Energy Access
Fossil fuels are finite resources, subject to wide price fluctuations. The burning of fossil fuels for electrical power is responsible for 26 percent of annual anthropogenic GHG emissions, or approximately 7.8 gigatons of CO2e per year (IPCC 2007). As economic development spreads and the population continues to increase, energy demand will continue to quickly rise. At the same time, 1.4 billion people globally do not have reliable access to energy, limiting economic opportunity in developing countries and hampering global development (WWF 2011).
Renewable energy could provide a solution to the dual challenge of providing power to the energy poor and reducing the dependency of developing countries on fossil fuels. Renewable energy, including on and off grid, could meet incremental energy needs as well as eventually replace aging coal and nuclear assets, and diesel generation in remote geographies. As a result, several gigatons of GHG emissions could be abated.
Chair
CARL POPE, Chairman, Sierra Club. A veteran environmental leader, Mr. Pope has been with the Sierra Club for more than thirty years. In that time he has served as Political Director, Conservation Director, Executive Director, and Chairman. He stepped down as Chairman in 2012 to become a Senior Strategic Advisor. During his tenure as Executive Director, Sierra Club added 400,000 new members and supporters, growing to approximately 1.2 million today. The Club's importance extends beyond numbers, though. The Aspen Institute, after surveying Congress and key federal officials, named the Club as the most influential environmental organization in Washington, DC.
Attendees
Co-Founder and VP Product, Simpa Networks; Business Development , Eight19 Ltd.; Principle Consultant, GH Consulting; President, EarthSpark International; President, Soluz, Inc.; Washington Representative, Sierra Club; Founder / CEO , National Solar Exchange; GameChanger, Shell; Executive Director, Energy Access, United Nations Foundation ; Entrepreneur, Offset4Poor; Founding Partner, The Forefront Law Group; Research Associate, The Forefront Law Group; Director, Technology Development, Duke Energy; President, Waters & Associates, LLC; CEO, MiNE LLC;
Energy Efficiency: Built Environment
The use of energy to power the buildings we live and work in account for over 7.9% – of global CO2 emissions annually (IPCC 2007). Energy efficiency measures, both for retrofitting the existing building stock and in the design of new building, offer a large opportunity for cost-effective reductions in energy use - and results are available immediately.
The challenge and potential for reducing energy use in the built environment is clear, and has been identified as one of the largest opportunities for reducing emissions globally. Importantly, much of the potential for increasing efficiency in this sector can be accomplished while also realizing a return on investment. New business models are needed to address the fundamental market barriers that prevent the scale-up of energy efficiency retrofits: high upfront costs for consumers, inconvenience of retrofits, lack of consumer information, and a significant principal-agent problem due to split incentives.
Co-chairs
MURAT ARMBRUSTER, Senior Advisor, Carbon War Room. Murat Armbruster is Senior Adviser at the Carbon War Room which he joined at its inception in 2009 and where he conceived of and directs its energy efficiency operation, the Green Capital Global Challenge. The Carbon War Room recently announced a consortium of companies which he brought together to deploy $650M of private capital into two counties (Miami-Dade and Sacramento) in the United States making it the largest privately-funded program of its kind to date. In his capacity directing the energy efficiency operation, Mr. Armbruster regularly engages with the leading financial institutions, service providers, asset owners, government officials, and non-profit executives which comprise the global energy efficiency industry and market.
MICHEL GELOBTER, Executive Director of Redefining Progress, Founder & Chairman, ClimateCooler. Most recently, Michel Gelobter served as the Chief Green Officer for Hara, the leading enterprise energy and environmental management software startup, and Chairman/Founder of Cooler (www.climatecooler.com), a company whose mission is to connect every purchase to a solution for global warming. Prior to that, he led Redefining Progress in designing the world’s most aggressive climate legislation (signed into California law in August of 2006 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger), was a Congressional Black Caucus Fellow with the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee; Director of Environmental Quality for the City of New York, and founder and director of the Environmental Policy Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Attendees
Senior Vice President, CSA Group; Partner, Paul Hastings LLP; CEO, TowPath Energy Finance Company; Senior Advisor for Policy & Programs, U.S. Dept. Of Energy - EERE; Councillor, City of Surrey; Co-Founder, SCIenergy; Chairman, Green City Finance; Managing Director, StormHarbour Partners; Program Analyst, District Department of the Environment DC PACE Program, DC Government; Financial Policy Specialist, Environmental Defense Fund; Director, Regional Energy Planning, Northern Virginia Regional Commission; Partner, EASTLIGHT; Policy & New Business Development, Dow Solar; CEO, The Tanager Group; CEO, Lucid; Executive Director, Climate Prosperity Project; VP Stewardship Participation, EOS Climate;
Renewable Fuels: Aviation
The first renewable alternatives to kerosene (the predominant jet fuel) are on the verge of commercial availability. Fuels produced from waste, algae, sugar, and a range of other feedstocks are under rapid development. Widespread adoption of these fuels, along with strong sustainability safeguards, could have significant emissions implications for the aviation sector and beyond.
