WASHINGTON, February 7, 2008—Prominent keynote speakers are rapidly confirming their participation at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008) hosted by the U.S. Government, March 4-6, 2008.

"The U.S. Government is pleased that so many world renowned leaders will speak at WIREC 2008," said Ambassador Reno Harnish, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science. "The lineup of confirmed speakers is world-class across the entire agenda and bodes well for attendees from around the globe that represent civil society, government, and business."

Confirmed speakers added to an already distinguished list include Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Energy, European Commission; Herman Scheer, General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE), Member of the German Bundestag; Walter Kohn, Nobel Laureate; Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, President and CEO Petrobras; Buyelwa Sunjica, Minister of Minerals and Energy, South Africa; Marcelo Tokman, Minister of Energy Chile; Connie Hedegaard, Minister for Climate and Energy, Denmark; George Pataki, former New York Governor; Vinod Khosla, Founder and CEO, Khosla Ventures and Sun Microsystems; and David Hales, President, College of the Atlantic.

WIREC 2008 is comprised of a Ministerial-level meeting co-located with the Trade Show and Business Conference at WIREC 2008. The Trade Show and Business Conference are being organized by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and 14 domestic and international renewable energy trade associations. For information about Official Side Events being held at WIREC 2008, please visit http://www.americanrenewables.org/about_official_side_events.htm.

WIREC 2008 is the third global ministerial-level conference on renewable energy, following events in Beijing in 2005 and Bonn in 2004. Additional speaker confirmations will be announced soon at www.wirec2008.gov. WIREC 2008 will take place at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

The following are WIREC 2008 keynote speakers already announced:

• Samuel Bodman, Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
• Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Ed Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Stephen Johnson, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the United States
• Millie Dresselhaus M.I.T. professor;
• Mohamed El-Ashry, Chairman, Renewable Energy Network-21;
• Tony Hayward, the Chief Executive Officer of BP;
• Michael Liebreich, CEO of New Energy Finance;
• Maud Olofsson, the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden;
• Wolfgang Paltz, EC Commissioner;
• Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota

The following are WIREC 2008 Ministerial speakers confirmed to date:

• Jose Achache, Director, Group on Earth Observations
• Sarah Adams, CEO, Global Village Energy Partnership
• Dan Arvizu, Director, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Yusof Basiron, CEO, Malaysian Palm Oil Council
• Sundar Bajgain, Head Biogas Programs, Bangladesh
• Noam Ben-Ozer, Managing Director, Focal Energy
• Amina Benkhadra, Minister, Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water, and Environment
• David Bohigian, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Marta Bonifert, Executive Director, Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
• Gale Buchanan, Under Secretary Research, Education, and Economics, USDA
• Kristjan Guy Burgess, Reykjavik Energy
• Anil Cabraal, Energy, Specialist, World Bank
• John Cavalier, CEO, CSFB
• Corrado Clini, Chair, Global Bioenergy Partnership
• Linda Conlin, Vice Chair and First Vice President, Export Import Bank
• Patrick J. D'Addario, President, Fiorello H. LaGuardia Foundation
• Silvio Crestana, President for Embrapa, Brazil
• William Dar, Director General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
• Tom Delay, Chief Executive, UK Carbon Trust
• Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• Thomas Dorr, Chairman, Secretary's Energy Council and Undersecretary for Rural Development, USDA
• Miles Drake, Senior Vice President, Research & Development, Weyerhaeuser Co.
• Ana Estanqueiro, Chair International Energy Administration, Wind Executive Committee, INETI - Departamento de Energias Renováveis, Portugal
• Douglas Faulkner, Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development, USDA
• Christopher Flavin, President, WorldWatch
• Nancy Floyd, Founder and Managing Partner, Nth Power
• Mark Fulton, Managing Director, Global Head of Strategic Planning and Climate Change, Deutche Bank
• Sigmar Gabriel, Environment Minister of Germany
• José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, President and CEO, Petrobras
• V.K. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director, Power Finance Corp
• Steve Gatto, CEO, Chief Executive Officer, Bioenergy International
• Prodipto Ghosh, Senior Advisor to Prime Minister of India and Distinguished Fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute
• Arnold Goldman, Founder and CEO, Luz II
• Hank Habicht, Vice Chairman of the Global Environment and Technology Foundation
• David Hales, President, College of the Atlantic
• Donna Harman, President and CEO, American Forest & Paper Association
• Connie Hedegaard, Minister for Climate and Energy, Denmark
• John Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy, Harvard University
• Marcos Jank, President and CEO, Brazilian Sugar Cane Industry Association
• Kijune Kim, Chair, Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, Renewable Energy Distributed Generation Task Force
• Vinod Khosla, Founder and CEO, Khosla Ventures and Sun Microsystems
• Jeff Leonard, President and CEO, Global Environment Fund
• Nathan Lewis, George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry, Cal Tech
• Li Junfeng, Secretary General, Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association
• Joachim Luther, President, European Association of the Renewable Energy Research Centers
• Katie McGinty, Secretary, State of Pennsylvania: Energy Independence Strategy
• Claudia McMurray, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science, U.S. Department of State
• Lew Milford, President, Clean Energy Group
• Walter Kohn, Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1998)
• Mihir Kumar Mohanty, Mayor of Bhubaneswar, India
• Javier Garcia Monge, Energy and CDM Investment, Investment and Development Division", Corfo, Chile
• Kadri Nassiep, CEO, South African National Energy Research Institute
• Raymond Orbach, Under Secretary, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy
• Marianne Osterkorn, International Director, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership
• George E. Pataki, Former Governor of New York, Founder and Chairman of Pataki-Cahill Group
• Don Paul, Vice President, Special Projects, Chevron
• Mauri Pekkarinen, Minister of the Economy, Finland
• Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Energy European Commission
• John Plaza, President and Founder, Imperium Renewables
• Glenn Prickett, Senior Vice President, Conservation International
• Mark Radka, Chief, UNEP Energy Branch
• John Renieri, Vice President and General Manager, Bio-Based Materials - Energy & Specialties, DuPont
• Mark Rey, Vice Chairman, Secretary's Energy Council and Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, USDA
• Peter Robertson, Vice Chairman, Chevron
• Boyd Rutherford, Chair, USDA Sustainable Operations Council, Assistant Secretary for Administration, USDA
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute
• Jamal Saghir, Director for Energy, Transport, and Water, World Bank
• Dieter Salomon, Lord Mayor, Freiburg, Germany
• Marek Sawicki, Minister of Agriculture, Poland
• Ed Schafer, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Hermann Scheer,General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE); President of the International Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energies; Member of the German Bundestag
• Thorsteinn Sigfusson, Professor of Physics, University of Iceland, Iceland.
• Ian Simm, Chief Executive, Impax Asset Management Ltd.
• Mark Sinclair, Director, Clean Energy States Alliance
• Hannes Smárason, Chairman, Geysir Green Energy
• Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister, Ministry of Minerals and Energy, South Africa
• S.V. Subramanian, Secretary to Government of India, RE Ministry
• Paul Suding, Head of Secretariat, REN21
• Jan-Eric Sundgren, Senior Vice President, Volvo
• Nobuo Tanaka, Director General of International Energy Agency
• Marcelo Tokman, Minister of Energy, Chile
• Ibrahim Togola, Director, Mali-Folkecenter
• Paul Tonko, President, NY State Energy Research and Development Authority
• Christine Wörlen, Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena) - German Energy Agency
• Dana Younger, International Finance Corporation

For a full listing of the speakers confirmed for the Business Conference at WIREC 2008, please visit http://www.americanrenewables.org/full_program.htm.