fuel

‘Peak Oil & Green Energy: Both Fossils?’—A Milken Global Conference Expert Panel

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Cathy Zoi

VX News presents an edited transcript of the panel “Peak Oil and Green Energy: Both Fossils?” from the Milken Institute’s Global Conference, April 26-29 in Santa Monica. Moderated by Greg Dalton, host of the podcast ClimateOne, the panel features Ian Wright, CEO of Wrightspeed and co-founder of Tesla; Cathy Zoi, director of the Energy Transformation Collaborative at Stanford and incoming CEO of SunEdison’s Rural Electric Company; and Scott Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Generate Capital. They discuss the death of the “peak oil” issue, the challenges facing the popularization of clean energy technology, and whether the renewable energy industry really needs a technological breakthrough—or just a change in the way it does business.

VX2015: California & National Energy Leaders On DG’s Impact on Grid Management

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Steve Berberich

The VerdeXchange 2015 opening plenary “The Future is Now—The Green Economy Going to Scale” considered the remaining work to be done by government and business as “sustainability” becomes mainstream. VX News provides edited excerpts of the discussion here, featuring California State Senator Robert Hertzberg, US Congressman Earl Blumenauer, President and CEO of California ISO Steve Berberich, and EPCOR Utilities Board Member and Former Mayor of Long Beach Bob Foster. They consider whether the federal government can be a useful partner in sustainability projects; how technology is creating more decentralized, self-contained systems; and how both public and private institutions will have to reevaluate their roles in the future green economy.

EDF’S Lauren Faber On: California's AB 32, Cap-and-Trade, and New Goals for State’s Renewable Portfolio Standard

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As West Coast Political Director for the Environmental Defense Fund, Lauren Faber is closely involved in California’s ongoing implementation of its cap-and-trade program. Faber spoke at the VerdeXchange 2014 Conference in Los Angeles on panels titled “Cap-and-Trade: Following the Money in California’s Carbon Market” and “Cleantech Grid Integration of Renewables.” Faber brings experience at the California Environmental Protection Agency to her work at EDF. In the following interview with VX News, she elaborates on her role at EDF and offers insight into cap-and-trade’s effectiveness—noting what Californians can expect as transportation fuels come under the cap and considering how the state may allocate funds from the program.

Los Angeles County Public Works’ Pat Proano on Innovative & Sustainable Approaches to Recycling and Managing Waste

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Pat Proano, Assistant Deputy Director of the Environmental Programs Division at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, spoke with VerdeXchange News about strategies for meeting AB 341’s mandate to recycle 75 percent of trash in LA County. He focuses on the promise of conversion technology, which transforms organic waste into fuels, and the efforts at a state-wide, legislative level to clarify this practice. Proano also outlines benchmarks he expects the county to meet in the next year in terms of organics management, waste steam diversion from landfills, and citizen education. With landfills already full, a paradigm shift is underway to handle the 22 million tons of trash generated each year.

Nate Lewis Leads US Energy Innovation Hub at Caltech

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Nate Lewis is the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry and Scientific Director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at Caltech. JCAP is one of several federally funded Energy Innovation Hubs, with a specific focus on deriving fuel from sunlight. In a recent talk given at the LAEDC Mid Year Economic Forecast, republished here in VerdeXchange News and TPR, Professor Lewis puts the earth’s current greenhouse gas levels in historic perspective, noting that no energy source has the power to both clean our atmosphere and meet civilization’s growing energy demands except the sun. Yet harnessing the sun’s energy with current solar panel technology presents problems of space and storage. Lewis outlines how artificial photosynthesis might solve these problems, as well as the steps Caltech is taking to make this hypothetical technology a game-changing reality.

Jaffe: There Will be No Shortage of Oil/Gas—‘Get Over It’

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VerdeXchange News presents the following remarks by Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director for Energy and Sustainability at UC Davis, delivered this summer at the biannual Asilomar Conference on Transportation and Energy. Her thesis: Many incorrectly imagined that the globe and the Industrial West were running dry of oil and thus alternative energy and fuels could depend on high oil prices shifting us to lower carbon emissions. Jaffe suggests that environmental policy advocates shift away from arguing scarcity and instead prepare for possible fossil fuel surpluses, and what that might mean for the economy and for climate change initiatives.

LA’s Mayor Appoints City’s First International Trade Director, Stephen Cheung

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In August, VerdeXchange News sat down with Stephen Cheung, the Mayor of Los Angeles’ first Director of International Trade, to discuss the purview and mission of his new position, which liaisons between the Port of Los Angeles, LAX, and City Hall. With trade being a critical component of the LA regional economy, and with the infrastructure of trade constantly evolving, Cheung works for goods movement, logistics, storage, and transportation to operate as smoothly as possible to retain customers doing business in and through LA. The potential growth of ethanol trade with Brazil serves as an example of how LA is making strides to adapt.