A group of junior high students from Boise, Idaho has won first place in the National Fuel Cell Competition at the 2008 National Middle School Science Bowl in Golden, Colo.
This story from KBCI-TV in Boise says it was a good chance for the students to learn… and the sponsoring U.S. Department of Energy to get some new ideas:
“Each team started out with their motor and this fuel cell,” said eighth grader, Alex Baca, one of the master minds behind the design of the car. “And it was up to you to design some kind of car.”
Five students from the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center at Riverglen Junior High school are bringing home the overall first place trophy in the National Alternative Fuel Cell Competition for their little hydrogen cell vehicle.
“This year we got a monster trophy, so we can show everybody this is what we did and this is what we got,” said Eddie Smith, an eighth grader on the team.
The US Department of Energy sponsored this week’s National Middle School Science Bowl in Colorado, all in search, for creative ideas when it comes to researching alternative fuels.
One of the students’ mentors said while hydrogen may or may not be the answer to the nation’s energy problems… but they won’t know if it is the answer until they ask questions like this.
On May 25th, 2008, an F5 tornado ripped through the town of Parkersburg, Iowa… killing six people and practically wiping out the small town in Northeast Iowa. Now, with some help from biodiesel, the town is rebuilding.
Due to the current market volatility, 
To wrap things up here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference I spoke with board member, Cornelius Gallagher. He says the conference brought together world class leaders who were able to listen to some fantastic presentations. I’ve posted interviews with almost all of them so please scroll back through them.
What we know and what we need to know was Peggy Caswell’s, USDA-ERS, topic here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She says we need to know things about how farmers or the providers of biofuels and feed stocks are going to have to change the way they do business. She used the example of having to look at different types of contracts and financing.
The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture.
Our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics is Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks we should be concerned because most of the corn will be moved by truck and that’s going to impact rural roads. He also sees an increase in rail transportation but not significantly.
During our discussion on the infrastructure needs of a Transition To A Bio Economy, we heard from Paul Hammes, Union Pacific Railroad. Of course his focus was on rail infrastructure and as it relates to biofuels. Specifically, he spoke to the different pieces of that supply chain like rail cars, the rail network and unload/load capacity.