MIT ENERGY CONFERENCE FEBRUARY 21 - 22, 2014

__________________________________________________________________________________________ MIT ENERGY CONFERENCE         FEBRUARY 21 - 22, 2014 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Agenda

Friday, February 21, 2014

MIT Campus, Cambridge >

10:00	Welcome Robert Armstrong , MITEI Executive Director
10:15	Keynote Address Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author & IHS Vice Chairman
10:45	MIT Energy Perspectives: What’s New at MIT? TED-style presentations by MIT energy researchers
12:00	Keynote Address Ken Salazar, Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior
12:30	Lunch
1:15	Panels - Session 1 From Lab Space to Marketplace: Bridging the Valley of Death Scaling Intelligent Efficiency: Overcoming Behavioral and Market Barriers to Saving Energy
2:45	Panels - Session 2 Biofuels in Transportation: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities Expanding the Solar Frontier: Financial Innovations for Community Investment
4:15	Keynote Plenary
5:30	Poster Session

Saturday, February 22, 2104

Westin Coley Place, Boston >

8:00	Welcome
9:00	Breakfast
9:15	Panels - Session 3 The Natural Gas Boom: A Transition  Towards Energy Sustainability, or an Environmental Challenge? Policy and Economics of Carbon: Regulatory, Economic, and Technical Challenges for Efficient Carbon Markets
10:45	Panels - Session 4 Fitting the Grid to Renewables The Power of Energy: Diplomacy in an Evolving Global Energy Dialogue
12:00	Lunch & Keynote Address Maria van der Hoeven, IEA Executive Director
1:45	Panels - Session 5 Innovations in Clean Tech Finance Nuclear-Renewables Partnership: The Prospects of Integrating Nuclear and Intermittent Renewables
3:15	Keynote Plenary Building an Ecosystem for Energy Entrepreneurship, Alicia Barton, MassCEC; Libby Wayman, EERE; Paul Woods, Algenol
4:30	Reception
5:00	Showcase

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Saturday Showcase

About the Saturday Night Showcase

The MIT Energy Conference Saturday Night Showcase is a free event open to the public designed to exhibit the latest research and technologies in the energy space. With more than 90 presenters and 1,500 attendees, the Showcase is the most widely attended event of the MIT Energy Conference.  In a fun and engaging environment, energy professionals, students, researchers and investors will be able to explore the innovations that will shape the industry.
In a significant departure from previous years, the Showcase will be held on Saturday night at the Westin Copley Place in downtown Boston, the same location as the panel activities occurring during the day.  As the culminating event of the Conference, the Showcase promises to be an informative and celebratory recap of the entire event!
In addition to static displays, the Showcase will also feature interactive demos and prototypes, giving attendees a unique opportunity to mingle with prominent energy researchers and innovators in a hands-on atmosphere.  The casual setting is designed to foster dialogue amongst energy-conscious community members and experienced professionals.

Panels

The Power of Energy: Diplomacy in an Evolving Global Energy Dialogue

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 10:45 to 12:00

Developing countries have overtaken developed countries as the largest energy consumers, newfound resources in central Africa and the eastern Mediterranean are changing the global energy supply map, and the United States is experiencing more energy independence than at any time in recent history. This panel will explore the development of trade relations, transportation infrastructure, emissions standards, and regional stability initiatives within the context of a rapidly changing global energy landscape.

Panel Moderator: 

Henri Daher

Speakers: 

Raul Camba

Karen Harbert

The Natural Gas Boom: A Transition Towards Energy Sustainability or An Environmental Challenge?

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 09:15 to 10:30

The United States is currently benefitting from a burgeoning natural gas industry driven by advancements in hydraulic fracturing. However, there remains uncertainty around the environmental consequences of such action. This panel will look to contrast these costs and benefits by discussing various environmental concerns, the new technologies and regulatory measures that might be adopted to allay them, and the associated costs and benefits of investing in a natural gas future.

Panel Moderator: 

Francis O'Sullivan

Speakers: 

Daniel Schrag

Bob Kleinberg

Ethan Phillips

Michael A. Levi

Scaling Intelligent Efficiency: Overcoming Behavioral and Market Barriers to Saving Energy

Friday, February 21, 2014 - 13:15 to 14:30

Despite the potential of efficiency, businesses and governments have largely been unable to spur energy-saving technologies at scale. A prevailing trend in the market is the increased use of “smart” technology, together with a proliferation of building and market data, to enable a reduction in the costs of identifying and implementing energy efficiency and changing end-use behavior. This panel will examine the current state of the market, and how market actors (businesses, regulators, and utilities) are working to overcome barriers to proliferate advanced approaches for realizing our energy efficiency potential.

