Part II: 10th Annual NC Sustainable Energy Conference

April 22nd, 2013


After an informative and entertaining session on sustainable agriculture, I ventured out into the expo hall and car show to do a little exploring. Just outside Mckimmon in the front parking lot, the green car show was taking place, showing off the latest on-the-road alternative fuel cars and unique designs. Here are a few vehicles that you might see on the road locally or elsewhere in North Carolina.

A hybrid diesel-electric school bus from Thomas Built Buses. Increasing fuel efficiency in public transport is a high priority among several towns and cities across the state.

Dodge Ram pickup fitted to run off of natural gas, from Piedmont Natural Gas. With natural gas prices at historic lows, alternative fuel vehicles such as this one may help reduce the cost of fueling your car.

A fully electric Mitsubishi from CBS Mitsubishi Motors in Durham, NC.  This vehicle has a 62 mile range per charge (112mpg equivalency) and options for installations for home electric charging stations. (mitsubishi.com)

This unique assisted bike-vehicle is called the ELF from Organic Transit, built here in the Triangle. There is a Li-ion battery pack aboard, charged by 30W rooftop solar panels that assists the driver, or you can choose manual cycling operation. (organictransit.com)

A late model Mercedes-Benz retrofitted to run off of biodiesel. This is not a new vehicle, and has been very popular among enviro-friendly crowds in years past. Not to mention you still receive the luxury driving quality of a Mercedes-Benz automobile. :)

The expo hall featured several major companies, including CREE, ABB, and Advanced Energy, as well as public and non-profit organizations like the North Carolina Solar Center, NC Sustainable Energy Association, and NC A&T University Ph.D. Program in Energy and Environmental Systems. In between breakout session talks, the expo hall offered free refreshments and made for an ideal place to meet and network with people in the solar industry. I had the opportunity of meeting a few students currently in the Certificate in Renewable Energy Management course I attended last summer and was able give them a few pieces of friendly advice.

Several vendors were present in the Expo Hall to present products and ideas to customers throughout the conference

The 2nd day conference talks I attended dove much deeper into the specifics of renewable energy in North Carolina, particularly in the game of politics and finance. Currently there has been a strong push in the state congress to repeal the Renewable Energy Standard Portfolio, which requires our state to generate 12.5% of its power from renewable sources, including a 0.2% carve out specifically for solar electricity. In addition, the 35% state renewable energy tax credit is also in jeopardy, threatening the future of our industry. As for this moment, deals are continuing to be done at all scales of production, but few panelists could make confident predictions for the state of the industry at this time next year. Please contact your local congressman and let them know you support solar in North Carolina!

Panel Discussion on Large Scale Solar Farms in North Carolina. From Left to Right: Bob Leker, N.C. Energy Office, Kenny Habul, SunEnergy1, Joel Olsen, O2 Energies, and Markus Wilhelm, Strata Solar.

The final day of the conference features two great keynote speakers, Ty Mitchell, Executive Vice President and General Manager for CREE Inc., who spoke about the advantages of using LED lighting technology. Cities that have switched their street lighting over to LED has saved hundreds of millions of dollars in energy and labor costs in doing so, thanks to the low wattage use of LED's and their long-lasting life cycle. In fact, 1 LED light bulb will last approximately the same length of time as 25 regular incandescent bulbs. The lunch speaker, and my favorite of the conference, was Cheri Chastain, the Sustainability Manager for Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. She was quick to mention she did not have any free samples for the audience, which brought some laughs and good vibes. She then went into discussing the hard work that has been done to follow owner Ken Grossman's vision of his company to be green and energy independant, including installing 2MW fuel cells at their California plant, over 1000 solar panels on nearly every roof space available at their entire facility, and a move to open a brewing facility in North Carolina, where they fully intend on enacting a similar green policy approach to their brewery.

Ty Mitchell, Excecutive Vice President of CREE, Inc., Located in RTP, speaks on the advantages of LED technology in the morning keynote session

Cheri Chastain, Sustainability Manager of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, speaks on the renewable energy policies driving the brewery into the green future

Solar panels cover nearly every inch of roof space on Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's California Facility Plant.

It was a big week for all of us, I hope you enjoyed this article and feel inspired to attend the 11th Annual Sustainable Energy Conference in 2014! Have a Sunny week!