Speaker: Dr Dirk Eichelberger, Chairman and CFO, Wintershine
Mr Giovanni Drago, Founder and CEO, Wintershine
Date: Tuesday 14 December 2010
Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon
Venue: ESI Conference Room
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Block A, #10-01
Singapore 119620
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Abstract
Biofuels have the potential to provide the world with a renewable source of energy for both transportation and electricity. However, the contemporary methods for producing biofuel feedstocks require extensive amounts of land. Due to this land requirement there is a concern that biofuel feedstocks may displace food crops. In addition, countries with small land areas have little scope to develop 1st or 2nd generation biofuels. A possible solution to the food vs fuel debate is algae, which requires only a minimal amount of land for production. Yet, the limiting factor that is preventing algae producers from developing a scalable commercial model is a lack of carbon dioxide resources. Moving algae production offshore could resolve this problem. By creating an area of artificial upwelling from the deep ocean, offshore algae farms would find an abundant supply of carbon dioxide to sustain commercial scale growth. In addition to biodiesel, the algae could be used to produce fish feed. Thus, offshore algae farms are a potential win-win solution for our future resource- and land-scarce world.
About the speaker
Dirk Eichelberger is currently Chairman and Chief Financial Officer at Wintershine, a for-profit social enterprise whose mission is to engineer sustainable development. From 1991-2007, he worked for the REHAU Group on polymers solutions, operating in a variety of leadership roles (CEO, CFO) at the regional and group levels. Between 2007 and 2009 he was Group CFO and Group CEO for Balda AG (Injection moulding for mobile phones and medical appliances). In Asia alone, he has nine years of work experience, including the setup of five production plants and a distribution network. Dr Eichelberger has degrees from the University of Kiel, Germany, and the University of Berne, Switzerland
Giovanni Drago is founder and CEO of Wintershine. He has 15 years of experience working in business development, industrial innovation and engineering roles in Europe, America, Japan and India. Most recently, he was Vice-President for Innovation and Business Development at Wheelabrator Allevard (Steel Abrasives) from 2005 to 2009. He has also worked for Thomson Multimedia, Arthur D. Little and Valeo Friction Materials in strategic consulting, directorship and managerial roles, supervising and restructuring industrial operations in the automotive, glass, electronics and metal industries. Giovanni has advanced degrees in general engineering and chemical engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris and Politecnico di Torino respectively.
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