Tuesday, October 8 - Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center
Stanford University

• Presentations & Videos
• Tutorials & Videos
• Speaker Bios
• Posters
• Agenda (pdf)
• Flier (pdf)

Advanced Technologies for Affordable Low-Carbon Energy

The 2013 GCEP Research Symposium, Advanced Technologies for Affordable Low-Carbon Energy, was held in October at Stanford University. Thought-provoking speakers, GCEP researchers and more than 450 participants from academia, industry, government and the investment community combined to make this our most successful conference yet.

The two-day symposium featured talks by key leaders, including:

• Gro Brundtland, former U.N. special envoy on climate change, former prime minister of Norway, vice chair of United Nations Foundation, Climate Change and Our Common Future
• Richard Swanson, founder and former president and chief technology officer – SunPower; consulting professor – Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University, Lessons from the Journey from Academia to Commercial Markets
• JB Straubel, co-founder and chief technology officer – Tesla Motors, and Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner –Technology Partners, Fireside Chat: The Tesla Story – Perspectives from the CTO and VC

The conference also focused on the need to create affordable, low-carbon energy services in India with the following talk and panel discussion:

• Kirit Parikh, former member – Planning Commission of India; chairman – Integrated Research and Action for Development, India's Low Carbon Strategy for Inclusive Growth
• Panel Discussion: Increasing Prosperity in Rural India Through Sustainable Agriculture and Energy Services
  
  • Moderator: Sally Benson, director of GCEP
  • Jagannatha Kumar, head of Reliance Foundation
  • Banny Banerjee, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Stanford University
  • Bruce Clemens, professor of materials science and engineering, Stanford University
  • Mark Thurber, associate director of research – Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford University

The symposium also showcased the latest technological innovations from GCEP investigators in the areas of solar energy, bioenergy, carbon-based energy systems, and advanced energy transformations and storage.

In addition, three student speakers selected as GCEP Distinguished Student Lecturers gave impressive talks about their research findings.

An afternoon poster session featured more than 60 presentations by GCEP students and postdoctoral fellows from Stanford and other institutions. The session provided an excellent opportunity for conference attendees to speak directly with researchers and learn more about the range of GCEP efforts.

Another popular highlight of the symposium were a series of Energy 101 tutorials conducted by leading researchers:

• Energy Systems Integration 101: Mark O'Malley, director – Electricity Research Centre University College Dublin
• Future Personal Mobility 101: Sven Beiker, executive director – Center for Automotive Research at Stanford
• Nuclear Energy 101: Burton Richter, Nobel Laureate – Physics, Director Emeritus SLAC
• Negative Emissions 101: Chris Field, founding director – Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution; Jennifer Milne, GCEP energy assessment analyst – Stanford University

Symposium presentations, videos and posters are available for viewing (please see top of page for links).