Bios

Title: Keynote Address.   Speaker: R. Paul Orentas

Over the past 12 years, Mr. Orentas has been involved in multiple biomass based development efforts in Virginia, including a proposed biofuel production facility in Mecklenburg County in 2001. His firm, ThinkBox. is a leading provider of energy management and technology commercialization consulting services. In 1998, Mr. Orentas drafted a paper entitled, "Technology Roadmap For Marketing U.S. Biopower: The Role of Biopower in the New Energy Business Model" on behalf of Department of Energy’s Office of Utility Technologies. Most recently Paul served as principal investigator on a study on the economic and environmental effects of biofuel production on the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Mr. Orentas has been a member of Governor’s Commission for Climate Change.

Paul has an M.B.A. from George Washington University and a B.A. in physics from the University of Virginia.

Title: European Environment—Sweden.   Speaker: Lars Roth

Mr. Roth has his Master's Degree in Economics from Linkoping University, and has studied in Norway, Australia and the Philippines. He worked at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency from 2001-2004 where he was involved in a broad area of environmental issues. From 2004-2007, Lars Roth held a position with the Department of the Environment where he worked on energy streamlining in buildings and other construction and energy related issues.

He has been Second Secretary at the Section for Trade and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington since February 2008 with the focus on energy and climate issues.

Title: Home Use Bioenergy Practices.   Speaker: Dillon Franks

Mr. Franks is President & Partner in Relevant Ideas, LLC, a management services firm specializing in business strategies, marketing, public relations and research commercialization, primarily for alternative energy technology and other sustainable enterprises. Mr. Franks’ business career spans 40 years involvement in agriculture, construction, finance, biomass fuel and appliances, sales and marketing industries. During that time he has served as a Small Business advisor to the 2nd Iowa Congressional District, Treasurer of the Clinton Iowa Area Development Corp., and a Small Business Development Counselor in Tennessee, Minnesota and Virginia.

Title: Energy Cost Floors–Carbon Pricing & Tax Environment.   Speaker: Bryan Eckstein

Mr. Eckstein joined Perrin Quarles Assocs. in August 2006 as an environmental and information technology analyst. He is currently a project manager supporting implementation of a domestic GHG emissions trading program. He also performs testing, design and documentation of PQA software and creates specifications for other software supporting domestic and international GHG emission trading registries. In 2003, prior to joining PQA, Mr. Eckstein worked as a Researcher for the Wealth from Waste Project at the University of Witwatesrand Rural Facility in Acornhoek, South Africa. His work for this project included helping to create scenarios of economic empowerment and fuel wood access for local communities, teaching environmental sustainability fundamentals, and leading career and college motivation sessions at a rural high school. His previous work experience also includes economic and demographic analysis for the Weldon Cooper Center and college admissions counseling.

Title: Energy Cost Floors–Renewable Portfolio Standards.   Speaker: William F. Hall, III

Mr. Hall is a visiting/adjunct professor recently appointed to Halsey Professor Chair at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Specifically focused on the business minor, Prof. Hall’s program is offered to 3rd and 4th year engineering students and highlights strategic planning, organizational design, and new product development life cycle. Prior to joining UVa, Prof. Hall provided technical and organizational consulting services to electric utilities. His long career in power generation includes many in the upper management levels of Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, NC. He is a professional engineer and holds a BS from the University of Virginia.

Title: Efficiency Expands Limited Resources.   Speaker: Al Weed

Mr. Weed owns and operates Mountain Cove Vineyards in Nelson County and is a founder of the Virginia Wine Industry. He was involved in every significant legislative, regulatory and organizational development of this now vibrant industry’s first quarter century. Twice the Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional District, he worked for World Bank and the Arthur Lipper Corporation before settling in Central Virginia. Mr. Weed is the founder of Rural Nelson, a preservation group in his home county, and has served as a board member, director, and trustee for numerous non-profit concerns. He serves on the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He served in the US Army Reserve for nearly 43 years, retiring from Army Special Operations as a Command Sergeant Major after active duty in both Viet Nam and Bosnia. He currently spends half of his time in the daily operations of Public Policy Virginia, acting as its Executive Director. He has a BA (cum laude) from Yale in Latin American Studies (with Highest Honors) and a Master’s Degree in Economic Development and Political Modernization from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. He writes and speaks frequently about a broad range of public policy issues.

