Energy experts available at oil depletion conference

Global Oil Depletion and Implications for the Pacific Northwest is the title of an Oct. 4-5 conference that will feature world and national energy experts analyzing energy outlooks and conservation strategies. 

The conference, presented by Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, will be held at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane. A complete conference schedule and information on the speakers and panel discussion subjects is available online at http://capps.wsu.edu/globaloil/. All press conferences will be held in the hotel’s Porter Room.

Three keynote speakers will hold a press conference from 1:45 to 2:15 p.m.

Oct. 5 to discuss the geophysical and geopolitical implications of peak oil production and the rising costs of energy.

Speakers will be Matthew Simmons, chairman and chief executive officer of the energy investment banking firm Simmons & Company International and author of “Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy”; Herman Franssen, who has served as president of International Energy Associates Inc. of Chevy Chase, Md., since 1996; and Roger Bezdek, founder and president of Management Information Services Inc, who will focus on possible mitigation strategies that our region and nation can embrace in order to lessen the impact of peak oil production.

Press conferences from 2:15 to 3 p.m. will discuss regional solutions.

Groups of panelists will talk about what the Pacific Northwest can do and is doing to deal with higher energy costs and how we can create sustainable communities that are less dependent on imported fossil fuels.

A discussion of bioenergy will feature Dave Sjoding, WSU Energy Program; Chad Krueger, WSU Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources; Jim Armstrong, Spokane Conservation District; and Shulin Chen, WSU Biological Systems Engineering. WSU researchers are examining bioenergy in the belief that these products can be viable alternatives to our current dependence on imported oil. Panelists can answer questions about commercialization of these products and what is feasible in the foreseeable future.

Mike Davis, associate laboratory director for energy science and technology, will be available to discuss Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s research on viable energy alternatives.

Jim Eckman of the U.S Department of Energy; Robert Dunbar, Strategy West Inc.; and Jim Patten, Battelle, will discuss liquid fuel options and their viability in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide.

Robert Wendling, Management Information Systems Inc.; Eric Jessup, WSU School of Economic Sciences; and Andrew Franks, University of California-Davis will discuss transportation alternatives and strategies as society adapts to new energy realities.

From 3 to 3:15 p.m., a panel will discuss the future role for the Spokane area and for WSU in promoting research that responds to the energy challenges. Included in the panel will be Melissa Ahern of WSU Spokane; Ed Weber, director of WSU’s Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service; Jesse Berst, president, Center for Smart Energy; Kim Zentz, executive director, Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute; Brian Pitcher, chancellor of WSU Spokane; and Bob Scarfo, WSU Spokane Interdisciplinary Design Institute.