Innovation is happening at lighting speed and buyers like the US Navy are providing strong demand signals. The problem is that customers are finding it difficult to evaluate renewable fuel options in this rapidly changing space. Regulators and investors have limited knowledge on the impact of the fuels at scale. Fuel companies need advanced market commitments and are forced to use expensive equity to finance refineries because they don’t have a clear idea on how to raise project finance, or can’t get access to it.
Co-chairs
SUZANNE HUNT, Senior Advisor, Carbon War Room. Suzanne Hunt is leading the Carbon War Room’s work in aviation, renewable fuels, and biochar. In 2007 Suzanne founded Hunt Green LLC, which provides strategic advising for decision-makers in business, government and not-for-profit arenas on a range of renewable energy, sustainable mobility, agriculture, and green design challenges.
EVAN SMITH,, Partner, Fuller Smith . Before Fuller Smith, Evan Smith served as an independent advisor to technology companies, investment firms, and others by performing investment due diligence, business development, market and strategic analysis, and technical analysis in the renewables space. His clients included Thomas, McNerney & Partners, Reed-Elsevier, SG Biofuels, AltAir Fuels, Inventure Chemical, World Wildlife Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. From 2008 to 2011 Mr. Smith was a co-founder and Partner at Verno Systems, an advanced biofuel advisory and management services company whose clients included Qatar Airways, Qatar Science and Technology Park, Delta Airlines, Boeing, and UOP. Verno Systems developed and maintained a proprietary biofuel market analysis, as well as comprehensive techno-economic models across advanced biofuel pathways. Verno Systems was engaged as the lead advisor and project manager of the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform.
Attendees
Cleantech Columnist, SIERRA magazine; VP, Sustainable Biofuels Solutions; Special Assistant for Energy Policy, Department of Navy ; Managing Director, Elsevier; Executive Editor, Energy Intelligence; Publisher, The Green Economy, Inc.; Shell Gamechangers
Sustainable Agriculture: Livestock
The production of crops and animals globally is responsible for an estimated 13.5% of annual anthropogenic GHG emissions (IPCC 2007). This figure is much higher when the affect of agricultural and livestock production is taken into account as the primary driver of deforestation. Current agricultural production is heavily dependent on fossil fuel inputs both upstream – fertilizers, pesticides, equipment fuel, power – and downstream in the distribution chain.
There are several mature and proven methods for reducing emissions from livestock production, including adoption of improved pastures, diet intensification options, land use options, and changing breeds. The ultimate goal is to balance the need to feed a growing global population with the imperative to preserve our environment for future generations. This requires moving towards more sustainable agricultural production.
Chair
BARBARA BRAMBLE, Senior Advisor, International Climate and Energy, National Wildlife Federation. Barbara J. Bramble heads the International Climate and Energy Program of the National Wildlife Federation. Over two decades at NWF she has led strategic initiatives including: a) an international advocacy coalition of NGOs for environmental reforms at the World Bank and other multi-lateral development banks; and b) negotiations among private industry and civil society to establish voluntary certification systems for sustainable forest products, biofuels and agricultural commodities. Ms. Bramble serves as Chair of the Steering Board of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, which has established global sustainability standards for biofuels. Barbara helped to organize the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and the Rio + 5 Conference in 1997; in the early 2000s she worked with Mexican NGOs to enhance their advocacy and environmental education skills, and chaired the Forest Stewardship Council in the U.S. She serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations in Mexico, Brazil and the U.S. She is an environmental lawyer, and has worked in the Executive Office of the U.S. President, and in private law practice.
Attendees
Executive Director, Earth Child Institute; President, TowPath Energy Finance Company; Founder, Planet2025 Network; Director, Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira; Associate, Alston & Bird LLP; Director, Winrock International; Senior Vice President, Trucost; Director of Strategic Initiatives, Rainforest Alliance; State Department, Senior Partnership Advisor;
The Carbon Negative Economy
The National Panel for a Carbon Negative Economy (CNE) was established in 2011 with support from Iowa State University to develop an intellectual framework for creating a system that mimics the earth’s naturally carbon negative ecosystems and to explore opportunities for research and education relevant to its advancement. Although a number of approaches to a carbon negative economy are possible, they have in common three attributes: (1) reversing the human-generated flux of carbon that currently pumps greenhouse gases into the atmosphere; (2) harnessing an energy source to drive this reversal; and (3) exploiting this flux to produce value added products that contribute toward economic development.
