From July 29th through July 31st, the EngEx conference will descend upon the San Diego Convention Center. The conference focuses on energy, water, infrastructure, and the environment. It will provide access to decision makers and offer C-suite insight and dialogue. Key government agencies will be participating in this year’s conference, including: The Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Energy, The Department of Transportation, The Bureau of Land Management, The Department of Commerce, The Small Business Administration, and The US EXIM Bank.

The keynote speaker at the conference will be Mark Quartermain, President of Shell Energy North America. Other speakers include Will Coleman of Mohr Davidow Ventures, Theresa Harten from the EPA, and Lisa Bicker of CleanTECH San Diego.

The conference will feature programs on financing exports of cleantech technologies, obtaining access to government grants, winning government contracts, the carbon capture market, and concentrated solar power economics among others.

The conference will also feature a career fair with one on one meetings with hiring managers, an alternative vehicle showroom, and meetings with venture capitalists, patent attorneys, and grant writers.

CleanTechies is a media partner. If you wish to register, please click here and receive a discount on conference registration.

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It is President Barack Obama’s priority to find new ways for this administration to partner across government and across sectors in addressing our nation’s greatest challenges. Given the nature of the problems we face, the ability of government to forge effective relationships with organizations of all types will be critical in making progress on the President’s agenda –particularly in areas like energy innovation.

Last Friday, the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation co-convened a conference on Energy Innovation that included participation by five White House offices, four federal departments, three federal agencies, entrepreneurs, state government officials, academia, private sector leaders, nonprofits and innovators.　 Through this convening, we sought to embrace these actors as our partners in three areas: advancement of shared policy objectives, enhancement of visibility around these issues, and the coordination of resources so as to improve the government’s ability to fulfill specific objectives of the Administration.

Throughout the day-long conference, attendees discussed ideas and mechanisms to help scale-up private sector investment, direct philanthropic support, and increase the efficiency of the government’s role in these areas. Entrepreneurs are already building on the foundation of the Administration’s Recovery Act, which provided over $36 billion of federal funding to stimulate the sector. This unprecedented ongoing investment in areas such as research and development, have created an atmosphere for accelerating innovation and growth to jumpstart a thriving, private market for energy innovation that will put thousands of people back to work.

Participants of the conference discussed that all sectors need to encourage American innovation for American jobs, and that few areas are more ready for innovation than the energy sector. If businesses and entrepreneurs can harness resources and ingenuity available to them, they can become world leaders in clean energy production, and capitalize on this rapidly growing sector. US investment in basic energy research is at its greatest, but attention must also be given to the private market for energy. Energy innovations are capable of receiving additional attention from investors, and limitations such as short-term costs, restricted financing options, and the inability to access current and relevant information, need to be addressed. Attendees agreed that it could be more straightforward to know if and when new technologies can be deployed, which is currently difficult because regulations vary from state to state.

Finally, we discussed the opportunities provided by the diverse set of organizations present, and it was determined that near-term and long-term challenges need to be addressed in a strategic, integrated way. The group recognized that government can create the legal and policy conditions for energy prosperity, can draw on large scale resources, and can utilize its ability to attract attention in order to drive market progress. At the meeting, the Department of Energy and the Small Business Administration jointly announced that the Small Business Investment Company program, and the Small Business Technology Transfer program would begin using their existing network of funds to promote small green energy firms, though a new $60 million Business Clean Energy Innovation fund.

Private corporations and venture capital firms at the meeting offered to play a productive and sustaining role in tactically addressing structural and institutional challenges that inhibit the long-term success of proven models. In terms of providing support to early-stage energy companies, these groups can bring their business acumen to the table, and their access to a large group of peer organizations, to achieve some the goals that were discussed – including the creation of an energy innovation network for entrepreneurs.

Participating philanthropic foundations, such as the Kauffman Foundation and the Nebraska Community Foundation, expressed their experience thinking strategically about effective ways of working with multiple stakeholders to address these conditions both nationally, and locally. These groups indicated that they have the flexibility to develop new ideas and can use their on-the-ground experience and relationships to identify the local problems, as well as the interventions that will make a true difference.

In concluding Friday’s conference, it was announced that a series of regional follow-on meetings would take place, beginning in Omaha, Nebraska on June 16, 2010, to continue the dialogue with a diverse set of actors in communities across the nation over the next few months.

Howard W. Buffett is a Policy Advisor in the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

photo: Aidan Jones

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Delegates from developing nations at the Copenhagen conference were incensed after reading a leaked document purporting to show that a group of wealthy nations intends to sideline the UN in future climate change negotiations and place CO2 emissions restrictions on poorer nations.