Title: Alternative Energy in Sweden.   Speaker: The Hon. Michael M. Wood

Ambassador Wood is Chairman of Redwood Investments, LLC, a Washington, DC investment company concentrating in media, real estate, and technology. From 2006-2009 he was US Ambassador to Sweden.

Shortly after being sworn in June 5, 2006, he announced that his top priority as Ambassador was cooperation between the U.S. and Sweden in alternative energy technology. During his tenure as Ambassador he traveled to all 21 län (counties) in Sweden looking for alternative energy companies that can benefit from cooperation with American venture capital and research institutions. The Ambassador’s list of the best of these Swedish companies contains 52 firms. In recognition for this work, on October 22, 2008 Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson presented Wood the ESBRI Award for the person who has done the most for entrepreneurship in Sweden. In its October 29, 2008 edition Ny Teknik magazine placed Wood at #4 on its list of the 10 most important people in Sweden in the energy field. On February 6, 2009 in a ceremony at the House of Sweden in Washington, he was presented the William Wachtmeister Award for advancing Swedish-American relations.

Ambassador Wood is former CEO of Hanley Wood, LLC, the leading media company in the housing and construction industry and one of the ten largest business-to-business media companies in the U.S. He founded the company with Michael J. Hanley in 1976 and after building it up for 30 years, Wood and his partners sold Hanley Wood to JPMorgan Partners on August 1, 2005.

Title: The Chemistry of Bioenergy.   Speaker: Dr. Donald C. Wells

Dr. Wells is an astronomer (Ph.D., Astronomy, Texas, 1972) who retired from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, in 2004, after a 40-year career as a telescope control, instrumentation & data analysis software system designer. Mr. Wells became concerned about petroleum depletion at the time of the oil embargoes in the 1970s, and studied the subject during subsequent decades. When it became obvious that global warming implied that we must move away from fossil fuels, he concluded that biofuels must be a key component of our future post-Peak-Oil strategy. In particular, the NRDC’s Growing Energy report (Dec 2004) convinced him of the potential for biofuels in the USA. Mr. Wells is a member of the Stewardship of Creation committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, of the Charlottesville Peak Oil group, and of the Virginia Biomass Energy Group. He has spoken to various groups on Peak Oil in recent years. In February/March 2008, Don taught a course for UVA-OLLI(JILL) with the title Peak Oil, Biofuels and Sustainability.

Title: Pellet Production.   Speaker: William T. Carden Jr.

Mr. Carden is CEO of Potomac Supply Corporation, an award-winning manufacturer of wood products from lumber to pellets, located in Kinsale, VA. Potomac Supply has been held in his family since 1948 and takes pride in its technologically advanced and environmentally responsible record. Prior to taking the helm of Potomac Supply, he co-founded Carden Jennings Publishing Co., Ltd., in 1985 and served as President & CEO of ScholarOne, which provides web-based workflow solutions for scholarly publishers.

Title: Torrefaction.   Speaker: Walt Dickinson

Walt Dickinson is the founder and Managing Director of Integro Earth Fuels, LLC which is headquartered in Asheville North Carolina. The company is developing the first commercial biomass torrefaction facility in Roxboro, NC and has a pilot plant and research facility in Gramling, South Carolina.

Dickinson, a University of Southern California graduate with a degree in Business-Marketing, started his career in Product Management with Carnation/Nestles in Los Angeles. He is the founder of several successful entrepreneurial ventures in the information technology industry. His companies have developed paint weighing and formulation equipment for the refinish paint industry in a joint venture with PPG Industries, a digital imaging system for State Farm Insurance, and consumer data products for Consumer Guide and Experian Credit Information. Over the years he has done Marketing Consulting for ADP, Farmers Insurance, Guthy-Renker Products, Sam’s Club and other major corporations.

Dickinson has done extensive market research in the biomass energy and fuel markets. He has traveled and met with many of the top companies in this emerging field, in the U.S. and Europe, concluding in early 2007 that torrefied biomass would be a significant technology for this growing industry.

Title: District Energy.   Speaker: Dr. Morris A. Pierce

Dr. Pierce is energy manager and adjunct assistant professor of history at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. He has been with the University of Rochester since 1988, when he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of cogeneration and district heating while managing the university's energy needs. He has written numerous articles on district energy and local heat supply planning, as well as the history of these subjects, and also teaches courses on the history of technology, environment and energy at the university.

Dr. Pierce holds a Bachelor of Science from the US Military Academy at West Point, a Master's from the University of Northern Colorado, and a Doctorate from the University of Rochester.