 |
|
|
 |
David's Sojourn Ends on Earth Day 2009
David ended his environmental sojourn on Wednesday, April 22, Earth Day, with a visit to The Alliance for Climate Protection. The Alliance’s mission is to persuade the American people—and people elsewhere in the world—of the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate
|
|
crisis. This was the perfect conclusion to David’s sojourn, because his wish to help the environment is based on the same principles as the Alliance’s. He is passionate about learning and sharing all he can on the plight of our environment and the solutions that will keep our planet healthy. David was driven to the Alliance by Green Carpet Limo, a Bay Area eco-friendly chauffeured car service. Just prior to his visit, Daved was informed that he would be receiving a phone call from another environmentalist, Al Gore, who is Chairman of the Board of the Alliance. Mr. Gore took time out of his busy schedule to call David from Washington, DC, where he was celebrating Earth Day. At the conclusion of the call, everyone could see how pleased David was with his private conversation with Mr. Gore. As David was leaving the Alliance, Greater Bay Area chapter Executive Director, Patricia Wilson, asked him if there was anything about his wish that he thought could have been changed or improved. He replied that everything he had wished and hoped for had come true.
|
|
March 6: Acciona Solar Power
|
|
David made a trip to Nevada to see how massive the potential of solar power can be in our country. He was invited to visit Acciona’s Nevada Solar One, operated and maintained by Acciona Solar Power. This solar plant is the third largest in the world. Employing the technology of concentrating solar power, the plant produces enough energy to power more than 14,000 households annually and has the potential to compete directly with conventional fossil fuel powered technologies. David was given a personal tour of the facility by plant manager Bob Cable, who was impressed by the level of David's knowledge, and even thrown off-guard by the intricate nature of a few of David's questions. During the tour David was given instruction in aligning the panels and even had the opportunity to run the plant briefly!
|
   |
|
January 19: ThermaSource and Far Niente Winery
|
|
|
David and his family spent a full day in wine country visiting two companies that are on the forefront of environmental conservatism. His first stop was in Santa Rosa at ThermaSource, a leader in geothermal drilling. After meeting with geologists, drilling engineers and geothermal industry leaders at corporate headquarters, David traveled to the Bottle Rock Power Plant in Lake County, where ThermaSource is drilling steam wells. David was given a tour of the geothermal power plant and then had the thrill of climbing to the top of Rig 108, the tallest drilling rig in California.
Next David was off to see the floating
|
|
solar panels at Far Niente Winery in Oakville. Wanting to invest in solar energy, but concerned about the amount of arable land that would have been given over to solar panels, the winery decided to try placing photvoltaic panels on pontoons floating on its irrigation pond. The system, known as a Floatovoltaic solar array, is the first-ever system and technology of its kind in the world. David had the opportunity meet winemaker, Greg Allen, who came up with the innovative idea, and tour the solar array. For his trip home, David was given a ride in a Tesla Roadster, an all-electric, zero-emission vehicle, which was charged from the floating solar panels.
|
|
  
|
|
November 21: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
|
|
|
David had the opportunity to travel to Golden, CO, to the “crown jewel” of the Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL). To start off his trip, he was driven to the airport, compliments of PlanetTran, the nation's first eco-friendly car service, which uses only environmentally-friendly hybrid vehicles. The focus of his visit, |
| the NREL, is the nation’s primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.He and his family spent a full day at the facility and his visit drew the attention of about 25 of the lab’s top administrators and researchers. While there, NREL Director, Dan Arvizu, named David an honorary research fellow and gave him all the accoutrements of a scientist, including a lab coat, business cards and a PowerPoint presentation on climate change and renewable energy. |
|
September 25: NASA and Bloom Energy
|
|
Jack Boyd & David at NASA
|
David had the opportunity to visit NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View and Bloom Energy in Sunnyvale to meet a number of scientists working on cutting edge green technologies. He was given a personalized tour of the NASA Exploration Center. His guide, Jack Boyd, Senior advisor to the Center Director and Ames Historian, provided information regarding NASA technology and missions into space. He also was able to meet one on one with Jonathan Trent, a NASA astrobiologist and lead to NASA’s Global Research into Energy and the Environment (GREEN) team. Following his visit to NASA he then went to visit Bloom Energy, which develops a flexible fuel cell system that produces clean, reliable and affordable energy from a wide range of fuels. He met with KR Sridhar, the principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. |
|
There were several highlights to David’s visit with numerous scientists and technologists at both NASA and Bloom Energy where discussions ranged from energy and environmental challenges on earth to space travel. David was encouraged to talk about his own experiments, as well. “It was gratifying to see everyone so curious about David and his projects,” said Patricia Wilson, Executive Director. “Probably the best advice he got was from KR Sridhar who said, ‘From one inventor to another, never accept an answer if you believe something different. Go in search of the truth.’”
