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Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Time Session/Event Location
7:30am - 9:00am Breakfast Indigo B/C
9:00am - 9:30am Welcome and Opening Remarks Indigo A/E
9:30am - 10:15am Keynote: Navigating the Transition to Sustainable Energy solutions in a Power-Hungry World Indigo A/E
10:15am - 10:45am Networking Break Indigo West Foyer
10:45am - 12:15pm Panel 1: Building Sustainable Cities for Tomorrow Indigo A/E
12:15pm - 2:00pm Lunch Indigo B/C
2:00pm - 3:30pm Sustainability Start-Up Pitch Competition Indigo A/E
3:30pm - 4:00pm Networking Break Indigo West Foyer
4:00pm - 5:30pm Panel 2: Leveraging Technology to Achieve Carbon Neutrality of Buildings and Factories Indigo A/E
6:00pm - 7:30pm Networking Reception Indigo Terrace
Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Time Session/Event Location
7:30am - 9:00am Breakfast Indigo B/C
9:00am - 10:00am Keynote: Innovating for Product Sustainability - Making Data Centers Greener Indigo A/E
10:00am - 10:30am Networking Break Indigo West Foyer
10:30am - 12:00pm Panel 3: Navigating Green: Regulatory Insights and Compliance Strategies for Building a Sustainable Future  Indigo A/E
12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch Indigo B/C
1:00pm - 2:30pm Panel 4: Unleashing the Potential of Virtual Power Plants for Sustainable Energy Solutions IndigoA/E
2:30pm - 3:00pm Networking Break Indigo West Foyer
3:00pm - 4:30pm Panel 5: Charting the Course for Future-Ready Data Centers in the Era of Sustainability IndigoA/E
4:30pm - 5:00pm Closing Remarks IndigoA/E

Program Details

Keynote: Navigating the Transition to Sustainable Energy Solutions in a Power-Hungry World

Tuesday, 27 August, 2024 | 9:30am – 10:15am | Indigo A/E 

We face a historical challenge to develop sustainable energy solutions in record time to combat the irreversible effects of climate change. In parallel, we are witnessing an increasing global demand for power generation that is expected to skyrocket as power-hungry technologies like AI become widely adopted. How do we combat the increasing demand for energy while ensuring we remain on track to reach our decarbonization goals? What smart technologies are available to create sustainable, hyperscale data centers? How can governments, the public and private sectors work together to tackle this transition? Learn how companies and executive leadership are shifting business strategies to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Speaker:
Takajiro “Tak” Ishikawa, President & CEO, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America

Panel 1: Building Sustainable Cities for Tomorrow

Tuesday, 27 August, 2024 | 10:45am – 12:15pm | Indigo A/E 

Explore the strategic imperatives and innovative solutions driving some of the most sustainable cities in the world. Uncover the pivotal role executives play in addressing environmental challenges and reshaping urban landscapes. Gain insights into successful sustainability initiatives, emerging trends, and lessons on the transformative leadership required to build sustainable cities and a path toward a resilient and eco-friendly future. 

Speakers:
Arsalan Abtahi, Founder and Chair, Symphony

Caroline Chan, Vice President, Network and Edge Group, Intel Corporation

Scarlett Lanzas, MPA, Founder & CEO, Accountable Impact

Heather Werner, Interim Director, Sustainability and Mobility Department, City of San Diego

Moderated by Anthony Vetro, President & CEO, Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs

Keynote: Transparency Is Hard But Collaboration Can Make Reaching Sustainability Goals Easy (Or At Least Easier) 

Tuesday, 27 August, 2024 | 1:15pm – 2:00pm | Indigo A/E

Transparency is hard. Partnerships that involve sharing data/info can be intimidating and may cause concern if you don’t have all the answers. But collaboration is imperative to meet global sustainability challenges. We need to share – share knowledge, share technology, share processes – in order to move forward. With intel gathered from this conversation, the audience will take away a roadmap to ‘transparent collaboration’ that can help us – and help society – meet sustainability goals.

Speaker:
Andrea Murphy, Director Environmental Affairs and Sustainability, Panasonic North America

Panel 2: Leveraging Technology to Achieve Carbon Neutrality of Buildings and Factories

Tuesday, 27 August, 2024 | 4:00pm – 5:30pm | Indigo A/E 

Understand the challenges existing and new buildings are facing in terms of sustainability and resiliency, and discover more about the paths to successful solutions and strategies achieving sustainable buildings ranging from design, construction and operation. The following topics will be addressed for your impactful perspectives and cutting-edge real-world applications: Unconventional heating/cooling, energy storage technologies and more to achieve efficiency improvement for carbon neutral buildings and their sustainability.

