I only have one meeting today because I am leaving Melbourne and heading to Brisbane. I have really enjoyed Melbourne. There is a great energy here that is felt in the cafes, restaurants and pubs, but more importantly on the streets. The streets are teeming with people walking, riding their bikes, getting on the tram. All with singularity of purpose, but with awareness of the surroundings that is absent in some US cities. People work hard here, but they also take the time to enjoy a coffee during the day, or walk with colleagues and discuss the days business at a slower pace. There were times here that I felt like I was in Chicago or New York, but then I would turn the corner and feel like I was in Paris or Prague. I hear that Brisbane is more laid back and that Sydney is a little harder to walk around but more beautiful. I am looking forward to it…also, only a week until Amy arrives!!
My meeting today was with Nino Ficca, who works for SP AusNet. SP AusNet owns the physical poles and wires as well as the pipelines for the Victorian electricity and gas market. Here generators are separated from distributors and retailers. In reality, SP Aus Net will not really be affected by the introduction of the cap and trade system. The renewable energy producers are locating their facilities near the grid so very little infrastructure has to be built to connect to the grid and the current coal producers will get permits for their production which will increase the retail costs but not really affect the distribution costs. However, some of the regulatory schemes may impact the cost of doing business, so they are watching very closely a decision that is expected to come out today from the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) setting capital requirements for the next five years.
Also, yesterday the Liberal Party (the conservatives and opposition Party) announced the findings of an independent review that examined the cost of the Emissions Trading Scheme and its effect on business. The review found that it would impact several business sectors very hard and could lead to the loss of jobs and some businesses closing. The Liberal Party is going to use this review to demand legislative changes in the ETS. The parties have begun to stake out their positions and gearing up for the political fight over the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Melbourne - Thursday
Thursday April 30, 2009
I got to do a little sightseeing this morning before my meetings. I went up to the Skydeck observation platform which overlooks Melbourne. The views were spectacular and I will try to upload pictures shortly.
My first meeting was with the Clean Energy Council. The Clean Energy Council is a member-based industry group that supports and encourages the use of clean (renewable) energy. This is an interesting group because the members are utilities and energy companies, many of whom have very dirty coal facilities. However, this group is not a front group looking to appear to like clean technologies but in reality preserving the coal based generation. On the contrary, the group is very active in promoting the use of renewable. The difference is that they want their member companies to be able to money during the conversion. They are technology neutral, which I think is because many of their members have investments in very diverse renewable projects. This is one of the groups that I hope to interact with on a fairly regular basis as they have the ability to give me the broader industry perspective rather than the more narrow individual company perspective.
My second meeting was with Louis Tripicorp, who works with Vencorp, which is Victoria’s energy market operator. They are shortly going to merge with NEMMCO and will become the primary gas market operator. Louis take on the issues was very similar to what I have heard in previous meetings., namely that gas is being viewed as the primary transition fuel, but that it is unclear as to what the transition will be to.
I got to do a little sightseeing this morning before my meetings. I went up to the Skydeck observation platform which overlooks Melbourne. The views were spectacular and I will try to upload pictures shortly.
My first meeting was with the Clean Energy Council. The Clean Energy Council is a member-based industry group that supports and encourages the use of clean (renewable) energy. This is an interesting group because the members are utilities and energy companies, many of whom have very dirty coal facilities. However, this group is not a front group looking to appear to like clean technologies but in reality preserving the coal based generation. On the contrary, the group is very active in promoting the use of renewable. The difference is that they want their member companies to be able to money during the conversion. They are technology neutral, which I think is because many of their members have investments in very diverse renewable projects. This is one of the groups that I hope to interact with on a fairly regular basis as they have the ability to give me the broader industry perspective rather than the more narrow individual company perspective.
My second meeting was with Louis Tripicorp, who works with Vencorp, which is Victoria’s energy market operator. They are shortly going to merge with NEMMCO and will become the primary gas market operator. Louis take on the issues was very similar to what I have heard in previous meetings., namely that gas is being viewed as the primary transition fuel, but that it is unclear as to what the transition will be to.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Small World
I got back to my hotel late this afternoon and the The NewsHour was on TV. Interestingly, Gwen Ifill was in St. Louis interviewing people about President Obama. I saw Ted Drewes, Art Hill and the Loop. 7500 miles away and I see all of this on Australian TV...It's a small world.
Melbourne
Five meetings today. Very busy but all of the meetings went very well. The first meeting was with Joel Grant, an advisor to Minister Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources, Energy and the Environment. We spoke about the politics surrounding the CPRS (carbon pollution reduction scheme) as well as the renewable energy target. You can argue about how the Rudd Government is handling the legislation that is going to implement the CPRS but they are doing one thing right. They have developed a fund that puts $500 million AUS into developing renewable energy. This fund is used to leverage other state money as well as private capital to commercialize and develop these technologies. Most importantly, the application process is technology neutral. It does not have a bias towards already developed technologies. In fact, because wind is already commercially viable, wind projects are ineligible for this type of investment.
My second meeting was with Professor Philip Adams. Professor Adams is the Director of Policy Studies at Monash University. Professor Adams has done modeling that looks at the economic impact on transforming the Australian economy away from the use of carbon fuels. His modeling is interesting in that it shows that ending the coal industry I Australia creates a “significant but not devastating” effect on the economy. He estimates that the net effect on GDP would be 3-4%. Interestingly, Professor Adams does not buy into the idea that this transformation is a job creator. He believes that the USA and Australia will always be at a disadvantage with other countries in manufacturing because of the cheaper labor costs which in turn makes it more difficult to create a significant number of jobs. He also believes that the cost benefit analysis shows that the costs of not doing anything to mitigate climate change far outweighs any transitional costs associated with mitigation.
My third meeting was with Sally Capp, the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne. The Committee is much like the St. Louis RCGA or the Regional Business Council. It operates as a not for profit and does everything that it can to promote Melbourne and business opportunities in the city. They have done a very interesting climate change report. The Committee makes specific recommendations for Melbourne in it acknowledgement of climate change. Clearly the Committee believes that there are opportunities that can be seized in the transition to carbon restricted world.
My fourth meeting was with Andrew Lawson. Andrew is Managing Director of MBD Biodiesel. If this company’s technology works, it could revolutionize energy generation. MBD captures carbon that is emitted from power plants and uses it to feed algae. The algae feed on the carbon and double its mass in about 8 hours. The alga is then harvested and is turned into Algae Meal or Algae Oil. The Meal is feed to cattle, either in a wet form within 7 days, or it is pelletized form. The Oil can be used in plastics or it can be used to create biofuels that power cars or jets. The great part is that the meal fed to cattle reduces the biologic release of methane (cow methane) and the biofuels emit less carbon than traditional fuels. So, the algae captures the carbon and creates by products that emit less carbon. Theoretically, the biofuels could be used to power fuel plants, allowing the carbon capture process work again. This biologic carbon capture is scalable and can be collocated with power plants. This technology is simple, does not alter the algae in any way and does not environmental harm. It is almost too good to be true.
