MIT Energy Conference Day Two
The 2022 MIT Energy Conference will return in-person at the Boston Marriott Cambridge after a 2-year hiatus, and we’re also planning on a hybrid format to allow other attendees to tune in virtually from around the globe!
The 2022 conference will also expand its scope to include broader issues in the fight against climate change, both within and outside the energy sector. Please check out the agenda page for more details on our exciting lineup of events. You can find more details on speakers and startups presenting at the Tech Showcase as well.
April 1, 2022 – Day 2, Friday
9:05am – 9:25am: Keynote address by Dr. Maria Zuber: Vice President for Research at MIT
No Time to Lose: The Imperative of Decarbonizing the Global Economy
Maria Zuber is Vice President for Research and the E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics at MIT, where she is responsible for research administration and policy. She oversees MIT Lincoln Laboratory and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research laboratories and centers, including the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the MIT Energy and Environmental Solutions Initiatives, the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, the Research Laboratory of Electronics, the Materials Research Laboratory, MIT.nano, and Haystack Observatory. She also oversees MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade.
9:30am – 9:45am: Keynote address (virtual) by Gina McCarthy: National Climate Advisor at the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy
Federal Climate Change Policy
Gina McCarthy is the first National Climate Advisor—the president’s chief advisor on domestic climate policy—and leads the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy focused on mobilizing a whole-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, creating good-paying, union jobs, and securing environmental justice. Previously, she served as 13th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and then as President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). One of the nation’s most trusted and accomplished voices on climate issues, she has been at the forefront of environmental and public health progress in a variety of leading roles for over three decades.
9:50am – 10:30am: PLENARY PANEL: Renewable Energy – Heart Pumping the Energy Transition
Renewable energy is the heart of society’s transition into environmentally friendly energy sources and economies. As of now, the renewable energy sector receives billions of dollars and engages some of the most brilliant minds to solve complex socio-technical challenges. This foundational transition is not dealing with on-demand consumption, but rather human long-term survival on a livable planet for generations to come.
The renewable energy technologies that are powering the transition have improved exponentially since its inception – notably in wind and solar energy (for example, solar cells’ efficiency has more than doubled in 40 years, with the price per Watt decreasing approximately 100 times). Such improvements have allowed renewable energy technologies to increase their competitiveness and deployment all over the world, exhibiting two-digit growth in the last decade. Alas, they still have room for improvement to reach their fullest contribution towards the energy transition.For that to happen, we need multidisciplinary collaboration across the worlds of research, business, government, policy, and finance. Looking forward, key questions arise: what technology improvements will sustain our foundational transition in the years to come? Moreover, how will cross-collaboration accelerate innovation and deployment?
Featured Panelists:- Moderator: Leonardo Beltrán – Distinguished Energy Fellow, Columbia University
- Joaquín Castillo – USA Country Manager – Acciona Energia
- Cheryl Lafleur – Board Chair, ISO New England
- Sam Massey – Executive Director, Renewable Energy, Next Era
- Mary Werner – Solar Energy Tech Lab Program Manager, NREL
10:45am – 11:25am: PLENARY PANEL: Global Climate Action: Strategy to 1.5C
COP26, held in the UK last year, drew attention for being the first climate change agreement to mention coal use restrictions, as well as the fact that more than 90% of the world’s GDP is now covered by net-zero commitments including India’s declaration of going to net-zero in 2070. However, the world still needs to raise its ambition to reach the 1.5-degree target set in the Paris Agreement. In this panel, climate change experts will talk about strategies to help the world reach this target. In particular, the panel will discuss how the international community can work together, including policies on ESG investment and climate-related financial disclosure given the huge amount of financial resources that will be needed to achieve the 1.5C goal. We will also discuss how we could provide assistance to developing countries and how to develop and disseminate clean technologies that are needed to decarbonize the energy system.
Featured Panelists:- Moderator: Amy Harder – Executive Editor, Cipher
- Bhargavi Chevva – Investment & Company Building, Breakthrough Energy
- Amy Jaffe – Managing Director at Climate Policy Lab, The Fletcher School at Tufts University
- Dr. Jean Rogers – Senior Managing Director and Global Head of ESG, Blackstone
11:30am – 12:10pm: PLENARY PANEL: Looking Beyond Li-ion
Electrochemical storage, primarily batteries, currently lead the storage market for portable batteries in our devices and vehicles. Li-ion Batteries or LIBs are the current front runners for most of the electrochemical market space because of their high energy densities. However, the $/kWh figure of LIBs already makes them unfavorable for certain applications such as longer-duration grid storage. Is there an underexplored world of cell chemistries that could dethrone LIBs in the upcoming decade? What are the R&D, policy, and financial priorities that can help scale the commercial deployment of emerging storage technologies?
