October is a month of learning and discovery here at CEA, as we host our first Energy Day festival in Houston: a fun, educational event showcasing energy in all its forms and highlighting the latest technology that will lead the way to a brighter, more powerful future.
The October 15th event is geared toward school-aged children and their families, who will enjoy a series of exhibits, demonstrations and contests, all serving to illustrate the role that energy – in a multitude of forms – plays in our lives.
We hope this event will encourage children to think big and look hopefully toward the future. We want to spark their interest in the science of energy: the advances that are making it possible to access reserves such as shale gas long considered off limits, and to better tap the power of the sun and the wind. Indeed, the energy breakthroughs we’ve seen in recent years have been something of an ongoing science fair. We’ve watched oil and gas boom towns spring up in the plains of the Dakotas, while in more traditional oil-producing regions like the Gulf of Mexico, oil extraction processes have been refined to the point that large volumes of oil can be produced with minimal surface disruption. The advances we’ve seen to date have helped our growing nation keep pace with our energy demands. A secure energy future will depend in part on our children achieving further scientific and technological advances.
If you are in the Houston area, we hope you and your family will join us at Hermann Square for this event, which will also feature food and live music. And even if you can’t be there in person, we urge you to think about all that our energy industry has achieved since the Drake Well was first drilled more than 150 years ago. So often, we highlight the challenges surrounding energy: of finding it, producing it, transporting it and securing our supplies. And while those challenges remain daunting, we should also take time to take note of our many successes, which some now believe could make the United States the largest oil producer in the world.
We can get there, but it will take the imagination and dedication of current and future generations. For more information about this important festival of discovery, visit the Energy Day website at http://energyday2011.org/