My final meeting was with Tricia Caswell. Tricia has her own sustainability company and is the former Executive Director of the Australia Conservation Foundation. Tricia was a bit more pessimistic about the ability of the country to implement mitigation efforts. She believes that the CPRS as well as the Renewable Target will ultimately fail or be so watered down as to be insignificant.
My second meeting was with Professor Philip Adams. Professor Adams is the Director of Policy Studies at Monash University. Professor Adams has done modeling that looks at the economic impact on transforming the Australian economy away from the use of carbon fuels. His modeling is interesting in that it shows that ending the coal industry I Australia creates a “significant but not devastating” effect on the economy. He estimates that the net effect on GDP would be 3-4%. Interestingly, Professor Adams does not buy into the idea that this transformation is a job creator. He believes that the USA and Australia will always be at a disadvantage with other countries in manufacturing because of the cheaper labor costs which in turn makes it more difficult to create a significant number of jobs. He also believes that the cost benefit analysis shows that the costs of not doing anything to mitigate climate change far outweighs any transitional costs associated with mitigation.
My third meeting was with Sally Capp, the CEO for the Committee for Melbourne. The Committee is much like the St. Louis RCGA or the Regional Business Council. It operates as a not for profit and does everything that it can to promote Melbourne and business opportunities in the city. They have done a very interesting climate change report. The Committee makes specific recommendations for Melbourne in it acknowledgement of climate change. Clearly the Committee believes that there are opportunities that can be seized in the transition to carbon restricted world.
My fourth meeting was with Andrew Lawson. Andrew is Managing Director of MBD Biodiesel. If this company’s technology works, it could revolutionize energy generation. MBD captures carbon that is emitted from power plants and uses it to feed algae. The algae feed on the carbon and double its mass in about 8 hours. The alga is then harvested and is turned into Algae Meal or Algae Oil. The Meal is feed to cattle, either in a wet form within 7 days, or it is pelletized form. The Oil can be used in plastics or it can be used to create biofuels that power cars or jets. The great part is that the meal fed to cattle reduces the biologic release of methane (cow methane) and the biofuels emit less carbon than traditional fuels. So, the algae captures the carbon and creates by products that emit less carbon. Theoretically, the biofuels could be used to power fuel plants, allowing the carbon capture process work again. This biologic carbon capture is scalable and can be collocated with power plants. This technology is simple, does not alter the algae in any way and does not environmental harm. It is almost too good to be true.
My final meeting was with Tricia Caswell. Tricia has her own sustainability company and is the former Executive Director of the Australia Conservation Foundation. Tricia was a bit more pessimistic about the ability of the country to implement mitigation efforts. She believes that the CPRS as well as the Renewable Target will ultimately fail or be so watered down as to be insignificant.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Melbourne
Today was an interesting day. I met with two important energy bodies, The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) as well as NEMMCO, the operator of the National Energy Market. Australia silos its regulatory bodies, with the AER responsible solely for regulation. They do not do rulemaking nor do they have a real role in policy making. NEMMCO operates the energy market, allowing competition and market forces to shape what they do, but they also do not have a huge role in policy making. They simply operate under the fairly proscribed market rules. While the meetings were incredibly informative about how the Australian market operates and is regulated, the Australian markets operate quite differently than in the US. Most importantly, the Australian markets force separation of generation from other aspects of the market and support completion at the retail level. The regulators and the market operators simply operate under whatever rules are proscribed. Policy is set somewhere else.
My other meeting however was different. I met with Terry White, who is essentially a climate change activist, who is involved with helping the transition from coal to renewable energy. He believes that the target set by the current cap and trade proposal is woefully low and risks serious community backlash. He also believes that the current scheme is a disincentive to voluntary community action. He believes that voluntary action is critical to the success of any scheme.
Along with Terry, I met with Professor Roger Jones. Jones helped Professor Ross Garnaut in developing the Garnaut Climate Change Review. The Review is the seminal document that explores the effects of climate change on Australia and recommends the response that the Government should undertake to combat climate change. However, Professor Jones believes that while the Garnaut review is vital to Australia, it approaches climate change from the wrong starting point. The Garnaut approach is to first take into account the financial aspect of climate change. Jones believes that it does not do enough to address the environmental aspects of climate change. In other words, do the costs really matter if carbon is as dangerous to the country as all the science seems to indicate? It is a fairly impolitic position to take because he is basically saying that Australia is in crises and that costs are secondary to solving the economic crises. This is really the first criticism that I have heard of the Garnaut review since getting here. The Review has been hailed as a founding document in Australia’s call to action on climate change. I’ll certainly inquire as to this tension in my future meetings.
My other meeting however was different. I met with Terry White, who is essentially a climate change activist, who is involved with helping the transition from coal to renewable energy. He believes that the target set by the current cap and trade proposal is woefully low and risks serious community backlash. He also believes that the current scheme is a disincentive to voluntary community action. He believes that voluntary action is critical to the success of any scheme.
Along with Terry, I met with Professor Roger Jones. Jones helped Professor Ross Garnaut in developing the Garnaut Climate Change Review. The Review is the seminal document that explores the effects of climate change on Australia and recommends the response that the Government should undertake to combat climate change. However, Professor Jones believes that while the Garnaut review is vital to Australia, it approaches climate change from the wrong starting point. The Garnaut approach is to first take into account the financial aspect of climate change. Jones believes that it does not do enough to address the environmental aspects of climate change. In other words, do the costs really matter if carbon is as dangerous to the country as all the science seems to indicate? It is a fairly impolitic position to take because he is basically saying that Australia is in crises and that costs are secondary to solving the economic crises. This is really the first criticism that I have heard of the Garnaut review since getting here. The Review has been hailed as a founding document in Australia’s call to action on climate change. I’ll certainly inquire as to this tension in my future meetings.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Portland
I’m sitting in the very small Essenden Airport waiting to go to Portland to visit a wind farm. This tour was set up by Pacific Hydro, and I am very interested to see what the scope and scale of this project is. However, right now, I’m more interested to see the size and scale of the airplane I am getting on!
