April 20, 2010 - A snowy day in Denmark!

We started our day at Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG), one of Northern Europe's leading energy companies. Denmark has strong reputation for their focus and innovation in renewable energy, and the vision of DONG is to provide reliable energy without CO2 emissions. They have aggressive goals to for the upcoming years to lower their own CO2 emissions, and are looking to fuel their own power plants with unconventional sources. DONG has developed methods to use straw to create biofuels, and and now looking to trash (that's right!) as the next source for biofuel. It was very interesting to  hear about the business culture in Denmark, and  some of the challenges of being an international company. So what the next big innovation in alternative energy? new developments in solar power, tidal energy, fission energy, and electric car power (having the ability to harness the energy you create when driving electric cars so that power companies would buy that energy back).

After lunch at DONG, we headed to Koldinghus, a castle built in the 13th century. The snow began to fall (we felt like we were back home in February!) After we learned about the history of the castle, we could tour the othe exhibit areas, including medieval church art, and a collection of fine Danish silver. You could also trek up the162-step circular staircase to the top of the Giant's Tower for a great view of the city.

We returned to Fredericia and had a bit of time to relax before we gave our presentation to the Rotary Club. Despite some technical difficulties, the presentation went smoothly, and we had some engaging discussion with the club members. We were lucky enough to meet the Mayor of Fredericia, who happens to be the youngest mayor in the country! We then boarded a bus for a tour of the town's plant for several new industrial parks, and was great to see so many growth opportunities planned for the city. - Amanda Eckinger