Exploring the future of low-carbon transportation fuels

Brendan joined the Great Plains Institute in 2004 and is a vice president. He has ten years of experience leading initiatives to promote deployment of clean energy technology. He works across subject areas, including bioenergy, low-carbon fuels, transportation, energy infrastructure, and sustainable communities. Brendan is an experienced facilitator, energy researcher, policy analyst, project manager, communicator, and advocate. He serves as lead staff for the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota, an industry-led partnership working to commercialize biobased chemical and advanced biofuel technology in Minnesota. He has served for six years in a lead facilitation role for advisory groups to the Midwestern Governors Association focused on fuels and transportation, and is currently working with MGA on alternative fuel refueling infrastructure. He is part of the GreenStep Cities team at GPI, and is working on transportation and land use best practices. He also is part of a team collaborating with Argonne National Laboratories on life cycle accounting methodology for biofuels. He works nationally and regionally on policy to support deployment of low carbon fuels and renewable chemicals. Brendan is part of GPI’s infrastructure team, and helps support the Institute’s work on transmission and the electricity grid.

Erin Meier is Director of Green Lands Blue Waters, a collaborative initiative focused on shifting the agricultural landscape of the Upper Mississippi River Basin to more acres of continuous living cover to improve water quality, soil health, and agricultural and community resilience. Previously, Erin served for 14 years as Executive Director of the University of Minnesota Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership. She has over 20 years of experience and training in sustainable agriculture, local food systems, food access, natural resource conservation, clean energy, community engagement and development, and facilitating cross-sector work groups and networks. Erin holds an MS in Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University and BS in Geography from the University of Illinois.

Michael Reese has been the Renewable Energy Director at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris since 2001. He has overseen the development of the renewable-energy program at Morris and has participated as Principle Investigator or Project Manager on more than $18 million of research and demonstration projects including wind energy, biomass gasification, renewable hydrogen and ammonia, and solar-energy systems. Reese is leading the renewable-energy program’s new strategy to reduce fossil-energy consumption in agricultural production systems through incorporating renewable and efficient energy technologies. He has addressed numerous national and regional conferences on the topic of renewable energy.