|
|
August 25: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
|
|
For the third stop on David’s environmental sojourn, he was invited to spend the entire afternoon at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, where the staff planned a full schedule of activities for him. To start off this leg of his adventure, David and his family were driven to the Lab in a 100+ MPG plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) from the California Cars Initiative. Founder Felix Kramer was David’s personal chauffeur for the trip. David’s schedule for the afternoon included lunch with Lab Deputy Director Paul Alivisatos and students, a meeting with several scientists who work in the Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, a tour of the Lab, including a demonstration of the world’s most powerful microscope and a meeting with Berkeley Lab Director and Nobel laureate Steve Chu, followed by a reception in his honor. Along with his growing project portfolio David now has business cards reading “Future Environmental Specialist” that he hands out on his visits. Some of the topics he was interested in learning more about at the Berkeley Lab included making solar cells with carbon nanotubes, building a hydrocraft using ions and building a time machine. Our wish escort who accompanied David said that Steve Chu seemed very impressed by David and his ideas, and that David “appeared completely at home with all the scientists. Several of them joked that they would look for him when he does his post-doctorate work there.”
|
  
Arrival in PHEV Election Microscope With Steve Chu |
|
June 24: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
|
|
David & his mother Marie with John Doerr (2nd from left) and partners
|
| David's sojourn began in earnest when he was driven in an energy-efficient Toyota Prius to the Menlo Park office of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a company that is actively investing in Greentech innovation and entrepreneurs. This was David’s first opportunity to present his project portfolio, which impressed several of the company’s partners. Actually, according to the wish escort, “They were WOWed by David and his knowledge.” Partner John Doerr, who is well-known in the industry for his passion in green technology innovation and for his backing of exceptional social and policy entrepreneurs, gave two hours of his time to meet with David. Doerr offered David the opportunity to be part of the “Inconvenient Youth,” a group of young people who are being trained to give Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth slide show to groups. He also asked David to make him one promise – that when David starts his first business he will give KPCB first right of refusal to fund his company. After his meeting David was given a sample of a new solar cell that is still in the making and a book autographed by Al Gore. When asked if his wish was proceeding as he had wanted, David said, “This is exactly what I hoped for – this is perfect!” |
|
June 12, 2008: Wish Kick-Off - The Green Business Awards
|
|
David's father Derek, David and Bob Walsh, President of LS9
|
|
Thirteen-year-old David wants to help the environment. He has been researching renewable energy and working on a number of science projects in the hope that his ideas will one day help improve the environment. When given the opportunity to wish for anything, he decided to use his wish to help others. He wants to meet scientists who are involved in renewable energy research and share his ideas with them. Since there are so many specific alternative fuel industries, the Greater Bay Area chapter decided to send David, who is battling leukemia, on an “environmental sojourn” over the course of the next year to meet with innovators and leaders in the field.
The kick-off of David’s wish happened on June 12 at the Green Business Awards, hosted by the San Francisco Business Timesat the Fairmont Hotel San Francisco. The event honored leaders and entrepreneurs in green business, clean tech, energy conservation, alternative energy and sustainable business practices. David was asked to present the award in the “Energy-Fuels” category, which was won by LS9, a South San Francisco-based bio-fuel maker which uses engineered bacteria to spin sugar and wood chips into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. After the award ceremony his mother reported, “What really amazed David was the number of people there who actually listened to what he was saying!” David has prepared a portfolio of his projects to share with the scientists he will be meeting on his environmental sojourn.
|
|
|