I made it to Portland and had a great visit. Holly from Pacific Hydro picked me up from the airport and we took a tour of the wind farm. If there is a more model project in the world, I am not aware of it. This is a very large project in its totality, over 180MW, but I am going to concentrate on the Cape Bridgewater project which is a 58MW project. Cape Bridgewater is blessed with several advantages. Strong winds, close connection to the National Electricity Grid, large land areas as well as supportive landowners make this an ideal location for a wind farm. The 29 two-megawatt wind generators rise above some of the most beautiful country I have seen. Cattle continue to roam undisturbed below the turbines as if the large wind towers do not exist. The Cape Bridgewater portion of the project does several things: First, it saves over 250,000 tons of greenhouse gas pollution per year while powering over 35,000 homes in the state of Victoria per year (the total project could power over 100,000 homes). Second, the towers are built locally and the total economic impact is estimated to be over $50 million Australian dollars (direct and indirect impact). It also creates an income stream for the landowners who can continue to raise cattle and sheep while the turbines turn. I pulled up next to several of the turbines and the noise is minimal. On a windy day, the wind easily drowns out the very faint hum of the turbines. Finally, Pacific Hydo has set up a fund that provides direct grants for sustainability projects in the community. In short, Pacific Hydro has taken prime land in Portland, helped develop a local economic boost, cultivating community support while making a real impact through the use of renewable energy. U.S. wind companies could certainly learn much from Pacific Hydro’s example.I was also fortunate to have a meeting with Peter Reefman. Peter is a local builder who is building energy efficient homes as well as being active in the climate action movement. Peter is an extraordinary activist. I found that he had an unusually developed sense of both the ideals that drive activists (i.e. stopping the effects of climate change and creating more sustainable environments) with a very deep understanding of the practical political implications of implementing change. We spoke for over an hour and I came away very impressed with what he is doing in Portland. Peter is changing the world one house at a time.
I made it to Portland and had a great visit. Holly from Pacific Hydro picked me up from the airport and we took a tour of the wind farm. If there is a more model project in the world, I am not aware of it. This is a very large project in its totality, over 180MW, but I am going to concentrate on the Cape Bridgewater project which is a 58MW project. Cape Bridgewater is blessed with several advantages. Strong winds, close connection to the National Electricity Grid, large land areas as well as supportive landowners make this an ideal location for a wind farm. The 29 two-megawatt wind generators rise above some of the most beautiful country I have seen. Cattle continue to roam undisturbed below the turbines as if the large wind towers do not exist. The Cape Bridgewater portion of the project does several things: First, it saves over 250,000 tons of greenhouse gas pollution per year while powering over 35,000 homes in the state of Victoria per year (the total project could power over 100,000 homes). Second, the towers are built locally and the total economic impact is estimated to be over $50 million Australian dollars (direct and indirect impact). It also creates an income stream for the landowners who can continue to raise cattle and sheep while the turbines turn. I pulled up next to several of the turbines and the noise is minimal. On a windy day, the wind easily drowns out the very faint hum of the turbines. Finally, Pacific Hydo has set up a fund that provides direct grants for sustainability projects in the community. In short, Pacific Hydro has taken prime land in Portland, helped develop a local economic boost, cultivating community support while making a real impact through the use of renewable energy. U.S. wind companies could certainly learn much from Pacific Hydro’s example.I was also fortunate to have a meeting with Peter Reefman. Peter is a local builder who is building energy efficient homes as well as being active in the climate action movement. Peter is an extraordinary activist. I found that he had an unusually developed sense of both the ideals that drive activists (i.e. stopping the effects of climate change and creating more sustainable environments) with a very deep understanding of the practical political implications of implementing change. We spoke for over an hour and I came away very impressed with what he is doing in Portland. Peter is changing the world one house at a time.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Great Ocean Road
Today, I did a tour of the Great Ocean Road. The weather was absolutely miserable. It was about 45 degrees and at some points we had 65 mile an hour winds. That being said, what I saw was absolutely breathtaking. I plan on uploading pictures.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Lest we forget...April 25 Anzac Day
This morning I got up and met Sam and Jim Geltch and his wife at 4:30am. Today is ANZAC Day and we attended a very moving ceremony called the Dawn Service at 5:30 am. Anzac Day is the Memorial Day in Australia and commemorates the landing of Australian forces at Gallipoli during the First World War. The Dawn Service lasts a half hour and pays tribute to those who have sacrificed “to make the world more noble” and recognizes the continual service of those in the Armed Services.
I was struck by two things. First, in contrast to the US (prior to the Iraq war) the participation in the Dawn Service has increased substantially over the last few years unlike our Memorial Day services. There are Dawn Services in every town and City in Australia all starting at 5:30am. In Canberra they expected 30,000 people. It was cold and rainy but m guess is that they had 30,000 people there. The second thing that I was struck by was the participation by young people. High school and college aged kids made up a very large portion of the crowd. Attendance requires that you get up early, walk to the Australian War Memorial and stand in the cool morning for more than a half hour, but families and young people were there.
As I said, the service was simple but very moving. There were two very simple phrases uttered by the crowd…”We will remember….Lest we not forget.”
I went to the Anzac Day game at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds with my program officer Julie Comito. The game is traditionally between Collingwood and Essenden, two Australian Rules Football clubs. It was a GREAT game with Essenden, the underdog winning in the last minute of the game. The game was a lot of fun to watch. It moves very quickly and once I got a hang of the rules I really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow, I am going to be a tourist and take a tour along the Great Ocean Road.
I was struck by two things. First, in contrast to the US (prior to the Iraq war) the participation in the Dawn Service has increased substantially over the last few years unlike our Memorial Day services. There are Dawn Services in every town and City in Australia all starting at 5:30am. In Canberra they expected 30,000 people. It was cold and rainy but m guess is that they had 30,000 people there. The second thing that I was struck by was the participation by young people. High school and college aged kids made up a very large portion of the crowd. Attendance requires that you get up early, walk to the Australian War Memorial and stand in the cool morning for more than a half hour, but families and young people were there.
As I said, the service was simple but very moving. There were two very simple phrases uttered by the crowd…”We will remember….Lest we not forget.”
I went to the Anzac Day game at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds with my program officer Julie Comito. The game is traditionally between Collingwood and Essenden, two Australian Rules Football clubs. It was a GREAT game with Essenden, the underdog winning in the last minute of the game. The game was a lot of fun to watch. It moves very quickly and once I got a hang of the rules I really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow, I am going to be a tourist and take a tour along the Great Ocean Road.
Canberra
First meeting was my best so far. Dr. Martin Parkinson, Secretary of the Department of Climate Change. He’s a former Treasury Economist and is the designer of the ETS (cap and trade system). We talked about the White Paper put out by the Department, as well as the Garnaut Climate Change Review, the definitive study on climate change and economic impact on Australia. The reason why it was the best I because while we spoke about the specifics of climate change, we talked about the differences between the US and Australia both in terms of climate change but also in terms of politics. It was a relaxed and very friendly discussion which touched on policy but that meandered other issues. He is willing to be a great resource as I move forward as he makes very complex concepts easy to understand.
