The Future of Sustainable Innovation Technology

The Dallas/Fort Worth region is brimming with new ideas and technology in renewable energy, green building, sustainable technologies and infrastructure solutions. Just one of the many areas of interest in sustainability is the use of foreign oil.

In April, local energy expert and creator of the Pickens Plan to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, T. Boone Pickens, traveled to Washington DC to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee On Ways and Means to urge Congress to pass legislation dramatically expanding the use of domestic natural gas as a heavy duty transportation fuel, currently embedded in H.R. 1835.

H.R. 1835, The NAT GAS Act, was introduced in the House of Representatives on April 1, 2009 and has 138 bipartisan cosponsors. The Senate version of this bill, S. 1408, was introduced on July 8, 2009 as a bipartisan bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

Along with giving statistics about the cost of foreign oil and the amount of natural gas located here on U.S. soil, Pickens highlighted the jobs he believes will be created by passing this bill, stating, “There's a lot of talk about the Green Economy leading the 21st Century. We estimate the NAT GAS Act will put 236,000 clean natural gas trucks on America’s roads. You will displace 5 percent of foreign diesel demand each year, and create more than 600,000 new, permanent jobs; roughly the same number of temporary jobs created for the 2010 census. Each Class 8 truck -- the heaviest of the heavy duty -- converted to natural gas creates 6 jobs.”

Pickens concluded with “I urge your action, and want to close with this: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Let's pass the NAT GAS Act and solve our energy challenges.”

Not only is Pickens the author of his Pickens Plan, he is an oil entrepreneur and wind energy advocate. With all of his expertise in this industry, Pickens will serve as an excellent keynote speaker at the Chamber's upcoming summit, highlighting sustainable innovation.

Pickens will be the luncheon keynote, following a breakfast keynote by military engineer Dr. Jeff Talley, who was recruited from Notre Dame to SMU to Chair the Department of Environmental & Civil Engineering, the Bobby B. Lyle Professor of Leadership & Global Entrepreneurship, and serves as the director of the Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity.

Along with these two keynote speakers will be an expo and two panel discussions, featuring local executives who specialize in sustainable innovation. Discussions will include what future holds for the Dallas area as an effect of the focus on sustainable initiatives.

For more information on this event, visit www.dallastbc.org or contact Amy Gibson at agibson@dallaschamber.org.