Electric car pioneer to keynote 2008 Energy Expo
Organizers of the 2008 Energy & Sustainability Expo are lining up speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, energy demonstrations and more for the September 13 & 14 event in Cedar Falls. Look for a larger demonstration and Clean Car show this year, as well as more presenters and great keynotes.
Wally Rippel will be the keynote speaker on Saturday, September 13. Until very recently, Rippel (rhymes with ‘bell’) worked for Tesla Motors, a company that manufactures the Tesla Roadster, the only highway capable production electric car of any kind for sale in the United States. Rippel is a long-time proponent of electric vehicles. Prior to joining Tesla, he served as an engineer at AeroVironment, where he helped develop the EV1 for General Motors and was featured in the documentary movie, Who Killed the Electric Car? Rippel has also worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on electric vehicle battery research, among other projects. In 1968, as a Caltech undergraduate student, he built an electric car (a converted 1958 Volkswagen microbus) and won the Great Transcontinental Electric Car Race against MIT.
Professor Jane Davidson, Director of the University of Minnesota's Solar Energy Laboratory, will be the Keynote speaker on Sunday of the EXPO. Her efforts in research and engineering education have been recognized with the 2007 American Solar Energy Society Charles Greeley Abbot Award and the 2005 University of Minnesota Distinguished Women Scholar Award in Science and Engineering.