My second meeting was with David Atkinson from the U.S Embassy. Very friendly, but also took the time to give me a great perspective about where the Australians are from an energy and climate change position from an American point of view. David has a young family like I do and so we discussed the plusses and minuses of being in the Foreign Service with young children. We also discussed the lack of any information on a new US Ambassador which is beginning to become an issue with the Australian government. The Australians enjoy a close relationship with the United States and they view the Ambassador as an important indication as to their importance to a new US President. I’ll be watching this one closely to see who gets the nod. They are hopeful to hear in the next six months or so.
My third meeting was with Mary Wiley Smith, Assistant Secretary in the Renewables and Energy Efficiency Division and Graeme Marshall, the Director of the Solar Cities program. Both are housed in the Department of the Environment. They are responsible for the government’s Solarcities program. These Solarscities are in each one of the Australian states and through partnerships with the government as well as utilities are demonstration projects for large scale solar integration. I am going to be going to a site visit to the Townsville/Magnetic Island Solarcity.
My final official meeting of the day was with a team of statisticians from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. ABS is an independent agency that provides statistical information to the government and the public. This statistical information, such as census, labor and other statistics is centralized in one agency that appears to have the trust of both the Government and the Australian people. They do a census every 5 years and then also do a monthly random sample of about 40,000 households. They are doing some energy statistics as well. I find it fascinating that they have been able to make their statistical historic data independent but they have also gained the trust of the people doing the surveys, so they have about a 95% participation/return rate on their surveys.
After that dinner I was privileged to have dinner with Sam Archer. Sam is a Nuffield Scholar. Nuffield Scholars have very much in common with Eisenhower Fellows although the program is a bit more rigorous. The Nuffield Scholars are strictly farmers and they are selected after a intense interview process from the Commonwealth nations (I.e Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Zimbabwe). They engage in a 6 week tour of farming hot spots throughout the world and then embark on a 5 month independent study regime. The Nuffield Scholars do receive financial assistance, although there is some expectation that they will also contribute towards their study out of their own pocket.
Sam was outstanding. He took me to dinner, where we discussed traveling, family, Australia, the US, and everything under the sun. He was very helpful and was a great person to talk about what can sometimes be a fairly solitary travel experience. While there is much interaction with people, sometimes at the end of the day, you are alone for dinner or in your hotel room. Sam understood that and also helped explain what to expect when I returned. Life doesn’t stop when you are away and not very many people get to share your experiences.
My second meeting was with David Atkinson from the U.S Embassy. Very friendly, but also took the time to give me a great perspective about where the Australians are from an energy and climate change position from an American point of view. David has a young family like I do and so we discussed the plusses and minuses of being in the Foreign Service with young children. We also discussed the lack of any information on a new US Ambassador which is beginning to become an issue with the Australian government. The Australians enjoy a close relationship with the United States and they view the Ambassador as an important indication as to their importance to a new US President. I’ll be watching this one closely to see who gets the nod. They are hopeful to hear in the next six months or so.
My third meeting was with Mary Wiley Smith, Assistant Secretary in the Renewables and Energy Efficiency Division and Graeme Marshall, the Director of the Solar Cities program. Both are housed in the Department of the Environment. They are responsible for the government’s Solarcities program. These Solarscities are in each one of the Australian states and through partnerships with the government as well as utilities are demonstration projects for large scale solar integration. I am going to be going to a site visit to the Townsville/Magnetic Island Solarcity.
My final official meeting of the day was with a team of statisticians from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. ABS is an independent agency that provides statistical information to the government and the public. This statistical information, such as census, labor and other statistics is centralized in one agency that appears to have the trust of both the Government and the Australian people. They do a census every 5 years and then also do a monthly random sample of about 40,000 households. They are doing some energy statistics as well. I find it fascinating that they have been able to make their statistical historic data independent but they have also gained the trust of the people doing the surveys, so they have about a 95% participation/return rate on their surveys.
After that dinner I was privileged to have dinner with Sam Archer. Sam is a Nuffield Scholar. Nuffield Scholars have very much in common with Eisenhower Fellows although the program is a bit more rigorous. The Nuffield Scholars are strictly farmers and they are selected after a intense interview process from the Commonwealth nations (I.e Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Zimbabwe). They engage in a 6 week tour of farming hot spots throughout the world and then embark on a 5 month independent study regime. The Nuffield Scholars do receive financial assistance, although there is some expectation that they will also contribute towards their study out of their own pocket.
Sam was outstanding. He took me to dinner, where we discussed traveling, family, Australia, the US, and everything under the sun. He was very helpful and was a great person to talk about what can sometimes be a fairly solitary travel experience. While there is much interaction with people, sometimes at the end of the day, you are alone for dinner or in your hotel room. Sam understood that and also helped explain what to expect when I returned. Life doesn’t stop when you are away and not very many people get to share your experiences.
Canberra
My one meeting was with David Williams who currently serves as Chief of Staff to the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and the Arts Peter Garrett. You may recognize the name as Peter Garrett is the former lead singer of the band Midnight Oil. Minister Garrett had run for Parliament on the nuclear disarmament party ticket and narrowly lost. He was then recruited to join the Labor Party, won a seat in Parliament and when Prime Minister Rudd was elected, he became a Minister. David and I spoke about the Emissions Trading Scheme, activism, political challenges, importance of climate change to Rudd Government.
I ate dinner in the City Centre, which did have a little more energy in it, but still not what you would expect in a Capitol City.
I ate dinner in the City Centre, which did have a little more energy in it, but still not what you would expect in a Capitol City.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday April 23 - Canberra
Off to Canberra…My first impressions of Canberra are not the best. I would describe it like a State University campus during the summer. There are collections of government buildings around the Capitol like the science building or humanities building around the quad. To give credit where credit is due, Parliament House is beautiful. It is incredibly new, dedicated in 1988 and reflects that shiny newness with glass and modern fixtures. The Mall out from Parliament House is also very pretty but it lacks any activity. Small groups of people are wandering around, but they have no sense of wonder or beauty like those that wander around Washington D.C. And lest you think that my opinion is somehow biased, while getting lunch at the café in Parliament House, the young man behind the counter described Canberra as “the biggest hole in Australia.” Most of the Australians that I have met have been quite open about calling Canberra “boring.” I can see very clearly what they mean. First impressions may change, but I don’t suspect that they will.