Speakers:
Julio Ampuero,  Vice President of Commercial Energy Management, Carrier

Dana Fischer, Sr. Director of Regulatory Strategy, Mitsubishi Electric US, Heating & Air Conditioning Division

Eli Goldstein, Cofounder and CTO, Sky Cool Systems

Michael Myer, Senior Researcher, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Limor Schafman, Director of Strategy, LG NOVA

Moderated by Jae Hyung Yi, Research Fellow, LG Electronics

Keynote: Innovating for Product Sustainability – Making Data Centers Greener 

Wednesday, 27 August, 2024 | 9:00am – 10:00am | Indigo A/E

Electrification and digitalization are bringing exciting opportunities for sustainable product design across a wide variety of industries, including the fast-growing world of data centers supporting the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution. A key innovation for data center sustainability is the liquid cooling platform and family of products. Liquid cooling’s advantage comes from its higher heat capacity and density compared to air, making it a good choice for cooling advanced AI chips that generate extreme amounts of heat. This technology also uses advanced control algorithms to ensure liquid is delivered at the optimal temperature and flow rate for the specific thermal load of servers. This enables precise temperature management and system performance improvements. This presentation will share best practices for incorporating sustainability in end-to-end product design for data centers and beyond, using the development of nVent’s liquid cooling platform as a case study on how sustainable products can drive good business outcomes. The presentation will also address key sustainability challenges for the industry as a whole.

Speaker:
Aravind Padmanabhan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, nVent

Panel 3: Navigating Green: Regulatory Insights and Compliance Strategies for Building a Sustainable Future

Wednesday, 27 August, 2024 | 10:30am – 12:00pm | Indigo A/E 

Regulatory policies are critical to meet the demands of society and address decarbonization needs. As new technologies offer significant opportunities for realizing a sustainable energy future, it is critical that regulators provide incentives which speed up the transition to green energy while addressing affordability and energy justice. This needs to be done in a collaborative fashion with engaging all key stakeholders. This panel involves various stakeholders in charting the path for the sustainable future.

Speakers:
Chad Abbey, VP of Grid Architecture, Quanta Technology

Alan Dulgeroff, Director of Electric System Planning, San Diego Gas & Electric

Brian Markwalter, SVP Research and Standards, Consumer Technology Association

William (Bill) Sisson, Executive Director North America, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Moderated by Jackie Peer, Head of Strategic Business Development, OMICRON Electronics

Panel 4: Unleashing the Potential of Virtual Power Plants for Sustainable Energy Solutions

Wednesday, 27 August, 2024 | 1:00pm – 2:30pm | Indigo A/E   

Learn about the essential priorities facing the implementation and management of virtual power plants (VPPs) – with insights from leaders who have led and scaled initiatives on renewable energy, energy management, and water management. Navigate the scalability issues, as well as integration complexity, data security, and regulatory hurdles of VPPs through the lens of sustainability. While the challenges associated with VPPs highlight the need for a comprehensive and adaptable approach, the rewards, especially in relation to sustainability, are indisputable.

Key takeaways:

  • Discover the opportunities associated with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Plants Program and how they relate to your company.
  • Develop a better understanding of the robust technology and management solutions available for VPPs.
  • Gain insight into how you ensure the reliability and resilience of your VPP for scale.
  • Hear about the sustainability advantages of VPPs and associated wins from leaders who have first hand experience of their success.

Speakers:
Kadir Bedir, Distributed Energy Resources Supervisor, California Energy Commission

Valerie Parker, Senior PD, Intel Network and Edge (NEX)

Kevin Morrissey, Head of Product Innovation, SGS Division at Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.

Moderated by Alka Singh, Electrical Engineer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Panel 5: Charting the Course for Future-Ready Data Centers in the Era of Sustainability

Wednesday, 27 August, 2024 | 3:00pm – 4:00pm | Indigo A/E 

Join us for an insightful session as we unravel the intricacies of sustainable data centers. Explore cutting-edge hardware and software solutions paving the way for energy-efficient computing. Delve into strategies for optimizing energy consumption through efficient inter and intra-data center networking. Discover innovative cooling solutions and how renewable energy is reshaping the landscape of data center operations. Gain valuable insights into power consumption monitoring and measurement techniques. Additionally, uncover the secrets of inter-data center computing workload balancing for optimal energy consumption. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay ahead in the realm of sustainable data centers with key takeaways that will reshape your approach to energy-efficient computing.

Speakers:
Yuval Bachar, CEO and co-founder, EdgeCloudLink (ECL)

Jim Davis, Principal, Data Center Sustainability & Resilience, Ramboll

Mike Hollinger, Master Inventor, CTO for Applied AI, & Distinguished Engineer for Maximo Application Suite, IBM

Lin Nease, HPE Fellow, CTO Sustainability Services, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (lead speaker)

Moderated by Sanyogita Shamsunder