Renewable Energy…I Thought This was About IT

I went to a seminar that was hosted by the Information Technology and Telecommunications Group. This group is a part of the Southern Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (SFMSDC…try saying that ten times fast, dare ya!) of which I am a member. There was no title for the seminar but this description (Resources and topics to be discussed include: Market Research, Funding, Mentor Network, CleanTech IP Catalog and much more) led me to believe that I would hear more about IT and Telecommunications as it relates to Sustainability in these areas.

Well it wasn’t quite that at all. When the presenter, Andrea Wesser, Co-Program Manager, of MegaWatt Ventures and Florida Cleantech Acceleration Network (what’s up with these long organizational names?), explained the content of the presentation. She said her presentation was about the UCF program that helps to promote startup companies and small businesses that have created products for renewable energy production or something related to renewable energy. Quite a few people opted to go to the other seminar about Creative Selling instead.  Guess it was too heavy duty for that time of day. My curiosity got the better of me, so I stuck around.

Andrea told us that the Federal Government is offering millions of dollars to help fund organizations to develop technology that supports renewable energy. They want to put in place the programs that will help startups and small businesses monetize, produce and sell these products. These companies must not only have a proof of concept for the products, but also the products marketable. What good is developing a product that costs too much and companies won’t adopt them? Ms. Wesser states that her group is creating a program that will not only serve Florida, but the southern states as well.  They are involving venture and angel capitalists in the program to help with funding and mentoring these companies.

Somehow, mid-way through the seminare, we went off tangent (thanks to me) and talked about what is the best battery for backing up a data center. She talked about lithium batteries, but one of the attendees and I both said that lithium is finite. What else is there? Then we jumped to nuclear energy. We acknowledged that nuclear energy isn’t going away anytime soon. My fellow attendee said that the Bill Gates (remember him) is actually investigating building micro-nuclear plants instead of the mega ones that exists today.

The larger facilities have the potential of cause more damage, i.e. Fukushima’s meltdown, while the smaller ones can generate energy with low potential of affect a huge area. Andrea shared with us that scientist are experimenting with a substance that when placed in suntan lotion will protect us from radiation poisoning. Whaaaaaat? Now you know my mind started asking a bazillion questions. What about the air we breathe? What about the plants and animals? What about the soil? Are they for real???? By the time I put on my suntan lotion my innards would be toast.

Overall I enjoyed the meeting although it had nothing to do with IT or Telecom. And now that I have bored you out of your right mind with this info…I have completed day 17 of the 30-day challenge for the #SMCSFBlogOff. Seriously though, if you want to learn more about the FL-Can program, here is a little blub on click th FL-CAN to go to the website: www.flcleantech.com.

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