Featured Panelists:- Moderator: Dr. Scott Litzelman – Program Director, ARPA-E
- Dr. Yang Shao-Horn – Professor, DMSE, MIT
- Scott Burger – Senior Manager, Analytics, Form Energy
- Thomas (TJ) Winter – VP of Strategic Technologies, Fluence
12:10pm – 1:40pm: LUNCH
1:45pm – 2:25pm BREAKAWAY PANEL: Carbon Capture and Utilization: The Path to Expanding Abatement
Decarbonization of emissions from existing mobile and point-source emitters presents a key challenge in achieving our goal of net-zero. Carbon abatement via capture and utilization technologies offers a promising, yet currently underapplied solution to this challenge. Expanding the use of carbon capture technologies relies, in part, on advancements in alternative capture technologies and further development of downstream carbon utilization solutions. In this panel, we look to explore the ongoing efforts to expand abatement through carbon capture and utilization as well as key technology and policy breakthroughs that could help accelerate this expansion.
Featured Panelists:- Moderator: Clint Wood – Partner, McKinsey & Company
- Scott Frazier – CEO, Carbon America
- Emily Grubert – Deputy Assistant Secretary of Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, DOE
- Sean Simpson – Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, LanzaTech
Yogesh Surendranath – Professor, Electrochemical catalysis for CO2 conversion, MIT
1:45pm – 2:25pm: BREAKAWAY PANEL II: Climate Adaptation in Small Island Developing Nations
Small Island Developing Nations (SIDS) are some of the most vulnerable communities to climate change. Some of the challenges facing SIDS include rising sea levels, loss of habitat, and increased occurrence of extreme climate events. These challenges highlight the immediacy of climate change, the urgency of climate change mitigation efforts, and the absolute need for climate change adaptation. The aim of this panel is to highlight issues facing SIDS resulting from climate change and ongoing adaptation efforts occurring in SIDS. The panel hopes to discuss adaptation efforts through political, financial, and human lenses.
Featured Panelists:- Moderator: Sabrina Shankman – Reporter, The Boston Globe
- David Gumbs – Director, RMI Islands Energy Program
- Thilmeeza Hussain – Ambassador / Permanent Representative, UN, Republic of Maldives
2:30pm – 3:10pm: BREAKAWAY PANEL I: Decarbonizing Heavy Industry
Industries like cement and steel manufacturing are among the most emission-intensive. In 2019, approximately 9% of global fossil fuel and industry emissions were related to iron, steel, and cement production. Innovations and a sustainability-focused mindset are required to address and reduce the impact that these industries are having on the environment. In this panel, speakers driving this change in the industry will present their approaches from the start-up, corporate, and policy perspectives.
Featured Panelists:- Moderator: Jeremy Gregory – Executive Director, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium
- Tadeu Carneiro – Chairman & CEO of Boston Metal
- Josephine Cheung – Director of Research & Development at GCP Applied Technologies
- Leah Ellis – Co-Founder and CEO, Sublime Systems
- Jack Lewnard – Program Director, ARPA-E
2:30pm – 3:10pm: Fireside Chat – My Climate Journey (MCJ) Live Podcast Recording
Join us for this special live recording of the My Climate Journey podcast – featuring a fireside chat between host Jason Jacobs and Dr. Johanna Wolfson. The podcast explores the problem of climate change and the best ways to address it by talking to experts from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. The goal is not to convert anyone to a specific worldview, but to enable each listener to have a more informed worldview on the best ways to address the problem of climate change.
- Guest: Dr. Johanna Wolfson
- Podcast host: Jason Jacobs
Johanna is a co-founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures, and co-founder of Prime Impact Fund. Johanna’s career has focused on accelerating climate technologies from lab to market, spanning university and industry applied research, government, and venture investing. Prior to investing, Johanna was Technology-to-Market Director for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), where she deployed more than $50MM per year into innovative energy projects and companies and also advised DOE, congressional staff, and national labs on effective lab-to-market strategies. Previously, Johanna led start-up engagement at the applied R&D lab Fraunhofer, where she both sourced innovative technologies for Fortune 500 clients and designed demonstration projects for emerging start-ups to ready their products for market entry. Johanna has a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from MIT, where she conducted research on solid-state physics and photonics.
Jason is a longtime entrepreneur, most recently as founder/CEO of Runkeeper, one of the largest mobile fitness apps and communities, which was acquired by ASICS. He is now creator of the My Climate Journey (MCJ) platform, which consists of a podcast, vibrant member community, and fund, focused on helping address the problem of climate change through content, community, and capital.
3:40pm – 5:40pm: Climate & Energy Prize (CEP) @ MIT $100K Pitch Competition Finals
Previously known as the Clean Energy Prize MIT competition, CEP is now the Climate & Energy Prize MIT competition to be inclusive of all climate change-related problems and to move the world closer to net-zero carbon emissions. CEP not only supports student-led entrepreneurs financially but also offers educational resources such as mentorship and startup boot camps to help them realize their vision.
CEP is the largest and longest-running competition for student-led climate startups in the world with over 550 applicants, over 200 mentored teams, and over $2.8 million in awarded cash prizes. Over 220 CEP @ MIT companies have successfully launched from the competition and raised over $1.1 billion in follow-on funding.