The Guardian reported that the so-called “Danish text” — reputedly drafted by wealthy nations including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Denmark — would abandon the principles of the Kyoto Protocol requiring industrialized nations to commit to binding greenhouse gas emissions while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft text would hand control over financing climate change projects in the developing world to the World Bank and would make funds given to poorer nations for climate change adaptation contingent on those nations taking actions to reduce emissions.

The Guardian reported that the draft text also would limit per capita carbon emissions in poor countries to 1.4 tons by 2050 while allowing citizens of rich countries to emit 2.7 tons. One diplomat told the newspaper that the draft text was “a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the UN balance of obligations.”

Meanwhile, the European Union said at the Copenhagen talks that it was withdrawing an offer to reduce CO2 emissions 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 because other nations, including the U.S., had made inadequate emissions reduction offers in the past month. The EU is still standing by its 20 percent reduction commitment.

As the second day of the summit got underway, news from Washington still created a stir among the 15,000 people in attendance at the conference. Reuters analyzes the announcement by the Obama administration on Monday that it plans to regulate greenhouse gases as a threat to human health, even if Congress doesn’t take action to reduce emissions. The announcement, made on the opening day of the Copenhagen meeting, was intended as a clear signal from the Obama administration to the world that it plans to tackle the problem of climate change.

The Wall Street Journal reports that many businesses and industries are sharply critical of the announcement, saying that it would place an unfair burden on commerce as the country struggles to rebound from recession. Despite the outcry from many businesses, the Journal reports that comments submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting the regulation of greenhouse gases ran three to one in favor of clamping down on CO2 emissions.

As the delegates debated these developments, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UK’s Met Office announced that the first decade of this century has been “by far” the warmest decade on record.

Refuting claims from global warming deniers that the world has in fact been cooling for the past decade, the two meteorological agencies said that 2009 will almost certainly be the fifth-warmest year since record keeping began 160 years ago. The WMO said that global temperatures in the past decade were .79 degrees F above the long-term average.

Article appearing courtesy of Yale Environment 360

[image credit: jackfrench]

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What is the current smart grid infrastructure? How will we deploy the smart grid? Answer these questions and more by joining some of today’s leaders in the smart grid movement, next Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at Greentech Media’s The Networked Grid conference. The morning and afternoon keynote speeches will be given by PG&E’s Andrew Tang, senior director, smart energy web, and Oracle’s Linda Jackman, vice president of product strategy and management, utilities business. Also joining them will be speakers from California’s big three utilities and its public utilities commission, PG&E, SDG&E, SCE and CPUC, as well as companies such as ABB, Cisco, Control4, Coulomb Technologies, Enernex, Google, GridPoint, GTM Research, Intel, Oracle, Siemens, Silver Spring Networks, Stanford Research Institute, Tendril, Verizon Wireless.

Once a simple idea of monitoring energy consumption, the Smart Grid is and has been a concept of the future in progress. The leaders of the Smart Grid initiative strive to create an “intelligent” and self-sufficient system that stretches from homes to public utilities. A Smart Grid is the system that facilitates the delivery and consumption of energy. Through rapid technological innovation, the Smart Grid is poised to help increase energy efficiency by improving responsiveness, handling current and future demand of energy, and accounting for all energy use. Imagine having an intelligent system monitor and react to inefficient energy use – reducing this overall energy use results in potentially reducing costs for you, the consumer, and your energy provider as well.

Because the Smart Grid is such a large infrastructure that spans from the home to utility companies, it requires copious technologies, including “smart meters” and metering software. GTM Research’s Smart Grid Taxonomy explains the Smart Grid as the convergence of three industries/sectors: electric power, telecommunications infrastructure, and IT (information technology). Among the many corporations spearheading the foray into the Smart Grid are the aforementioned names attending The Networked Grid conference. Furthermore, the Obama administration allocated $3.4 billion in federal stimulus for Smart Grid development, and on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 publicly named 100 utility projects that will share the funding.

Given the presence of the utilities and Smart Grid product suppliers in attendance, the Networked Grid conference promises to provide a valuable inside look at the future of the Smart Grid. It’s not everyday that the behemoths of the Smart Grid, both competitors and partners alike, gather to share and discuss the direction of the Smart Grid, near term timeline, and other trends and ideas that will soon materialize into reality. And, as an official media sponsor of the event, CleanTechies truly believes this is an opportunity to set foot into our future.

Please visit the CleanTechies Event Calendar for more events and conferences near you!

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What makes energy start-ups succeed or fail? Are energy investments wise for venture capitalists? What will shape energy finance innovations and the adoption of the smart grid?

