Today we have a field report from guest blogger Steve Harvey, who just got back from the Going Green 2007 conference, created by Tony Perkins of Red Herring fame.

Attending the Clean Energy
Venture Summit 2007 here in Austin in May helped me personally make the
decision to move from high tech to cleantech. And, as Bryan noted last week (Austin Companies in "Going Green 100"), the Austin area is
home to numerous leading emerging cleantech ventures.

So it was with great anticipation that I attended the GoingGreen
2007 conference last week (held at the University of California, Davis
campus). Tony Perkins is “on a roll” with his AlwaysOn conferences, and this event was well attended and
highly regarded.

William McDonough (author of
“Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things”) delivered
the opening keynote Monday evening and really set a positive tone for the next
two days. His message is that we have the opportunity to leave a positive green
legacy. His words “being less bad is not being good” echoed throughout
the halls. And, I was (pleasantly) surprised to hear McDonough say, “growth
is good … if we follow nature’s laws.”

Ed Ring (founder
of “EcoWorld – The Global
Environmental Community”) was instrumental in the content and flow of the
agenda. In his opening remarks, he highlighted 3 top sectors (photovoltaic,
water, and energy storage), and discussed two more he feels are wild cards
(biofuel, and fossil fuel). As Ed noted, there are “many shades of
green!”

In addition to the presentations and panels, the conference featured “CEO
Pitches” which were then followed by in-depth dialog opportunities in the
networking room (separate from the main auditorium). There were so many things
going on at the same time, thank goodness all of the presentations are posted
and available for viewing at AlwaysOn
GoingGreen Presentation Archives.