It’s incredible how many products and plans can be turned into energy– cow dung, turkey poop, chicken lard, old tires, etc.– and this is exciting… because it can reduce the environmental impact of many businesses, increase profitability (they sell their waste), and create thousands of jobs.

It won’t solve the whole problem, but imagine what could happen if all of these sources really opened up. This could be huge.

I appreciated the comment, and I didn’t intend to sound dismissive.

And Drew, I agree with every thing you said. We are on the cusp. Ask Alexandria’s urban forester about our incredible tree canopy and what it could mean for carbon capturing.

I’m glad you guys enjoyed the conference. Dr. Reith was quite impressed with the city’s interest in sustainable and progressive development and told me he looks forward to the opportunity to work with everyone in the future.

I would like to repeat what I have written in previous posts regarding biofuels and Cenla:

The alternative energy marketplace is to Alexandria in the 21st Century what the oil boom was in the 20th.

Louisiana’s economy in the first half of the 20th was white with sugar and cotton, in the latter half black with oil, but in the 21st it will be green or it will die.

We can either embrace the move toward sustainability and become a leader in alternative energies, biofuels production, carbon trading, and innovation or we can pray that $100 per barrel oil continues to pour from our wells and fuel the state’s coffers.

We all know oil’s time is limited. It’s simply going away. The question is, will we allow our economy to fizzle with the last gurgles of the traditional petrochemical industry or will we innovate, and become a leader in our energy future.

Alexandria missed the energy boom of the last century. We don’t have much oil, that’s understandable. However, we are green. We have more trees, crops, open space, and living natural resources than anywhere else in the region. We are the intersection of forestry and agriculture, of farmers and oil workers.

We have the regions largest forestry company and the largest electricity producer. Will we sit back and let the green energy future happen elsewhere or will we give Alexandria it’s opportunity to shine?

This is the question, and it is a time-sensitive issue. We can either act, or we can sit back and watch the rest of the state prosper (again).