Wednesday, April 22 - Melbourne
My first meeting this morning was with Claire Maries, Policy Manager for Pacific Hydro as well as Emily Wood, Communications Director for Pacific Hydro. Pacific Hydro is the largest renewable energy company in Australia. They are developing large scale wind projects near Portland which I hope to visit on Monday. We discussed in depth the challenges in developing and integrating large scale renewable projects in Australia. They believe that the Emission Trading Scheme as well as the Renewable Targets will work very well together to help reduce the effects of climate change. They felt very strongly about the need for the current Rudd Government to implement both a strong ETS as well as Renewable Targets, they believe they should encourage and incentivize voluntary action on the part of ratepayers and not doing these things could hurt Rudd in the next election.
They have look to examples in the US, specifically Texas, which have some progressive policies regarding the building of transmission infrastructure needed for the integration of renewable projects like wind. Claire does not believe that Australia has done what it needed to do to create the ability of new industries to develop in the production of renewable energy projects. For example, she thinks that any opportunity that Australia had to manufacture materials for wind turbines has long since passed and they are slowly letting opportunities to build solar thermal technologies and ocean technologies are slipping away.
I plan on flying to Portland on Monday to visit the wind farms in person.
I then met up with Giles Toler, Melbourne Sales Manager for Emerson. Mike Traine, a 2008 Eisenhower Fellow, arranged for Giles to help with some meetings. Giles is a British ex pat, and is incredibly accommodating and kind. We met up with Mark Colette from TruEnergy and had lunch. Mark works for TruEnergy. TruEnergy delivers traditional coal fire electricity, but they also have demonstration projects in the wind, solar, geothermal and tidal areas. As of right not, they do not see large scale generation coming from any one of these projects but they are continuing to invest in potential technologies. We discussed the Emissions Trading Scheme as well as the Renewable Targets. Mark was fascinated with American politics, so we got to discuss my favorite subject as well.
After lunch, Giles and I drove to the Progress Group. The Progress Group is an engineering/fabrication company that builds skids that clean various fuels. For example, they make machines that help purify gas when it comes out of the ground or that separates oil and water that is extracted from gas wells. They are involved with two very exciting projects. The first is participating in the CO2 Research Collaborative that is injecting carbon into empty gas wells and studying what happens to the carbon. The project is scheduled to last two years and they hope to get very good data about what exactly happens to the carbon that is injected into the ground (does it escape, does it turn into something else, does it stay captured). The second project is one at the Hazelwood power plant which is one of the dirtiest plants in Australia. It uses “brown” coal with is very high in carbon emissions (although it is low in SOX and NOX emissions.) This project is a small scale demonstration project that actually captures carbon from the exhaust stream from the smoke stack. Although carbon capture has been used in the past, this is one of the first projects that works to capture the exhaust directly . Progress Group hopes that this technology coupled with the data that is gathered from the CO2 Research Collaborative will help develop a workable CCS solution.
Interestingly enough, most of the dirty power plants are located in the Latrobe Valley near Melbourne. The good news is that not to far offshore there is some very large storage capacity in depleted gas wells that could be the perfect storage facilities for the carbon.
Dinner was with Jerry Ellis, Australian Fellow in 1983, and a his wife Ann. They were absolutely delightful and took me to one of the iconic Melbourne restaurants. We discussed energy, politics, as well as family. Interestingly enough, Jerry is one of the few Australians that I have met that does not believe that climate change is man-made. As a general rule, I have found that Australians, especially Victorians, having faced almost a decade of droughts, high temperatures, devastating brush fires as well as flooding in the North are pretty convinced that climate change is real and that they are directly affected by it.
Tomorrow I fly to Canberra and stay there for two days, meeting with Federal Government officials as well as U.S. Embassy personnel
They have look to examples in the US, specifically Texas, which have some progressive policies regarding the building of transmission infrastructure needed for the integration of renewable projects like wind. Claire does not believe that Australia has done what it needed to do to create the ability of new industries to develop in the production of renewable energy projects. For example, she thinks that any opportunity that Australia had to manufacture materials for wind turbines has long since passed and they are slowly letting opportunities to build solar thermal technologies and ocean technologies are slipping away.
I plan on flying to Portland on Monday to visit the wind farms in person.
I then met up with Giles Toler, Melbourne Sales Manager for Emerson. Mike Traine, a 2008 Eisenhower Fellow, arranged for Giles to help with some meetings. Giles is a British ex pat, and is incredibly accommodating and kind. We met up with Mark Colette from TruEnergy and had lunch. Mark works for TruEnergy. TruEnergy delivers traditional coal fire electricity, but they also have demonstration projects in the wind, solar, geothermal and tidal areas. As of right not, they do not see large scale generation coming from any one of these projects but they are continuing to invest in potential technologies. We discussed the Emissions Trading Scheme as well as the Renewable Targets. Mark was fascinated with American politics, so we got to discuss my favorite subject as well.
After lunch, Giles and I drove to the Progress Group. The Progress Group is an engineering/fabrication company that builds skids that clean various fuels. For example, they make machines that help purify gas when it comes out of the ground or that separates oil and water that is extracted from gas wells. They are involved with two very exciting projects. The first is participating in the CO2 Research Collaborative that is injecting carbon into empty gas wells and studying what happens to the carbon. The project is scheduled to last two years and they hope to get very good data about what exactly happens to the carbon that is injected into the ground (does it escape, does it turn into something else, does it stay captured). The second project is one at the Hazelwood power plant which is one of the dirtiest plants in Australia. It uses “brown” coal with is very high in carbon emissions (although it is low in SOX and NOX emissions.) This project is a small scale demonstration project that actually captures carbon from the exhaust stream from the smoke stack. Although carbon capture has been used in the past, this is one of the first projects that works to capture the exhaust directly . Progress Group hopes that this technology coupled with the data that is gathered from the CO2 Research Collaborative will help develop a workable CCS solution.
Interestingly enough, most of the dirty power plants are located in the Latrobe Valley near Melbourne. The good news is that not to far offshore there is some very large storage capacity in depleted gas wells that could be the perfect storage facilities for the carbon.
Dinner was with Jerry Ellis, Australian Fellow in 1983, and a his wife Ann. They were absolutely delightful and took me to one of the iconic Melbourne restaurants. We discussed energy, politics, as well as family. Interestingly enough, Jerry is one of the few Australians that I have met that does not believe that climate change is man-made. As a general rule, I have found that Australians, especially Victorians, having faced almost a decade of droughts, high temperatures, devastating brush fires as well as flooding in the North are pretty convinced that climate change is real and that they are directly affected by it.
