Can going green help LI economy?
Photo credit: Danielle Finkelstein | Robert B. Cattell, chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center Stony Brook University attends the 2009 Advanced Energy Conference in Hauppauge. (November 2009)
Can green energy become the driver of Long Island's economy? Maybe, but there's little doubt about the intense interest in the topic.
More than 1,000 people turned out Wednesday at the Hyatt Wind Watch Hotel in Islandia for the opening day of a two-day meeting, the 2009 Advanced Energy Conference, hosted by IBM, Stony Brook University, National Grid and the New York Power Authority.
"We're oversubscribed," said Robert Catell, the former National Grid USA chairman and now chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook.
This is the conference's third year, and each year it has gotten bigger, said Catell, a keynote speaker.
The driving question was whether clean energy could replace defense as an engine of the Island's economy.
"Absolutely," said Yacov Shamash, dean of Stony Brook's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who along with Catell helped start the technology center. "This is an area where we could be a leader in the world," Shamash said, noting the Island's existing labs, universities and highly trained workforce.
The conference was a mix of panel discussions, exhibits and speeches.
Can green work? "I'm cautiously optimistic," said Catell, who has spent 50 years in the energy business.
The New York Islanders, bottom-dwellers in the NHL standings for years, have been skating on thin ice when it comes to their financial well-being.
