Why Start a Clean Energy Business in Massachusetts? Event

The British American Business Council of New England’s (BABCNE) Environment and Energy Committee hosts “Why Start a Clean Energy Business in Massachusetts?” featuring Phil Giudice, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER).

The Massachusetts DOER has created a fertile landscape in the Commonwealth in order to grow our Clean Energy jobs, businesses and future. After 2 1/2 years of leadership as Commissioner, collaborating with industry leaders, Phil Giudice has established intelligent, progressive energy policies driving energy efficiency and renewable energy across the state. At our November event, Nick d’Arbeloff, President, New England Clean Energy Council stated that the Massachusetts DOER “has moved us from the middle to the top of the class in Clean Energy.”

Don’t miss this opportunity to register and join us on Tuesday evening, January 26, 2010 at 5:00 pm at the LEED Platinum rated Genzyme Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is a nominal fee to cover costs.

“Philip Giudice is responsible for implementing energy policies that ensure an adequate supply of reliable, affordable and clean energy for the businesses and residents of Massachusetts. He is also responsible for improving and streamlining energy regulation, promoting greater efficiency in all energy uses, reducing energy costs and mobilizing energy education. Mr Giudice also serves as board member, board executive committee member and treasurer of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative as well as a board member of the Commonwealth’s Energy Facilities Siting Board.

Mr. Giudice brings diverse and expansive experience to the position. Prior to joining DOER, Commissioner Giudice served as Senior Vice President at EnerNOC, a start-up company providing electricity demand-management services to businesses, institutions, utilities, and grid operators to obtain savings for businesses and institutions and relieve stress on the electric system.

The Commissioner was also a Senior Partner and leader of Mercer Management Consulting’s global energy utilities practice. He is a geologist (B.S. from the University of New Hampshire and M.S. in Economic Geology from the University of Arizona) and management professional (M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth) with 30 years experience in the energy industry.”

This event is sponsored by Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP.

Disclosure: I am a founding member of the BABCNE Environment and Energy Committee.

Steven Chu’s Compton Lecture

Steven Chu’s inspiring Compton Lecture at MIT on May 12, 2009 made it viscerally clear to me that this will be an extraordinary time for clean energy and our country. President Susan Hockfield introduced Chu as the “academic black sheep” in his family having received only one PhD (from Berkeley) while most family members had two of them. He is the first working scientist to become Energy Secretary and the only Nobel Laureate to be in a presidential cabinet.

This is change you can believe in.

I took notes during his lecture and have summarized a few major themes, but I encourage you to spend one hour listening to Steven Chu’s Compton Lecture “The Energy Problem and the Interplay between Basic and Applied Research”.

Chu caught our attention by saying that scientists over the last decade have underestimated the damage from climate change. These predictions for the melting arctic ice cap, rising sea levels and dying pine forest in British Columbia were too conservative. Scientists accurately predicted that 40% of our pine forest in British Columbia would be gone, but the arctic ice cap and sea levels are at or worse than their forecasted worst case tolerance.

If this did not leave one feeling unsettled Chu added that we absolutely must prevent the carbon in long term frozen storage in the Canadian and Russian tundra from thawing. He framed the problem by saying that “unacceptable” tundra thawing would create a repetitive thaw, CO2 release, and warming cycle. This potentially released CO2 from the tundra is comparable to the amount of CO2 released by all human activity into the atmosphere.

Science and technology have solved our problems before and Chu provided energy inefficient and efficient refrigerators as an example. Over the last 30-40 years the average refrigerator grew in size from 18 to 22 cubic feet, but now uses 1/4 the energy at 1/2 the cost compared to it’s 18 cubic foot ancestor.

The largest slice of the energy consumption pie chart is residential and commercial buildings at 40%. Chu points out that plane design changes at Boeing recalculate their impact on energy measurables in real time. Construction cost overruns for buildings result in the stripping out of energy efficient measures and commissioning (tuning energy systems). He estimates that energy efficient design and real time usage analysis could reduce energy consumption by as much as 80% for residential and commercial buildings and consequently reduce overall energy consumption by 32%.

