illuminating ideas: ENERGY & Sustainability Summit
Who will you meet?
Cities are innovating, companies are pivoting, and start-ups are growing. Like you, every urban practitioner has a remarkable story of insight and challenge from the past year.
Meet these peers and discuss the future of cities in the new Meeting of the Minds Executive Cohort Program. Replace boring virtual summits with facilitated, online, small-group discussions where you can make real connections with extraordinary, like-minded people.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 7:30am to Noon, Oakland Convention Center (1001 Broadway, Oakland)
The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce presents an educational half day economic development summit on April 16. This exciting event will explore how energy, sustainability and green technology are contributing to economic growth in the East Bay and surrounding areas. With a keynote address by immediate past Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff.
Other speakers include:
- Jon Wellinghoff, immediate past Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Keynote)
- Garrick Brown, Cassidy Turley Real Estate
- Arrietta Chakos, Principal, Urban Resilience Strategies
- Mike D’Orazi, Fire Chief, City of Alameda
- Larry Goldzband, Executive Director, BCDC
- Dan Halperin, Director, Distributed Generation, Pacific Gas and Electric
- Rebecca Rubin Founder, President and CEO of Marstel-Day, LLC (Moderator)
- Robert R. Davenport, III, Managing Partner, Brightpath Capital Partners
- Susan Robinson, Federal Public Affairs Director and Sustainability Lead, Waste Management
- Richard Sinkoff, Director of Environmental Programs and Planning, Port of Oakland
- Bob Thronson, Vice President, Vigilent
- Emily Kirsch, Cofounder and CEO, SfunCube (Moderator)
More information: http://bit.ly/OE95gU
Registration information: http://bit.ly/1fulE3z
Discussion
Leave your comment below, or reply to others.
Please note that this comment section is for thoughtful, on-topic discussions. Admin approval is required for all comments. Your comment may be edited if it contains grammatical errors. Low effort, self-promotional, or impolite comments will be deleted.
Read more from MeetingoftheMinds.org
Spotlighting innovations in urban sustainability and connected technology
Middle-Mile Networks: The Middleman of Internet Connectivity
The development of public, open-access middle mile infrastructure can expand internet networks closer to unserved and underserved communities while offering equal opportunity for ISPs to link cost effectively to last mile infrastructure. This strategy would connect more Americans to high-speed internet while also driving down prices by increasing competition among local ISPs.
In addition to potentially helping narrow the digital divide, middle mile infrastructure would also provide backup options for networks if one connection pathway fails, and it would help support regional economic development by connecting businesses.
Wildfire Risk Reduction: Connecting the Dots
One of the most visceral manifestations of the combined problems of urbanization and climate change are the enormous wildfires that engulf areas of the American West. Fire behavior itself is now changing. Over 120 years of well-intentioned fire suppression have created huge reserves of fuel which, when combined with warmer temperatures and drought-dried landscapes, create unstoppable fires that spread with extreme speed, jump fire-breaks, level entire towns, take lives and destroy hundreds of thousands of acres, even in landscapes that are conditioned to employ fire as part of their reproductive cycle.
ARISE-US recently held a very successful symposium, “Wildfire Risk Reduction – Connecting the Dots” for wildfire stakeholders – insurers, US Forest Service, engineers, fire awareness NGOs and others – to discuss the issues and their possible solutions. This article sets out some of the major points to emerge.
Innovating Our Way Out of Crisis
Whether deep freezes in Texas, wildfires in California, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, or any other calamity, our innovations today will build the reliable, resilient, equitable, and prosperous grid tomorrow. Innovation, in short, combines the dream of what’s possible with the pragmatism of what’s practical. That’s the big-idea, hard-reality approach that helped transform Texas into the world’s energy powerhouse — from oil and gas to zero-emissions wind, sun, and, soon, geothermal.
It’s time to make the production and consumption of energy faster, smarter, cleaner, more resilient, and more efficient. Business leaders, political leaders, the energy sector, and savvy citizens have the power to put investment and practices in place that support a robust energy innovation ecosystem. So, saddle up.
0 Comments