President Bush told workers at Golden’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory this morning, “you’re doing great work here.”
After spending the night in Englewood, the president arrived at the laboratory’s pilot biomass refinery which converts biomass into ethanol. He was given a tour by NREL director Dan Arvizu.
Wearing a blue NREL hardhat and safety glasses, surrounded by two-story fermenters and steampipes, the president looked over a table which held samples of corn stover, corn stalks, switchgrass and woodchips, which can be converted into fuel for cars and other devices.
He picked up a poplar log before giving the compliment, around 9 a.m. during a short photo opportunity. He did not take any questions.
The president then participated in a panel discussion on energy conservation. The audience was comprised mostly of NREL workers, and prominent local politicians including Gov. Bill Owens, former senator and current CU president Hank Brown, Attorney General John Suthers, and Reps. Mark Udall and Bob Beauprez.
“I really appreciate the scientists and the dreamers, and more importantly the doers who work here,” Bush said.
He outlined why it’s so important for America to achieve energy independence, and he outlined a plan calling for an emphasis on many types of renewable energy, including solar and wind power which NREL also studies.
The president said he wants the U.S. to be a global leader in technology.
“Using corn for fuel helps our farmers, and it helps our foreign policy at the same time,” he said.
The refinery’s use of biomass is the next step in developing a technology which currently uses corn itself to create fuel. The goal is set corn aside for the world’s food supply, and to tap instead products usually seen as waste.
In response to recent budget cutbacks, which forced NREL to lay off dozens of workers, whose jobs were just restored last weekend,the president said that he and Arvizu had discussed their “mutual desire to clear up any discrepancies in funding.”
The president said he marvelled at the work scientists at NREL are performing.
“It’s got to make you feel good about your work because you’re doing the country a great service,” he said.
Today’s visit to Colorado is the last leg in a three-city tour to promote energy independence, a priority that the president set during his State of the Union address last month.
The NREL began operating in 1977 and has 900 employees, including 600 scientists, working in eight major research labs on a 327-acre campus off Interstate 70.
The lab is home to national centers for bioenergy, wind technology and photovoltaics, which convert sunlight to electricity.
Bush choppered into Buckley late this morning after his NREL events. There he briefly shook hands with several dozen uniformed military personnel, some of whom had their families with them, before boarding Air Force One and taking off.
Gov. Bill Owens boarded Air Force One with Bush. Owens is attending the National Governors’ Association Winter Meeting in Washington this weekend.
