Then and Now: 120 Bioeconomy Pioneers look at yesterday, today, inspirations and challenges

Bill Brandon

Then: I was a self employed architect with my youngest child just graduating from high school.  Having been introduced into bio-energy 17 years before for a project in Belize CA and an avowed gearhead, I was following developments in ethanol and gasification.

Now:I am now retired from my architecture practice and am working in the field of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA).  I am researching and designing a prototype facility that will lower energy requirements and lower operating costs.  The objective of the work is to arrive at a facility that is totally powered with food waste and MSW.

Inspirations: I believe the world is moving to a new living protocol.  While the population will become more urban and centralized, our source of energy and food will become more distributed rather than centralized.  This is also the nature of the advanced bioeconomy, a distributed platform. In my little corner of the bioeconomy, I attempt to integrate new technologies into a logical relation that results in a more efficient whole.

Challenges: What I find most challenging is that people still have very distinct silos that the operate in, even with those with new technologies.

Modernizing the Electric Grid And its Integration with the Transportation Sector