The Green Technologies Conference Committee is pleased to offer two panel discussions featuring experts and leaders from both local area and also international companies and organizations. The general panel descriptions are as follows:
Green Technologies Today
Making Sense of Renewable Energy, Sustainability, and Energy Efficiency in the Context of the Current Marketplace and Regulatory Environments
This panel will discuss various aspects of how technologies related to renewable energy, sustainability, and efficiency are affecting related industries today. From renewable portfolio and interconnection standards, distributed generation, grid-scale storage, and advanced transmission and distribution all the way to microgrids, combined heat and power, net metering, energy efficiency, and customer renewable energy goals, no topic is off the table. Panelists will be prepared with their own questions as well as any submitted prior to the conference, and open question and answer periods will be included.
The Future of Green Technologies
What to Look Forward To, What to Look Out For, and the Potential for Game-Changers
This panel will be focused on a discussion of what the future may hold. Whether you are most concerned with the uncertainty of the future regulatory environment, the possibilities for profits or savings in the energy marketplace, or if you are simply hoping to hear about the possibilities for new and transformative technologies, this panel discussion aims to provide the insight you’re looking for. Panelists will be prepared with their own questions as well as any submitted prior to the conference, and open question and answer periods will be included.
Moderators
Meghan Calabro – Green Technologies Today
Ms. Calabro is an Electrical Engineer in Burns & McDonnell’s Telecommunications and Network Engineering Department. She specializes in smart grid communications and standards. Her current responsibilities include technical design, feasibility analysis, technical documentation, integration with legacy systems, and implementation of new systems. She is experienced at working with a variety of utility stakeholders to solve problems and create intelligent, efficient systems.
Lucas McIntosh – The Future of Green Technologies
Lucas McIntosh is a utility consultant and project manager in Burns & McDonnell’s Business Consulting Group. Lucas specializes in financial and engineering analyses of advanced grid technologies including: smart grid, energy storage, demand side management programs and rate design. Lucas has also directly supported or managed technology implementations and pilot/research programs for both municipal and investor-owned electric utilities.
Panelists – Green Technologies Today
Abigail Campbell
Abigail Campbell is Director of Government Affairs for Siemens. In this role she is responsible for legislative and federal outreach for Siemens Wind Power, Building Technologies, and Energy Management businesses as well as cyber security. Prior to joining Siemens she served as a Senior Advisor for the British Embassy in Washington, DC. In this position she managed a team of energy and climate policy advisors based in British Consulates across the US to advance British policy and commercial interests in the US. Before that, she served as a Professional Staff Member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. She holds a Master of Arts, Strategic Security Studies, from National Defense University in Washington, DC and a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science from The University of New Mexico.
Daniel Eglian
Dr. Peter Lilienthal
Dr. Peter Lilienthal is the CEO of HOMER Energy. Since 1993, he has been the developer of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s HOMER® hybrid power optimization software, which has been used by over 130,000 energy practitioners in 193 countries. Dr. Lilienthal was the Senior Economist with International Programs at NREL from 1990 – 2007. He helped create NREL’s Village Power Programs. He has a Ph.D. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University. He has been active in renewable energy since 1978, including teaching at university, project development, and consulting to industry and regulators.
Dennis Murphey
Dennis Murphey has been the Chief Environmental Officer for Kansas City, Missouri since 2006. He works for the City Manager, manages the City’s Office of Environmental Quality, and provides guidance and leadership to City departments on integrating climate protection and sustainability into all city operations. He serves the City Manager, Mayor, and City Council as their primary advisor and source of information on environmental issues relevant to city operations, programs, and policies. He directed the development of Kansas City’s Climate Protection Plan and oversees implementation of the plan to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals of 30% by 2020, community-wide and in city government operations. He promotes regional partnerships between the public and private sectors to address environmental issues and to incorporate sustainability principles into decisions made and actions taken across the metropolitan area.
Panelists – The Future of Green Technologies
Jason Bridges
Jason Bridges has over 16 years of experience in the design, manufacturing, and management of technology enabled products, with the last three of those at Millbank. His background in detailed electronics design, information technology, and global supply chains is currently focused on development of Milbank’s next-generation engineering and technology abilities. In his three years at Milbank, Jason has built an all-star team of technology talent, adding capabilities like printed circuit board design, firmware programing, and electronics assembly and testing to Milbank. In his latest role as Integrated Engineering Director, Jason has been bringing that same level of continuous improvement to the established Milbank processes and engineering groups. Prior to Milbank, Jason spent time at Garmin International, AdTran, the University of Oklahoma, and Missouri School of Science and Technology. He holds two engineering degrees from Missouri S&T, a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Communications Theory.
Tyson Brown
Tyson Brown is an Energy Efficiency program manager at Kansas City Power & Light, managing KCP&L’s portfolio of Residential and Commercial & Industrial Demand Response pilots and programs. Prior to KCP&L, Tyson spent eight years at Honeywell within the Smart Grid Solutions group operating turnkey Residential and C&I Demand Response solutions for Midwest utilities. Tyson has spent a third of his life working within the DR/EE landscape and is enormously interested in identifying opportunities and challenges facing future green technologies as it pertains specifically to the Customer Experience, Interoperability and Data Privacy among other things.
Mike Grunow
Mike Grunow is Vice President of Marketing with ViZn Energy (www.viznenergy.com), and has a broad background in the renewable energy sector. With more than 15 years of experience, Mike has a strong record of commercial leadership within rapidly expanding businesses focused on deploying unique and differentiated clean energy technologies. Previously, as Vice President of Marketing for Moventas, he worked with the world’s largest utilities to enhance the profitability of their existing wind energy fleets. Grunow previously served in executive marketing and sales leadership roles for Trina Solar, helping them grow into the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer. Prior to Trina Solar, he served as a product line manager for General Electric’s wind energy business which grew 10X during his tenure. Grunow graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and received his MBA in Finance from Columbia University.
John Kelly
John Kelly leads the development of a sustainable electricity rating system and design guide modeled after LEED for buildings, called Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal (PEER). Just as LEED improved the ability to compare the relative sustainability of buildings, PEER provides a common design, performance, and verification methodology for the electricity sector that scales to grids of all sizes. See the Keynote page for complete biographical information on Mr. Kelly.