The 2009 Wharton Energy Conference will explore these questions and more October 30 in Philadelphia. CleanTechies is excited to serve as a media partner of this one-day conference and career fair.

Three keynote speakers include CEO Michael Allman of Sempra Energy, which continues to expand its renewable energy portfolio with solar and wind power projects. He is joined by H. Jeffrey Leonard, president of the Global Environment Fund, a leading energy and environment private equity firm, and Federico F. Peña, former secretary of energy and secretary of transportation, now a senior advisor with Vestar Capital Partners.

More than a dozen speakers are confirmed from companies including First Solar, BP Wind, Tendril, OwnEnergy, Finite Carbon, Plextronics, Blue Source, IBM Global Business Services, Element Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners, the Assabet Group and Braemar Energy Ventures.

Panel discussions will cover the promises and pitfalls of entrepreneurship, energy finance innovations and obstacles, the future of the electricity grid, and the venture capital perspective on energy investments.

Themed discussion tables may cover topics such as nuclear energy, carbon credit trading and energy policy in developing markets.

In its third year, the Wharton Energy Conference is expected to draw more than 400 students and energy industry professionals to the Union League of Philadelphia. The student-run Wharton Energy Club at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business sponsors the event.

For more clean technology conferences and events, visit the CleanTechies Events Calendar.

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While the slumping economy has delivered a gut shot to the CleanTech sector, many optimists are confident that a new wave of investment is coming. Even so, one must wade through a torrent of sobering news to arrive at such a conclusion.

A quick peak at recent headlines tell the story. Cleantech.com reported that venture investment in the CleanTech sector dropped 41 percent in 1Q09 compared to the last quarter. And Biofuels Digest has run a series of articles about highly regarded biofuel startups succumbing to market forces (here and here).

Amidst all the doom and gloom, the OPEN Forum ‘09 conference treated entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and policy professionals as well as job seekers and career changers to a breath of fresh air with their “Winning Tomorrow”-themed event.  Taking place last Saturday in Mountain View, the conference boasted over 600 attendees and featured a compelling line-up of more than 60 speakers, with distinguished business leaders headlining as Keynotes.  The scale of the event is made all the more impressive by the fact that it is organized entirely by volunteers.  In its sixth year and one of Silicon Valley’s highly successful conference series, the event successfully exposes entrepreneurs to opportunities and provides insight and advice to the technology and business community.

The conference featured three keynote speeches: Warren Packard, Managing Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Masood Jabbar, Former EVP Global Sales Operations at Sun Microsystems & Former President of Sun Microsystems Computer Division; and Tom Cambell, noted educator, economist, and candidate for California Governor.  CleanTech-focused panel topics included:

• Investment Opportunities, Valuations & the Funding Gaps in Cleantech
• Innovations in Energy
• The Stimulus Act
• How Social Media is Shaping our World
• Entrepreneurship: Stabilizing Force in the World
• A Fistful of Dollars. the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of fundraising in a hostile environment.

Selected keynotes and panels are discussed below.

It’s Statistics and Probability…Stupid

The conference’s morning keynote speaker kicked things off with a healthy dose of enthusiasm and optimism. Warren Packard sang the praises of technology arguing that innovation has survived war, uncertainty, and worse economic uncertainty than we’re saddled with today.

His analysis turned on a three-part indictment of the educational system in the US, which included perspective, tools, and calculus. Perspective, he argued, is compromised by a heavy emphasis on Western Hemisphere-centric history and geography.  Tools, like cursive, ignore the outgrowth of high-tech tools that demand typing proficiency.   And finally, calculus, while powerful, is not useful in today’s business climate.

Statistics and probability, Packard argues, is the analytical tool most used by business leaders to assess the value of innovations to society. Statistics and probability demonstrate that technology will always drive exponential growth despite the worst economic crises. To illustrate this phenomenon, Packard turned to 100 years of innovation in the computational ability of machines. Each innovation follows a classic S curve pattern of slow initial growth, a fast market uptake, and eventual slowing down as the market becomes saturated with the technology. Stacking S curves on top of each other shows that technological innovations follow a pattern of exponential advancement or paradigm shifts on top of paradigm shifts.

The result is a pretty optimistic view of the future, which Packard describes as a blank slate…”simply fill it in.”  The take away message: innovations will occur regardless of current market realities. Elaborating, Packard took the time to highlight many exciting technologies on the horizon and urged optimism despite current economic realities.