Chu was inspired working at Bell Laboratories and is implementing their innovation model. Bell Laboratories Managers were the best practical scientists in their field and had intimate knowledge of the people in their departments. They connected the right people to one another and deployed resources quickly. They hired young scientists and researchers and fostered an idea-rich culture without secrecy. There were so many good ideas that one was happy to see someone else “take” one and run with it.

The U.S. spends $26 billion per year on energy research and development (R&D) and the stimulus adds $37 billion in total to that over two years. President Obama has called for a doubling in basic science expenditures. Chu explains that a corporation spends about 10% of it’s revenue on R&D. The U.S. has a one trillion dollar annual energy expenditure which by comparison should fund a $100 billion investment annually in R&D.

In closing, Chu reminded us of the Apollo 8 photograph that the crew took of the earth when they came around the back side of the moon. They commented “We traveled to explore the moon, but we discovered the earth.”

Chu said “It’s our home. Let’s take care of it.”

… thunderous applause …

“America’s Leadership in Clean Energy”

If my earlier post entitled “Economic Prosperity” highlighted economic prosperity and climate change in President Obama’s two clean energy public addresses then this one brings visibility to his commitment to research leadership. Last Friday, I had the honor of attending President Obama’s address entitled “America’s Leadership in Clean Energy” as part of the White House Press Pool at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium.

As I walked along Vassar Street looking for the media entrance, I moved toward a cordoned off area and was immediately stopped by security and told to turn around. The President toured MIT’s research labs and I expect that this area was a research lab perimeter. Security was focused and almost rude to stay so.

MIT President Susan Hockfield and Professor Ernest Moniz introduced the President. President Hockfield stated “we share President Obama’s view that clean energy is the defining challenge of this era.”

President Obama is cool, very funny, extremely smart and a great communicator. After being introduced, he walked gracefully across the stage toward the podium like a basketball superstar in his best street clothes. If the room needed to be warmed up further, he did so with “I will probably be here for a while. I understand a bunch of engineering students put my motorcade on top of building 10″ and “This tells you something about MIT … everybody hands out periodic tables … what’s up with that?” as he held one up in his hand.

Please watch his address entitled “America’s Leadership in Clean Energy” from the MIT Libraries.

I believe President Obama is uniquely qualified to lead us through a handful of transformations including Clean Energy. As he points out, “The truth is we have always been about innovation. We have always been about discovery. That’s in our DNA.” I am convinced that as long as President Obama is leading America, America will lead in Clean Energy. Let’s harness and embrace “America’s Leadership”.

Economic Prosperity

The Senate debate in Washington over the climate bill and the global debate on climate change as we move toward Copenhagen are difficult and uncertain. Is it time to use the economic prosperity argument as the primary argument to win these debates both domestically and internationally?

Professor William Moomaw, Director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, weighed in on this distinction in his talk entitled “A Global Overview of Action on Climate Change” two weeks ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He stated that one of the biggest likely impediments to a meaningful agreement in Copenhagen is India’s position. India has promised not to exceed the emissions per person in the U.S. India’s emissions rate is currently about 2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (CO2e/y) per person and the U.S.’s is about 24 tons of CO2e/y per person. Moomaw goes on to wonder if the message of economic prosperity is a better global argument than the message of climate change.

President Obama has given two speeches during his presidency regarding these topics of economic prosperity and climate change. His first speech largely regarding economic prosperity was entitled Remarks by the President on Clean Energy on April 22, 2009. His first speech to the UN General Assembly at the UN Summit on Climate Change this week was more focused on climate change. I encourage you to scroll to the bottom of the webpage and watch the 10 minute video of his latest address.

I think it is time to incorporate not only the climate change argument, but also and primarily the economic prosperity argument to win the debates in Washington and Copenhagen as well as in our own circles of influence.

Note: Grist is an excellent news and information source.