Tomorrow I fly to Canberra and stay there for two days, meeting with Federal Government officials as well as U.S. Embassy personnel
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Always changing...
OK, tomorrow was a free day but now I am going to look at a carbon sequestration project so the day is full. Got to stay flexible!!
Melbourne Day 2
Another good day in Melbourne. I got up this morning at about 6:45am and felt pretty good. I haven’t really experienced any effects of jet lag. Although tonight may be another story. First thing this morning, I tested Skype with Jeff City and it seemed to work fine. Hopefully, that will translate to a pretty seamless Agenda session on Wednesday (3am Thursday morning Melbourne time.)
I met again with Julie Comito this morning. We are arranging a site visit to a wind farm in Portland, VIC. The good news is that Portland is at the end of the Great Ocean Road, which roughly translates to the Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It looks like I am going to take a tour bus to the end of the road in Port Campbell and then a bus over to Portland to visit the wind farm and an aluminum smelter.
My first substantive meeting was with Richard Bolt. Richard is the Secretary for the Department of Primary Industries for Victoria. He is the state of Victoria’s official who has primary responsibility for energy. He was described later as “the smartest bureaucrat in Victoria today.” He has done extensive work on helping to design a cap and trade system for Victoria that became the blueprint for the Australian national cap and trade system. He described in detail the interaction between the states and the federal government in trying to combat climate change. He also stated that the most important factor in getting a good cap and trade system was getting the price of carbon correct, a recurring theme throughout my meetings.
Throughout this process I have been struck by the almost unanimous agreement by all members of the political spectrum about the need to do something about climate change. Richard explained the very simple reason for this. The Australian state of Victoria has already seen the clear and devastating effects of climate change. Victoria has suffered under drought conditions for almost 8 years and has recently been victimized by horrible brushfires. Meanwhile, Queensland in the north has also seen devastating floods because of increase rainfall. Richard described a day a few months ago where the temperature was 48degrees C, which roughly translates into 116 degrees F. He called it a “day from hell” where dry hot winds of over 100 k/h with 116 degree weather fanned brushfire flames that caused power outages as well as loss of life. The situation has become so dire that Victoria is racing to complete a desalinization plant in 2011, before the state runs out of water. ..and there is no guarantee that it will. Being that directly affected by climate change drives the Australian public’s willingness to pay more energy as long as the lights stay on.
Victoria has several potential projects that will help move their power generation from primarily coal to other renewable resources. First, they are looking at potential carbon sequestration projects in the area. One that would inject carbon into natural off-shore gas fields has great potential. They are also looking at a solar precinct in the northwest corner of Victoria for a large scale solar project.
My second meeting was with Tony Wood. Tony works for the Clinton Foundation. One of the Clinton Foundations primary missions is to work on climate change. Tony is a former utility executive who was hired away by the Clinton Foundation to run their Clean Energy Program. Tony and the Foundation help work as “honest brokers” in the climate change debate. They help bring the stakeholders together and try to define issues and solutions using real verifiable data . He is also very interested in carbon sequestration projects. He brought some very interesting perspectives. For example, Australia is introducing a renewable energy standard as well as a cap and emissions trading system. Tony pointed out that many times while these policies are meant to achieve the same environmental goal, they can be detrimental to one another as the renewable standard can make the cap and trade system less effective. He reiterated what I have heard over and over again, that the market structure in dealing with carbon needs to be right and ultimately the price of carbon is the most important factor in that market structure. Once you get the market structure right, then the regulatory structure and the financial markets can work to reinforce the market’s own efficiencies.
My final meeting was with Dougal McInness. Dougal is the Senior Policy Officer for coolNRG. coolNRG is involved in the mass distribution of compact fluorescent light bulbs. The team with power companies or governments or both and use mass media campaigns to distribute the bulbs. For example, they will partner with a newspaper that announces that on a certain day readers will receive a free compact fluorescent light bulb with the purchase of a newspaper. They also run a contest where if the light bulb is installed and it turns green, that person is entered into a drawing along with 20 or so other people to win a hybrid car. The other 19 folks win free energy audits, and other prizes. The goal of the contest is to get people to install the light bulbs. They have been successful is distributing over a million CFL bulbs in a single day and their install rate is about 75 percent. The cost is a combination of the cost of the bulbs, some advertising and logistical costs. The biggest cost is the actual cost of the bulbs. That number of installed bulbs can save an amazing amount of kilowatt hours. This was an exciting meeting for me because it seemed to have the potential to have direct application to Missouri. I could see very easily how the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star could collaborate with AmerenUE and KC P&L and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to distribute millions of CFL bulbs and undertake a massive educational campaign to get people to think about reducing energy consumption. I want to have a meeting when I get back with some potential participants to see if they are interested in some sort of campaign. I think we could go even further with corporate sponsors and try to put some money behind it. A campaign to distribute a million CFL bulbs may typically cost about $2 million dollars, with about 80 percent of that being the actual cost of the light bulbs.
I just have one meeting tomorrow and will hopefully get to use the rest of the day to see some more of the City. I have seen it from some of the views of the offices I have been in but have not seem nearly enough from the ground level. Tony Wood had an interesting observation about Sydney and Melbourne. He said that to appreciate Sydney you have to look at it, but to appreciate Melbourne you have to experience it. He said both are spectacular cities but they are very different in character. Thursday it is off to Canberra, the Federal Capitol.
I met again with Julie Comito this morning. We are arranging a site visit to a wind farm in Portland, VIC. The good news is that Portland is at the end of the Great Ocean Road, which roughly translates to the Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It looks like I am going to take a tour bus to the end of the road in Port Campbell and then a bus over to Portland to visit the wind farm and an aluminum smelter.
My first substantive meeting was with Richard Bolt. Richard is the Secretary for the Department of Primary Industries for Victoria. He is the state of Victoria’s official who has primary responsibility for energy. He was described later as “the smartest bureaucrat in Victoria today.” He has done extensive work on helping to design a cap and trade system for Victoria that became the blueprint for the Australian national cap and trade system. He described in detail the interaction between the states and the federal government in trying to combat climate change. He also stated that the most important factor in getting a good cap and trade system was getting the price of carbon correct, a recurring theme throughout my meetings.
Throughout this process I have been struck by the almost unanimous agreement by all members of the political spectrum about the need to do something about climate change. Richard explained the very simple reason for this. The Australian state of Victoria has already seen the clear and devastating effects of climate change. Victoria has suffered under drought conditions for almost 8 years and has recently been victimized by horrible brushfires. Meanwhile, Queensland in the north has also seen devastating floods because of increase rainfall. Richard described a day a few months ago where the temperature was 48degrees C, which roughly translates into 116 degrees F. He called it a “day from hell” where dry hot winds of over 100 k/h with 116 degree weather fanned brushfire flames that caused power outages as well as loss of life. The situation has become so dire that Victoria is racing to complete a desalinization plant in 2011, before the state runs out of water. ..and there is no guarantee that it will. Being that directly affected by climate change drives the Australian public’s willingness to pay more energy as long as the lights stay on.