NASCAR and Stem Cells

It’s no secret by now that the federal government’s Stimulus package promises a hefty infusion of capital to spur the creation of a clean, green economy. This is perhaps the biggest reason to be enthusiastic about opportunities in the CleanTech sector in the coming years. While I have spent the past few months tracking DOE Stimulus funding announcements, I (like many) admit to losing a little of the initial enthusiasm stoked by February 13th’s ARRA signing.

Staying consistent with the OPEN Forum’s “Winning Tomorrow” theme, the Stimulus Act panel, titled The Impact of Government Policy on Cleantech Start-ups and their Investors, reminded attendees that only a small fraction of the $16.8 billion dedicated to CleanTech has been spent to date. The panel, led by New Cycle Capital’s Managing Partner, Josh Becker, included Matt Golden (CEO of Sustainable Spaces), Donnie Fowler (Principal at Fowler & Crumley), and Mark S. Ostrau (Partner at Fenwick & West).  The point echoed among the panelists: not all Stimulus funding is created equal.

Mark Ostrau laid out a useful blueprint for developing strategy around Stimulus funds. He urged that applicants first identify which bucket of funds the technology fits into (e.g. Weatherization, State Energy Fund, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, Smart Grid…). Ostrau advises that applicants then identify which stage of development their company is in since funding is available for companies at all stages. Once these preliminary steps are taken, applicants should monitor Grants.gov for funding announcements (these often are announced unexpectedly as was the case with ARPA-E). Ostrau also urged applicants to resolve any IP issues before pursuing grant awards.

Touching on the policy issues surrounding energy efficiency, Matt Golden stressed the importance of rating “home performance” to reduce residential energy consumption and mitigate the resulting GHG emissions. Golden is a necessary voice in the energy efficiency space. While he initially started out in solar, he quickly realized the low-cost gains that could be made with basic energy efficiency improvements in the home and started Sustainable Spaces to capture this market. While discussing available energy efficiency-related funding opportunities in the Stimulus (see Low-income Weatherization, SEP, and Conservation Block Grants), he made the important point that energy efficiency investments in the home finance solar installations by reducing the necessary capacity that needs to be purchased.

Donnie Fowler followed up with an informed analysis of the communication difficulties between CleanTech advocates and politicians. He drew on the topics of NASCAR and stem cells to drive the point home. In the both cases, Fowler noted that politicians respond most favorably to coalitions. NASCAR, for example, made waves by showing up in Washington to discuss ways they could reduce GHG emissions. Fowler noted, “People listen when NASCAR speaks.” Echoing Matt Golden’s discussion about forming an energy efficiency industry association to advocate in Washington, Fowler urged CleanTech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to pressure local governments and agency executives to design innovative projects before the bulk of Stimulus funds is spent.

Other Highlights

The Innovations in Energy panel touched on some of the challenges associated with transitioning to clean energy solutions.  Led by moderator Tarek el Aguizy, Managing Partner at Emersus Energy, the panel included Stefan Heuer (President and CEO of Siemens Technology-To-Business Center), Tamin Pechet (Principal at Catamount Ventures), Corwin Hardham (CTO at Makani Power), and Rahul Prakash (CP of Biz Dev & Marketing at Virgance).

The panel highlighted some of the different approaches being taken to revolutionize the energy industry.  Hardham, for example, called his company’s electricity-generating kite technology an “Apollo-like project” that turns on turning a big idea into a huge breakthrough.  Prakash’s company, Virgance, takes a more grassroots approach to energy solutions by investing in organizations that combine activism with consumerism.  For example, 1BOG, a residential solar aggregator of sorts, that promotes the widespread adoption of renewable energy and sustainable solutions through education, community building, and group purchasing programs.

Pechet and Heuer hit on some of the more fundamental changes taking place in the energy industry.  Heuer acknowledged the convergence of demand and generation technologies capabilities for consumers.  Pechet added that Smart Metering will open up not only the ability to monitor electricity consumption by consumers, but also the ability to take action to reduce utility bills.  Pechet also pointed out the nexus of energy and water issues, pointing out that environmental realities require a comprehensive analysis of the downstream impacts of “clean” energy solutions (think biofuels).

The panel all agreed that prizes are useful tools for spurring innovation in the energy sector.  For example, the X-Prize can promote large, breakthrough solutions while incentive-based solutions for consumers can nudge (to borrow the premise of the book by the same name) changes in demand and consumption.

Recap

OPEN Forum ‘09 rightfully celebrated the power of ideas.  Innovation, we learn, is inevitable and new technological breakthroughs will lead us out of our current economic slump.  But more importantly, attendees were reminded that the convergence of economic, environmental, and energy realities require a comprehensive assessment of the value of innovative solutions.  In the end, while technological breakthroughs may spur economic growth, the global community must also be taken into account.

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