Session Spotlight: Industry Experts Panel on Clean Energy Technology

[LJames]

Five clean energy experts took to the Ballroom D stage on Wednesday afternoon for a lively debate on the best sources of renewable energy, smart grid obstacles and more. Moderated by Michael Kanellos, editor in chief and senior analyst at Greentech Media, the panel included the following:

• Owen Golden, Vice President of Energy at National Instruments
• Manuel Gonzalez, Manager of Distribution Standards at CenterPoint Energy
• Robert Metcalfe, Co-Inventor of Ethernet, Founder of 3Com, Partner at Polaris
• Karl R. Rábago, Vice President of Distributed Energy Services at Austin Energy
• Allan Schurr, Vice President of Strategy and Development, IBM Global Energy and Utilities Industry

A major theme of the panel discussion was how technology impacts renewable energy. For example, the panelists talked about how there was a great demand for more intelligent systems and sensors that can monitor the smart grid for more efficient distribution of energy. They also touched on how utility companies are slower to adopt new, innovative technologies because of the impact it has on the consumer if it fails as well as the cost passed down to the consumer. Additionally, they pointed out that whatever technology is adopted needs to be scalable from large corporations down to small businesses and consumers.

Another discussion of the panel was how utility companies need to evolve their business models so that they are selling services and not kilowatt hours. The panelists also agreed that partnerships between the utility companies and the consumers are the most ideal way to foster further innovation on energy efficiency.