2011 Renewable Energy Markets Conference

The 2011 Renewable Energy Markets (“REM”) conference in San Francisco, hosted by the Center for Resource Solutions (“CRS”), highlighted some of the most cutting edge issues and stakeholders in the renewable energy space thus far. With 26 sessions and over 80 presenters, there was truly something for everyone. NRDC participated in several session, my colleague Max Baumhefner moderated a panel on the Nexus between Electric Vehicles and Renewable Energy and I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on Green Marketing and Social Media. Max’s panel came on the heels of an impressive EV demo that announced a partnership with CityShare.org and the Nissan Leaf to scale up electric vehicle use in San Francisco. The panel on green marketing and social media sparked quite a bit of interest as many grapple with the emerging role of social media in energy management and literacy. NRDC is exploring this head on with the recent launch of our initiative with Facebook and Opower, for more information click here and here.

One of the most anticipated events of this annual conference is the Greenpower Leadership Awards hosted by the EPA, DOE and CRS.  These awards are designed to recognize leading purchasers and suppliers of green energy as well as leading organizations and individuals for advancing markets of green power. Of particular note is Intel Corporation, for hosting 12 solar systems on multiple locations in Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, California, India and Israel totaling more than 3MW, with several additional sites due to be completed in 2011. Intel has also launched a social networking platform called “Planet Blue” designed to engage their 97,000 employees worldwide on the opportunities to collaborate on sustainability projects.  Staples was acknowledged for their commitment to use green power nearly a decade ago. This year, Staples purchased green power equal to nearly 53% of its total electricity consumption and was selected for the seventh consecutive year as a component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. Finally, New York’s Empire State Building was a recipient of the Green Power Partner of the Year award recognizing a two-year commitment to purchase nearly 55 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually in January 2011. Many others, including Google, Kohl’s, Clean Energy Collective and Washington Gas and Energy Services were recognized this year.  This ceremony reinforces the successful clean energy examples happening everyday throughout our nation.

Kudos to CRS for another year well done, where REM tackles hard issues and praises impressive efforts to move renewable energy forward in America!