Victoria has several potential projects that will help move their power generation from primarily coal to other renewable resources. First, they are looking at potential carbon sequestration projects in the area. One that would inject carbon into natural off-shore gas fields has great potential. They are also looking at a solar precinct in the northwest corner of Victoria for a large scale solar project.
My second meeting was with Tony Wood. Tony works for the Clinton Foundation. One of the Clinton Foundations primary missions is to work on climate change. Tony is a former utility executive who was hired away by the Clinton Foundation to run their Clean Energy Program. Tony and the Foundation help work as “honest brokers” in the climate change debate. They help bring the stakeholders together and try to define issues and solutions using real verifiable data . He is also very interested in carbon sequestration projects. He brought some very interesting perspectives. For example, Australia is introducing a renewable energy standard as well as a cap and emissions trading system. Tony pointed out that many times while these policies are meant to achieve the same environmental goal, they can be detrimental to one another as the renewable standard can make the cap and trade system less effective. He reiterated what I have heard over and over again, that the market structure in dealing with carbon needs to be right and ultimately the price of carbon is the most important factor in that market structure. Once you get the market structure right, then the regulatory structure and the financial markets can work to reinforce the market’s own efficiencies.
My final meeting was with Dougal McInness. Dougal is the Senior Policy Officer for coolNRG. coolNRG is involved in the mass distribution of compact fluorescent light bulbs. The team with power companies or governments or both and use mass media campaigns to distribute the bulbs. For example, they will partner with a newspaper that announces that on a certain day readers will receive a free compact fluorescent light bulb with the purchase of a newspaper. They also run a contest where if the light bulb is installed and it turns green, that person is entered into a drawing along with 20 or so other people to win a hybrid car. The other 19 folks win free energy audits, and other prizes. The goal of the contest is to get people to install the light bulbs. They have been successful is distributing over a million CFL bulbs in a single day and their install rate is about 75 percent. The cost is a combination of the cost of the bulbs, some advertising and logistical costs. The biggest cost is the actual cost of the bulbs. That number of installed bulbs can save an amazing amount of kilowatt hours. This was an exciting meeting for me because it seemed to have the potential to have direct application to Missouri. I could see very easily how the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star could collaborate with AmerenUE and KC P&L and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to distribute millions of CFL bulbs and undertake a massive educational campaign to get people to think about reducing energy consumption. I want to have a meeting when I get back with some potential participants to see if they are interested in some sort of campaign. I think we could go even further with corporate sponsors and try to put some money behind it. A campaign to distribute a million CFL bulbs may typically cost about $2 million dollars, with about 80 percent of that being the actual cost of the light bulbs.
I just have one meeting tomorrow and will hopefully get to use the rest of the day to see some more of the City. I have seen it from some of the views of the offices I have been in but have not seem nearly enough from the ground level. Tony Wood had an interesting observation about Sydney and Melbourne. He said that to appreciate Sydney you have to look at it, but to appreciate Melbourne you have to experience it. He said both are spectacular cities but they are very different in character. Thursday it is off to Canberra, the Federal Capitol.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Melbourne- Day 1
Some initial thoughts about Melbourne. There is an interesting mix of old buildings crafted from stone and brick as well as new buildings that tower over the old reflecting sunlight off steel and glass. Although there are certain European aspects to the City, I get much more of an American influence. I don’t meant to imply that the US had anything to do with Australia’s cultural development, but the parallels cannot be ignored: both are relatively young nations, both a nation of immigrants, both cultures celebrate rugged independence, both share a similar language, and both are blessed with land that has abundant natural resources. Granted, I’ve only been in one city for a few hours, but already I sense a kinship with Australia and understand the long relationship between the nations.
My first meeting was with Shane Breheny, CEO of Citipower and Powercor, and Garry Audley, General Manager of Electricity Networks. Great first meeting, although I had just gotten off the plane and was a little foggy, this was a great introductory meeting. Citipower and Powercor are distributors of electricity. Australia has separated their generators from their distributors for many reasons, but the one most relevant here is that it allows for the encouragement of efficiency measures. In other words, it makes it much easier to encourage your customers to use less energy. Australia has no nuclear power, born out of the anti-nuclear movement in the 1970s, so they rely heavily on coal. However, there is also a realization of the impact of carbon emissions on the environment. This means that they are attempting to integrate renewable energy into their portfolio. Both Shane and Gerry indicated that the integration of renewable resources as well as the encouragement of efficiency measure is the biggest challenge facing the company. Although there seems to be sufficient interests and technological advancement in the renewable energy field, there is very little thought being put into how the renewable technologies are integrated into the existing grid. Also, while there are policy pronouncements from the Government regarding renewable and efficiency measures, the regulations regarding implementation are lacking. For example, while the Government outlawed incandescent light bulbs, they did nothing to develop standards regarding compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). The result was that people used substandard, albeit cheap, CFL’s from China that did not last as long nor did they work as well. This undermined the use of CFL’s by the public as well as the efficiency benefits of the bulbs.
Citipower and Powercor’s rates are set by the Australian Energy Regulator. They are set on a five-year cycle, although the process was described as very “formulaic.” They described the process as fair and not too intrusive. Although the rates are set for five years, there are some costs that are trued-up annually, so if the company overspends some of its projected costs, they eat the difference. However, there are some incentives such as revenue increases for achieving service benchmarks.
Finally, Citipower and Powercor are in the process of deploying advanced meters. Not only do these meters allow demand response and other conservation procedures, they also must be able to be “interrogated” by devices that allow the ratepayer to see real time usage information.
My second meeting is with Bill Scales. Mr. Scales was the Chairman of the Energy Reform Implementation Group which was tasked by the Council of Australian Governments to review and report on potential Energy Reform in Australia. The result was a report entitled “Energy Reform, The way forward for Australia” that was delivered in January of 2007. Although the report was very specific to Australia’s regulatory scheme, the process that they engaged in was very important. First, his commission identified the scope of the problem. They made a conscious effort not to overstate the problem and to point out what was not broken with the scheme. Next they took a broad look at the Australian market structures, regulatory structures and the financial markets. The conclusions clearly have applications for the US. First, they concluded that the market structure needs to offer allow for both incentives and disincentives that will promote the most efficient market structure. Next, The regulatory scheme needs to reinforce these rather that create the incentives or disincentives. Finally, the financial markets must accurately and rationally reflect the market structure.
