Representatives from the Obama administration, industry leaders and regulators, and energy advocates and entrepreneurs will all converge in Washington this week for the annual Smart Grid summit, GridWeek.
The event aims to explore the impact implementing the Smart Grid–the modern electricity network that uses two-way digital communications technology–will have on the economy, infrastructure and the environment.
Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are two of the featured speakers, who also include nearly 200 other high-profile leaders in government and industry.
The summit, which will consist of 40 sessions and panel discussions, is focused on four key themes: international collaboration, energy consumers, Smart Grid deployment, and speeding up implementation of the grid.
Anto Budiardjo, president of Clasma Events, which is sponsoring GridWeek, said its opportunity for collaboration and offer of public discussion represented a “national energy call-to-action,†noting the “range and depth of the people assembled.â€
Other speakers will include:
- Gerry Cauley, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corp;
- The Honorable Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
- Robin Chase, founder and CEO of Meadow Networks, founder and CEO of GoLoco and co-founder of Zipcar;
- Thomas Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute; and,
- William Novelli, professor at Georgetown University and former CEO of AARP.
Updating the energy grid to make it “smart,†is one of the key energy initiatives of the Obama administration.
Another idea who’s time has come and if we don’t take the initiative now, we will all pay the price in the not-so-distant future.