The CNE National Panel, and the CCW workshop track, is focusing on pathways that could be implemented in the near term. The best of these emulate the mechanisms of carbon fixation and sequestration found in natural ecosystem although operating more quickly and efficiently. High yielding varieties of terrestrial plants or aquatic species are used to fix carbon in the form of biomass. The biomass is collected, and through an oxygen-starved thermal process known as pyrolysis, is converted to an energy-rich liquid called bio-oil and a carbon-rich solid called biochar. The bio-oil is upgraded to transportation fuels or used to generate electric power, thus providing high value products to the economy. The biochar is incorporated into farmland where it serves the triple purposes of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere for millennia, building soil carbon, and recycling nutrients removed with harvested biomass. In addition to making possible a carbon negative economy, pyrolysis of biomass holds the prospect of improving soil fertility, especially in highly weathered or degraded soils. By improving soil fertility, it opens the way for increasing the intensity of food production, which would allow environmentally sensitive lands to revert to natural vegetation.
Co-chairs
JILL EUKEN, Deputy Director, Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University . Jill Euken serves as Deputy Director of the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University. She leads new program development, industrial collaborations and outreach programs for the Institute. Euken has both B.S and M.S. degrees from ISU. Her background includes 30 years of outreach work for Iowa State University; and five years experience in developing farmer-owned, value-added businesses in southwest Iowa. Jill served as a member of Iowa Governor Vilsack’s Agricultural Policy Work Group in 2001, the Iowa Agriculture Value-Added Task Force in 2003, and chaired the development of the Iowa Vision and Roadmap for Biobased Products and Bioenergy.
DR. ROBERT BROWN, Director, Bioeconomy Institute Iowa State University . Dr. Brown is Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU). He is the Director of ISU’s Bioeconomy Institute. His research focuses on the thermochemical processing of biomass and fossil fuels into energy, fuels, and chemicals. He has published extensively on the subject of biorenewables, most recently the book, Why are We Producing Biofuels?
Attendees
Senior Project Manager, IEE/WERC New Mexico State Univeristy; Senior VP of R&D, Phycal; Professor, Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness, Iowa State University; Graduate Assistant, Iowa State University; Director, Virgin Earth Challenge; Vice President – Environmental Affairs, Tenaska; Professor, Department of Agronomy and Environmenta, Iowa State University; Director, Biofuels, ConocoPhillips Company; Vice President of Business Development , Cool Planet Biofuels; Professor, GDCB Department, Iowa State University;" President & Founder, Stine Seed Company; Managing Director, Brandstaka Venture R&D;
Trucking & Fleet Technology
According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, transportation contributed 23% to global energy related GHG emissions, producing 6.3 gigatons of CO2-e emissions. 95% of all transportation relies on petroleum fuel, which includes diesel fuel in the context of ground freight. The operation of trucks alone worldwide emits 1.6 gigatons of CO2-e emissions, or 5.5% of global GHG emissions.
Adoption of efficiency technologies provides significant opportunities for cost saving and GHG emissions reduction. Examples of these efficiency technology categories and their GHG abatement potential include aerodynamics (3-15%), refrigerants (5-10%), Anti-Idle devices (5-9%), traction and rolling resistance (3-6%), and transmission (2.5-6%) according to the National Academy of Sciences.These efficiency measures have the potential to translate into significant carbon emissions reductions.
Co-chairs
MIKE ROETH, Executive Director, North American Council on Freight Efficiency. Mike has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for over 25 years, most recently as the Executive Director of the newly created North American Council for Freight Efficiency. As Principal of ROETH, LLC, he focuses on helping companies be successful in the commercial truck and bus marketplace. His specialty is brokering green truck collaborative projects to move technologies into the real world. As Director, Global Advanced Engineering for Navistar International, he led the advanced engineering efforts for the Navistar family of vehicle brands; International trucks, Navistar Defense, IC buses and Workhorse Custom Chassis. These efforts included fuel economy improvement, emissions reductions, driver comfort and efficiency as well as quality, cost and performance breakthroughs.
RON KONEZNY, General Manager - Global Transportation and Logistics, PeopleNet. A founder of PeopleNet, Konezny started as Chief Technology Officer architecting PeopleNet's unique, award winning system. Ron led PeopleNet's technology team and platform vision, which resulted in the first internet-based solution in the market, patented OTAP (over-the-air-programming), email messaging, handheld integration, Vehicle Management engine data interface, eDriver Logs,Automated Fuel Tax, and Automated Workflow.
Attendees
Shell Gamechanger Board of Directors, Azure Dynamics; Chairman, Fuel Freedom Foundation; Senior Director, Ryder; Principal, BusinessClimate; Director, GEMI; Race Car Driver/Eco Activist, Carbon Free Girl
