The Next Big Thing for Pittsburgh - Energy & Environment Week Program Next April Will Draw Foreign Companies and More Global Media

In April 2010, the Energy & Environment Week trade show in Pittsburgh will bring together hundreds of European companies with hundreds more American firms in the fields of bioenergy, waste and recycling, alternative vehicle fuels and energy efficiency, giving Pittsburgh another chance to showcase its strengths to a world audience.

The conference will attract thousands of researchers, entrepreneurs, potential investors, government officials and the international media to see what Pittsburgh has to offer in the fields of clean/green technology and design, energy research and advanced energy-related manufacturing.

Scheduled for April 12-16, 2010 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Energy & Environment Week will help educate a wide range of audiences about the benefits and challenges of clean technologies, including municipalities, the farm economy, the food industry, the manufacturing and processing sector, investors, the media, and more.

“We plan to have five days full of events such as site tours to projects in the Greater Pittsburgh region, the alternative fuel vehicle ride and drive, many interactive conference sessions and workshops, and a large technology exhibition,” planners said.

The conference’s main organizer is German consulting and trade show marketing company Freesen & Partner GmbH.

For Managing Director Ines Freesen, the similarities between Pittsburgh and Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr Valley, where her company is based, are evident and made for a good fit with the trade show’s focus. Both are formerly steel and coal industry heavy regions whose economies took a serious hit in the 1980s.

“Now, Pittsburgh and the Rhine-Ruhr Valley have become leaders in greening the landscape and in creating a renewable energy industry,” Freesen said. “This development plays nicely with the theme of our event as it reflects how the global economy is changing towards a cleaner, greener way of doing business.”

There is an ongoing cooperation between Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh in particular, and the state of North-Rhine Westphalia to foster technology exchange and create business opportunities for companies in both countries, according to Freesen. “The focus of this agreement is on renewables and a number of projects with American-German participation are already underway,” she said.

The trade show itself can serve as an example in efficiency, conservation and recycling. The trade show’s home, Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center, is the first convention center to receive Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. And Freesen’s local partner in Pittsburgh, Stetson Convention Services uses recycled and biodegradable products and even has indoor forklifts powered by natural gas.

Freesen is optimistic that the recently completed Pittsburgh Summit will set the stage for events like Energy & Environment Week. “We certainly hope that the G-20 will set the right mood for a wide-spread discussion on the global energy challenge can be met, and that the world will regard Pittsburgh as a leader in this field. A whole new and still rapidly growing industry has been created in the last decade. This is something we should be proud of and capitalize on.”

More information at www.ee-week.com.