Through this process, they discovered that the singular most important factor in helping create the market structures be accurate is the price of carbon. If the price of carbon is accurately reflected in the market, then the regulatory schemes and the financial markets almost self-regulate.
Tonight, I went to dinner on Hardware Lane near the hotel. It is a small street with European style restaurants. Hostesses were aggressive in getting people into their restaurant. I had nice seafood paella. I was tempted to get the Kangaroo, but I wasn’t sure how to explain to my kids that I ate Joey the Kangaroo…but give me time, I may figure it out.
My first meeting was with Shane Breheny, CEO of Citipower and Powercor, and Garry Audley, General Manager of Electricity Networks. Great first meeting, although I had just gotten off the plane and was a little foggy, this was a great introductory meeting. Citipower and Powercor are distributors of electricity. Australia has separated their generators from their distributors for many reasons, but the one most relevant here is that it allows for the encouragement of efficiency measures. In other words, it makes it much easier to encourage your customers to use less energy. Australia has no nuclear power, born out of the anti-nuclear movement in the 1970s, so they rely heavily on coal. However, there is also a realization of the impact of carbon emissions on the environment. This means that they are attempting to integrate renewable energy into their portfolio. Both Shane and Gerry indicated that the integration of renewable resources as well as the encouragement of efficiency measure is the biggest challenge facing the company. Although there seems to be sufficient interests and technological advancement in the renewable energy field, there is very little thought being put into how the renewable technologies are integrated into the existing grid. Also, while there are policy pronouncements from the Government regarding renewable and efficiency measures, the regulations regarding implementation are lacking. For example, while the Government outlawed incandescent light bulbs, they did nothing to develop standards regarding compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). The result was that people used substandard, albeit cheap, CFL’s from China that did not last as long nor did they work as well. This undermined the use of CFL’s by the public as well as the efficiency benefits of the bulbs.
Citipower and Powercor’s rates are set by the Australian Energy Regulator. They are set on a five-year cycle, although the process was described as very “formulaic.” They described the process as fair and not too intrusive. Although the rates are set for five years, there are some costs that are trued-up annually, so if the company overspends some of its projected costs, they eat the difference. However, there are some incentives such as revenue increases for achieving service benchmarks.
Finally, Citipower and Powercor are in the process of deploying advanced meters. Not only do these meters allow demand response and other conservation procedures, they also must be able to be “interrogated” by devices that allow the ratepayer to see real time usage information.
My second meeting is with Bill Scales. Mr. Scales was the Chairman of the Energy Reform Implementation Group which was tasked by the Council of Australian Governments to review and report on potential Energy Reform in Australia. The result was a report entitled “Energy Reform, The way forward for Australia” that was delivered in January of 2007. Although the report was very specific to Australia’s regulatory scheme, the process that they engaged in was very important. First, his commission identified the scope of the problem. They made a conscious effort not to overstate the problem and to point out what was not broken with the scheme. Next they took a broad look at the Australian market structures, regulatory structures and the financial markets. The conclusions clearly have applications for the US. First, they concluded that the market structure needs to offer allow for both incentives and disincentives that will promote the most efficient market structure. Next, The regulatory scheme needs to reinforce these rather that create the incentives or disincentives. Finally, the financial markets must accurately and rationally reflect the market structure.
Through this process, they discovered that the singular most important factor in helping create the market structures be accurate is the price of carbon. If the price of carbon is accurately reflected in the market, then the regulatory schemes and the financial markets almost self-regulate.
Tonight, I went to dinner on Hardware Lane near the hotel. It is a small street with European style restaurants. Hostesses were aggressive in getting people into their restaurant. I had nice seafood paella. I was tempted to get the Kangaroo, but I wasn’t sure how to explain to my kids that I ate Joey the Kangaroo…but give me time, I may figure it out.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
First Leg down
I made it from St. Louis to Los Angeles. No issues at all. The plane was crowded, but the flight was smooth. It is about 9pm here in LA and our plane to Melbourne will leave in about an hour and a half.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Philadelphia
I had a great couple of days in Philadelphia meeting the other US Fellows as well as the International Fellows. We stayed at the Inn at the Union League which is a beautiful old building in the heart of Philadelphia. I spent the first evening with some of the US Fellows at a little Jazz club across the street from the hotel. (Mostly because they were still serving food.)
The next day we met with the International Fellows. The most interesting period was an intorductory exercise that was akin to speed dating which allowed a few minutes with most of the fellows. All of these international fellows are very accomplished and really makes you realize how prestigious the International Fellowship program is. The discussions were interesting but too short. The diversity was evident, whether it was an entrepreneur from the Czech Republic, a magazine editor from Sweden, a police officer from Bangladesh or a teacher from Chile.
I had the opportunity to speak a little more in depth with some of the fellows and was actually able to help set up some meetings in DC and St. Louis for Mohammed from Saudi Telecom and Karin, the Swedish magazine editor. I look at helping set up the meetings now and in the future is the price of admission for the program. They don't ask for very much but it is easy to become passionate about EF and want to do everything that you can.
The last part of the orientation was a great and informative discussion among the USA Fellows and some former USA Fellows at the EF House. They gave great tips and really helped center the discussion on getting the most out of the Fellowship both before, during and after.
The next day we met with the International Fellows. The most interesting period was an intorductory exercise that was akin to speed dating which allowed a few minutes with most of the fellows. All of these international fellows are very accomplished and really makes you realize how prestigious the International Fellowship program is. The discussions were interesting but too short. The diversity was evident, whether it was an entrepreneur from the Czech Republic, a magazine editor from Sweden, a police officer from Bangladesh or a teacher from Chile.
I had the opportunity to speak a little more in depth with some of the fellows and was actually able to help set up some meetings in DC and St. Louis for Mohammed from Saudi Telecom and Karin, the Swedish magazine editor. I look at helping set up the meetings now and in the future is the price of admission for the program. They don't ask for very much but it is easy to become passionate about EF and want to do everything that you can.
The last part of the orientation was a great and informative discussion among the USA Fellows and some former USA Fellows at the EF House. They gave great tips and really helped center the discussion on getting the most out of the Fellowship both before, during and after.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
This coming week is really the beginning of my trip. I head to Philadelphia on Wednesday night for orientation and to meet both the other USA Fellows as well as the International Fellows that are starting their program in the US. I am one of the first to go overseas from the USA Fellows group, so I am farther along in the process. I hope to reassure some of the folks that may be nervous. Julie Comito, my program coordinator in Australia, has been absolutely great and hopefully that experience will be the same for other fellows. I'll hope to have more from Philly.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
