auto hybrid technology one more step, plug-in hybrids cars could also change how people think about electricity and energy consumption, according to Alan Boyle at MSNBC. In one project, the U.S. Department of Energy is studying the total cost of PHEV technology by monitoring a small fleet of such vehicles belonging to a Seattle-based municipal utility.

Bringing wind power down to size - the Windbelt

Shawn Frayne, creator of the Windbelt and one of the finalists for the Curry Stone Prize for humanitarian design, which was recently awarded at the IdeaFestival, is featured in BusinessWeek. From the article:

Frayne's device joins a growing array of simple, inexpensive technologies created for developing countries that have also garnered considerable attention in the U.S. and Europe. "Innovations arising from problems in developing economies should meet the challenges of developed economies, too," says Frayne emphatically. With that in mind, Humdinger is taking "a market-oriented approach," he says. That means pitching Windbelt technology as a green way to power air-quality sensors or WiFi transmitters in new buildings in the developed world, for instance. "People are realizing that smartly designed micro-installations can have a big impact," says James Brew, a principal architect with the Rocky Mountain Institute, a green think tank in Aspen, Colo. The Windbelt's small size and negligible cost, adds Brew, make it potentially applicable in developed settings—such as new skyscrapers—as well as the more rugged conditions of the world's rural villages.

This video was also available on YouTube: