A Convergence Long Past Due

These few days prior to RETECH 2010 have been fast-paced to say the least. We are proud to announce that we have been granted financial funding through the opportunity fund. Without this aid from the school, a trip of this size to Washington D.C. may not have been possible. Thanks goes out to the Dean of Students as well as to the members of RES that helped in determining the budget. The Renewable Energy Society will be arriving in D.C. Tuesday morning. Upon arrival, we will be attending a volunteer meeting to receive our position assignments and get acquainted with the conference center. Nine blogging positions have opened up at the conference on a first come, first serve basis, and one has been granted to our group. It will be our duty to cover the speakers on geothermal power, hydro and ocean power, and advanced vehicles and batteries. These blogs will be linked to Twitter and Facebook. Exact addresses will be available in the next couple of days, so keep posted.

Last Thursday, the Renewable Energy Society got together with ISU's solar car race team, Team Mercury. While standing in the "Bond-like" basement lab of ISU's Science Laboratory Building, the two groups on opposite sides of the room, it seemed as though the Society and Team Mercury were a match made in heaven. Each of our groups have qualities and attributes that the other can build off of. We have members with a great knowledge of solar power, and they have the means of building a fully functional car. With this connection, we hope to help form a race-winning team. The solar car team is open to any and all students to work on. It is worked on forty hours a week for two semesters all the way until the race from Texas to Illinois begins mid-summer. If you would like more information on working on the solar car, feel free to email Dan Buckley at cdbuckl@ilstu.edu. This solar car project has the potential to bring much needed publicity to our new and growing student organization. Not only will it bring us good publicity, but it will also strengthen our reputation with the university. It is a wonder why this match was not been made before.

Stay tuned for an update over the next couple of days. There is sure to be more information on both next week's conference and the solar car race team.

RES