Washington plugs into the smart grid
Energy Information
campaign, we hosted a joint smart grid event with GE on Tuesday in
Washington DC. Our timing was fortuitous; the event took place just
as President Obama signed an historic economic stimulus bill that
includes $11 billion to modernize the electricity grid.
Check out the video from the event - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGiy7Safnhg
Getting energy information into the hands of consumers requires
reworking the electricity grid to make it smarter. At Tuesday's
event, hosted in Google's Washington office, experts explored what the
fundamental elements of a smarter grid should be -- from empowering
consumers with information, tools, and choices to manage their energy
use, to creating an open system that encourages innovation and
enabling a massive scale up of renewable energy sources and plug-in
vehicles. We also explored the government's role in accelerating
these efforts. Our panelists were enthusiastic about the opportunity
created by the stimulus, but also noted the government's challenge of
getting the money out the door in an effective and efficient manner.
Some highlights from the event:
- An appearance by Carol Browner, President Obama's senior energy
official in the White House, who noted with delight the packed crowd
of over 450 people
- Former astronaut and current Googler, Ed Lu, making the case for
open standards and user access to energy information on our technology
panel
- Our very own Dan Reicher shamelessly punning that "we want to help
build a fridge to the 21st century," a play on Bill Clinton's '96
campaign mantra. Background:
http://cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9608/30/clinton.speech/
- GE-Google partnership:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/partnering-with-ge-on-clean-energy.html
Event Agenda:
Part I: Envisioning smart power - Energy tools and technologies to
empower people with information and choice
Moderator: Bob Gilligan, GE
Panelists:
Adrian Tuck, CEO, Tendril
Ron Binz, Chairman, Colorado Public Utilities Commission
Jeff Renaud, Director, Ecomagination, GE
Ed Lu, Advanced Projects, Google
Kelly Speakes-Backman, Principal, RE+GENeration Consultants LLC
George Bjelovuk, Managing Director, American Electric Power
Part II: Accelerating the energy revolution - State and federal
policies to drive smart power
Opening remarks: The Honorable Carol Browner, Assistant to the
President for Energy and Climate Change (invited)
Moderator: Dan Reicher, Google
Panelists:
Fred Butler, President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
John Podesta, President, Center for American Progress (invited)
Andy Karsner, Former Ass. Sec. for Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, U.S. Department of Energy
Chris Miller, Office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid