Third Conference on the Physics of Sustainable Energy

Using Energy Efficiently and Producing It Renewably

March 8-9, 2014
University of California, Berkeley

This conference will be an intense weekend short course to enhance the background of private and public sector professionals, researchers and students active in energy affairs now or in the future. The content will be centered in the physical sciences, but will reach substantively into related fields important to energy policy and practice. The conference is sponsored by the APS Forum on Physics and Society, the APS Topical Group on Energy Research and Applications, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. As with the two previous conferences on this theme, in 2008 and 2011, both also held on the UC Berkeley campus, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) will publish the proceedings as a sourcebook. The motivation for this third conference is the continued importance of this energy research and the need to update faculty and educate students either to work in the field or to have an appreciation for the key issues.

Registration

Pre-registration has closed. Mail registration continues here. Capacity very limited.

Registration fees:

Full Registration (includes two lunches, online access to proceedings): $125

Student Registration: $90

Banquet: $45

Optional hard-cover proceedings: $32

Organizers

Daniel Kammen, Energy and Resources Group and Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Robert Knapp, Physics and Sustainable Design, Evergreen State College
Barbara Levi, American Institute of Physics

Program

Saturday, March 8
(Day sessions in North Gate Hall 105, UC Berkeley campus)

Welcome and Overview:
Daniel Kammen (UC Berkeley) and Rob Knapp (Evergreen State College)

Session A: Global and Regional Issues

Global Carbon Balance – Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institution
Energy and the Global Poor – Daniel Kammen, UC Berkeley

Session B: Renewable Energy Sources

Solar Upconversion: Giving Photovoltaics the Green Light – Jennifer Dionne, Stanford
Biofuels: status and prospects – Chris Somerville, Energy Biosciences Institute, UC Berkeley
Wind Energy – John O. Dabiri, Caltech
Synergies of Energy and Information Technologies – Eric Brewer, UC Berkeley

Session C: Efficient and Transformed Uses Part I

Buildings: Lower Energy, Better Comfort – Gail Brager, UC Berkeley
Energy Use and the Information Economy – Jonathan Koomey, Stanford
Industrial Ecology – Valerie Thomas, Georgia Tech
The Rebound Effect – Tilman Santarius, UC Berkeley

Poster Session for Participants
(Contact Rob Knapp knappr@evergreen.edu for information and proposal form.)

Banquet Keynote Speaker – Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute

Sunday, March 9

Session D: Sustainability and Nonrenewable Energy

ARPA-E: searching for breakthroughs – Arun Majumdar, Google, Inc
Displacing Oil with Gas and Biofuels  – Vikram Rao, Research Triangle Energy Consortium
Topics in Nuclear Power – Robert Budnitz, LBNL

Session E: Efficient and Transformed Uses Part II

Low Carbon Power Systems – Duncan Callaway, UC Berkeley
Toward Profitable Oil-free Transportation – Amory Lovins, RMI
Batteries – George Crabtree, Argonne National Laboratory

Session F: From Lab to Market

Solar Development Roadmap – Dan Kammen,UC Berkeley
Government Initiatives – Cyrus Wadia, LBNL
Private Sector Initiatives – Todd Strauss, Pacific Gas & Electric

Session G: Non-Energy Climate Initiatives

Adapting to Climate Change – Ann Kinzig, Arizona State Univ.
Geoengineering – Alan Robock, Rutgers University

Final Comments / end of main conference