Why Canada?
It's a brilliant start to the annual Canadian Wind Energy Association Conference and Exhibition on a windy, rainy Vancouver morning. While small groups of adventurers took various tours of local facilities including the Grouse Mountain "Eye of the Wind" tower your intrepid reporter hung out in the hotel room waiting for engineering to fix the room's heater. Why Canada indeed!After buying another umbrella, I slogged around the convention center to ooh and ah at the sculptures left behind from the 2010 Olympics, the high rise apartment buildings courtesy of Hong Kong investors and the gorgeous view of Coal Harbor. The rain seemed to disappear as my mood improved and I started to appreciate just where I had ended up.
In this center of international development, the world of wind technologies sends their brightest thinkers, forward-looking movers and shakers to challenge the future of energy. CanWea enthusiastically reflects the potential of converging technologies and opportunities of this international crowd. As the wind blows steadily through the canyons of skyscrapers I'm feeling more confident about the industry itself.
Why Canada? What makes this the place where developers, manufacturers, engineers and investors need to be for a week in October? The answer could lie in the history of the country itself. As Vancouver itself claims: "Pushed by nature, they (Canadian immigrants) became more inventive. Despite conflicting interests, they learned from other cultures and, in the process, learned respect. In a remarkably short time, these not-so-common people laid the foundation for the culture of innovation, education, tolerance, and common human decency we strive for today. It wasn't easy."
This 2011 Conference is the 27th annual Conference and Exhibition. From humble beginnings, the innovations and culture of invention grew the event to this year's expected attendance of over 2000 delegates from around the world.
Why Canada? Surrounded by this much potential where else could I be this week?