Panel Moderator: 

Stephen Lacey

Speakers: 

Alex Kinnier

Harvey Michaels

Badri Raghavan

Micah Remley

Policy and Economics of Carbon: Regulatory, Economic and Technical Challenges for Efficient Carbon Markets

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 09:15 to 10:30

To efficiently and effectively address carbon emissions, recent history has repeatedly shown that carbon markets must be carefully tuned. This panel will engage key stakeholders to understand how economic incentives can be created to efficiently reach socially desirable results; how regulatory policies make or break carbon markets; and what the main technical challenges are to the implementation of carbon regulation and markets.

Speakers: 

Denny Ellerman

Michael Wara

Nuclear-Renewables Partnership: The Prospects of Integrating Nuclear and Intermittent Renewables

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 13:45 to 15:00

Significant penetration of intermittent renewables and rich natural gas generation resources have created challenges for the operation of nuclear power plants. This panel will discuss medium- to long-term market and technological routes to achieving a grid in which nuclear generation and intermittent renewable generation resources coexist.

Panel Moderator: 

Ray Rothrock

Speakers: 

Charles Forsberg

Ralph Izzo

Phil Giudice

Ignacio Perez-Arriaga

MIT Energy Perspectives: What's New at MIT

Friday, February 21, 2014 - 10:45 to 12:00

Groundbreaking research at MIT is leading the way in an energy revolution, and this event will showcase some of the newest and most exciting energy research at MIT’s labs. Researchers will speak about their work and their experiences along the technology frontier, in fields ranging from energy storage and renewables to conventional energy and entrepreneurship. This opening line-up will kick off the 2014 MIT Energy Conference.

Panel Moderator: 

Robert Armstrong

Speakers: 

Don Sadoway

Alex Slocum

Innovations in Clean Tech Finance

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 13:45 to 15:00

In order for the full scope and magnitude of energy innovation to be realized, developments in financing must parallel technological developments. This panel will examine the finance innovations that are changing the way energy projects and companies are funded, along with the legal and structural hurdles they face. Topics to be explored include the use of REITS/MLPs, new government tax subsidies and support programs, innovative funding vehicles for start-ups, and clean energy investment funds.

Panel Moderator: 

John Parsons

Speakers: 

Richard Mull

David Feldman

Dan Elkort

Angela Ferrante

From Lab Space to Marketplace: Bridging the Valley of Death

Friday, February 21, 2014 - 13:15 to 14:30

Many breakthrough energy technologies originate in R&D and academic laboratories, but many perish there as well. As scientists and entrepreneurs try to move nascent energy technologies from the research phase to large scale commercialization, they face high capital costs, intense competition from deeply entrenched incumbents, and a dizzying array of contractual and financing hurdles. This panel will explore key scale-up challenges and discuss possible solutions and resources for scientists, founders, and investors.

Speakers: 

Cheryl Martin

Matt Nordan

Yet-Ming Chiang

Ayman Fawaz

Fitting the Grid to Renewables

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 10:45 to 12:00

A variety of solutions have been proposed to solve the challenge of large-scale renewables integration into the transmission network, and this panel will explore the solutions that hold the most promise. This includes new technologies for improving the capacity and stability of the existing grid as well as more conventional solutions, such as transmission expansion and interregional coordination. Stakeholders from system operators, utilities, and technology developers will discuss their views on the short- and long-term roles of these solutions to integrating renewables, as well as the tradeoffs among them.

Panel Moderator: 

Ignacio Perez-Arriaga

Speakers: 

Ron Schoff

Tim Heidel

Andrew Ott

Expanding the Solar Frontier: Financial Innovations for Community Investment

Friday, February 21, 2014 - 14:45 to 16:00

The penetration of distributed solar generation into the US electric grid is rapidly changing the energy landscape. Hard costs have come down dramatically, but new sources of scalable capital must be unleashed to continue growing the industry. The next frontier is to develop new financing methods and innovative business models to reach a broader market and create social value. This panel will explore the financing mechanisms and business models that have enabled and will continue to enable growing integration of distributed solar.

Panel Moderator: 

Dan Seif

Speakers: 

Greg Rosen

Ray Wood

Albert Luu

Dan Reicher

Biofuels in Transportation: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities

Friday, February 21, 2014 - 14:45 to 16:00

The future of transportation energy remains indefinite and the competition over technology is far from over. Biofuels were envisioned to dominate the future of post-fossil transportation fuels; however, recent advances in batteries and electric vehicles have exerted intense pressure on the market. This panel will examine how the government, biofuels producers, and the auto industry view the future of these competing classes of technology, and asks whether current policies promote a level playing field to drive long term sustainability.

Panel Moderator: 

John M. Reilly

Speakers: 

Ramon Gonzalez

William Chernicoff

Ulrich Schulz