Adam Kreek: olympic rower, Stanford graduate, former oilfield worker. After next year’s Olympics, he is determined to make his mark in the biofuel industry. Adam plans to start his own biodiesel production plants together with his wife, back in his home country of Canada. Adam is one of the many young enterpreneurs in clean and renewable energy production. He is determined to make a difference and convinced that he can. Adam talks with Tim, one of the students in my class, about his dreams and ambitions.

Meet Professor Pam Matson, dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University and renowned scientist. Pam is super-excited about the opportunities that ever-increasing levels of private and industrial funding for energy and environmental research offer. How can universities contribute to finding sustainable energy sources and solutions to global warming? And, is there a risk that research at academic institutions, which should be unbiased, is tainted because of industrial funding? Hear what Pam has to say and meet this energetic leader.

Global warming is happening, and one of the culprits is likely increased emission levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a result of our energy usage. Lynn Orr is director of the Global Climate and Energy Project and one of the world’s leading experts on global warming and CO2 emissions. He says we need to take urgent action now to reduce the risk of a global catastrophe, by increasing energy efficiency, investing in energy resources such as wind and solar with low emissions, and researching potential carbon dioxide sequestration processes.

This talk was part of the “End of Oil” debate, at Stanford University in March 2006.

It’s exciting to see young engineers excited about designing new green energy technologies. Meet one of them: Adam Kreek. Adam designed and built a (small scale!) biodiesel plant in the basement of my university building, which takes waste oils and fats from industry and households as stockfeed. Such systems can make a difference in local communities.