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United States Embassy Stockholm Press Release - January, 2009

(Arkansas Green Valley Network, headquartered in Fayetteville, AR is ranked #2)

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - On Friday, January 16, Ambassador Michael M. Wood named the twelve most important achievements of the One Big Thing during a farewell seminar hosted by Minister Maud Olofsson. The signal achievement of the One Big Thing is the Ambassador's List (http://www.usemb.se/Environment/A-list.pdf) currently comprising 52 promising Swedish clean tech companies. The One Big Thing has also resulted in an estimated $150-200 million dollars of business activity on both sides of the Atlantic. Ambassador Wood considers the twelve events and projects listed below to be the other most significant highlights of his work to foster alternative energy cooperation between the United States and Sweden.

Although Ambassador Wood is resigning on January 20, the U.S. Embassy remains fully committed to continued alternative energy cooperation. Upcoming projects include Tekniska Verken's "Ambassador Michael Wood Scholarship in Swedish Clean Technology," which will bring American students to Sweden to study green innovations, a workshop in February 2009 with F�rsvarets Materielverk , the United States Air Force Research Laboratory, and Swedish and U.S industry participation to discuss a potential bilateral collaborative program to certify bio-fuels for jet aircraft, and a proposed $1 billion dollar advanced battery consortium between Sweden, the State of Michigan and various U.S. federal agencies.

TOP 12 OBT SUCCESS STORIES

1. Ageratec's Modular Biodiesel Processors Enter the United States: The In May 2008, Ageratec entered into an agreement with the Seattle company E3 Energy PartnersTM to provide full engineering and project support across all aspects for the Ageratec units sold in the United States. Ageratec has also opened a sales office in Daytona, Florida.

2. ARKANSAS GREEN VALLEY NETWORK: Representatives from the Arkansas Green Valley Network, visited Sweden during SACC E-days fall 2008, to encourage companies to take part in the network. Several Swedish clean tech companies are in contact with Arkansas about business opportunities in the state, for example Picoterm, Chematur, and Ageratec.

3. Bilateral Agreement on Alternative Energy Cooperation: On June 28, 2007, the United States and Sweden signed a bilateral agreement on alternative energy cooperation, calling for joint research on bio-fuels, cooperation on biomass production, transportation and automotive research, reducing the cost of renewable energy, and improving energy efficiency. It also established a bilateral working group to explore prospective projects.

4. Black Liquor Gasification Efforts in Escanaba: In August 2007, New Page's pulp- and paper mill in Escanaba, Michigan and Swedish company Chemrec signed a $2.8 million dollar agreement to apply Chemrec's black liquor gasification technology to the U.S. plant.

5. Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy Technology at Chalmers University: In August 2008, Arthur Ragauskas, Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, arrived in Sweden to take up a position as the first holder of the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy Technology at Chalmers University.

6. Joint Project on Commercial Vehicle Technology: In June 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy and AB Volvo issued a joint statement on research and development cooperation on commercial vehicles, beginning their relationship by negotiating a cost-sharing project of approximately $30 million dollars to develop environmentally friendly commercial-vehicle technologies, including hybrid-engine technology for long haul trucks and trains that use bio-diesel.

7. Sweden, U.S. Participate in Clean Tech Fund: The World Bank's Clean Technology Fund provides incentives for transferring low-carbon technologies to the developing world. The United States has committed $1.2 billion, Sweden $100 million, and both countries are on the board of directors of the new Fund.

8. Swedish Biogas and the City of Flint join forces to turn Waste into Energy: In September 2008, Ambassador Wood, King Carl XVI Gustav and Governor Granholm of Michigan broke ground on an $8 million project between Swedish Biogas and the State of Michigan to create biogas from the city of Flint's sewage plant, to power city buses and produce fertilizers.

9. Swedish BioFuels to Develop Green Jet Fuels from Organic Waste Material: After being identified by the Ambassador and put on the Embassy's list, Swedish BioFuels received $5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop jet fuels containing biological components.

10. Test Site Sweden and Department of Energy Cooperation to Test Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles: In July 2008, the Swedish Energy Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy signed a $1 million dollar agreement to jointly test metering technology for Plug-In Electric Hybrid Vehicles.

11. U.S. Oilseed Extraction Equipment Enables Ecoil's Large-Scale Production: Ecoil has procured oilseed extraction mill equipment from the Cleveland company Anderson International for their new facility for $831,000.

12. U.S.-Sweden Gas Turbine Cooperation: Compower, a manufacturer of energy efficient micro-turbines for boilers has commenced cooperation with the Wilson Turbopower in Massachusetts, to produce a small-scale high-temperature regenerative gas turbine.

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Embassy of the United States of America
Dag Hammarskj�lds V�g 31, SE-115 89 Stockholm

Why Bring Your Business to Northwest Arkansas?

  • Locate in the Center of the United States
  • Good exchange rate! $1.00 = 6.3756 SEK (August 15, 2008)
  • Business costs are much less than in Sweden
  • Home to the University of Arkansas and Arkansas Research & Technology Park
  • Walmart and 1,300 Suppliers within 25 miles (40 kilometers)
  • Great Quality of Life Nestled in the Ozark Mountains
  • Northwest Arkansas is a member of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce
  • Northwest Arkansas is a member of the Arkansas World Trade Center

What is Green Valley?

Green Valley is a venture launched in Northwest, AR designed to build a business and technology cluster focused on sustainability. Northwest Arkansas is home to Walmart the largest corporation in the world ahead of Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, and Toyota.

Green Valley builds on Walmart's sustainability program and the 1,300 Walmart suppliers in Northwest Arkansas. There is no place on the planet that has this concentration of businesses looking for solutions that allow them to profitably sell products while simultaneously reducing their impact on scarce resources and the environment.

We believe the fastest path to a better world is for businesses to quickly adopt the world's best sustainability technologies and business practices. Sweden is leading the way in many areas. We invite you to consider joining us in a place where sustainability's greatest innovators are connected.

Photos below:
1. Innovation Center at the Arkansas Research & Technology Park
2. Fayetteville Town Center in front of the Downtown Square and the famous Farmer's Market
3. Bridge on one of the numerous walking/biking trails that are prevelant throughout the entire region.

Bridge
Lake Fayetteville Spillway Bridge