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Listen closely the next time you fill your car with $2 per gallon gas. You'll hear the sound of money draining from both your pocket and Minnesota's economy. But it doesn't have to be that way. Minnesota has the raw materials, the vision and the brain power to place us in the driver's seat of the renewable energy economy.

We're already heading in that direction. Minnesota has 685 large-scale wind turbines producing electricity and hundreds of additional wind turbines are in the planning and construction stage. Our state's 13 ethanol plants create 400 million gallons of ethanol a year, and we're building three more plants that will increase the state's ethanol production to 535 million gallons. Also, the state's first biodiesel plants are about to begin supplying fuel made from soybeans.

That's only the beginning. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that Minnesota could supply the annual electricity needs of 3 million homes from renewable biomass fuels. This ready supply of agricultural and forestry plant material can be used to create electricity, thermal energy and even ethanol.

Minnesota has the vision to see and create a renewable fuel future. Our elected officials helped build our growing wind and ethanol industries through legislation that encouraged this development. The 2003 session laid the foundation for even more innovation by creating a $20 million fund to finance University of Minnesota research into renewable energy. This investment has already fueled more than 70 research projects ranging from converting swine manure into hydrogen fuel to creating plastic substitutes from crop waste.

The most visible sign of this research is a new wind turbine that will be dedicated by Governor Tim Pawlenty on April 22 at the University's West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris. This is the only public large-scale wind research instrument in the United States exploring the conversion of wind power into hydrogen-hydrogen that can be used for fuel cells or localized fertilizer production. In the future, the facility will conduct research and demonstration projects on wind energy storage and on-demand renewable energy systems, such as biomass and biodiesel generation.

The Morris wind turbine is just one part of a larger project to create new economic options for rural communities through development of renewable energy resources. The University of Minnesota Renewable Energy Research and Demonstration Center in Morris received a major boost this month when the 2005 bonding bill funded a biomass research and demonstration facility at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Researchers will use the biomass burner to explore a gasification technology that converts corn stalks and other plant-based material into synthetic gas that can be used as a substitute for natural gas.

There is more to come. Minnesota has the potential to be the leader in wind energy, biomass, renewable hydrogen and other renewable fuels. The University of Minnesota is committed to developing Minnesota's potential for renewable fuels through research in engineering, agriculture, biological sciences and natural resources.

Minnesota has the raw materials, the vision and the brain power to put itself in the driver's seat of the renewable energy economy. By government, university researchers, industry and individuals working together, Minnesota can become a dominant force in renewable energy for the good of all.