Fall Conference

The Council’s Fall Conference

Building Back to a Clean Energy Future

November 4, 2021

The Council’s 2021 Fall Conference was held on November 4th at the historic Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. We wrapped up a great day on Thursday with a fantastic party across the street at Lake Chalet on the beautiful shores of Lake Merritt.

During the conference, we heard from a number of inspiring clean energy leaders, influencers, and practitioners. We also were honored to give this year’s Arthur Rosenfeld Lifetime Achievement award to Jeanne Clinton. For those of you who couldn’t attend, we simultaneously pulled together a nearly seamless virtual program. A few important themes emerged over the course of the day:

• We have great policies in place that can and should have a substantive impact on the efficiency and demand management resources.
• It is virtually certain that California is on the cusp of receiving substantially more funding through pending federal legislation aimed at ramping up clean energy efforts and climate change mitigation.
• Current leadership both at the legislative and agency levels see the importance of efficiency and demand management and appear dedicated to seeing through greater roles for these resources in our battle against climate change.
• Many obstacles and barriers stand in the way of significant scale-up of our resources and leaders need to act boldly and in a far more coordinated fashion.
• We must include all stakeholders, including those who are typically underrepresented, early in the process of policy implementation.
• Decarbonization efforts are starting to take shape but many obstacles remain.
• Distributed energy resources are beginning to be more prominent as a customer-centric pathway toward grid reliability and resiliency.
• Aligning climate policies with equity considerations need to take a more holistic perspective.

Agenda:

Welcome: Greg Wikler
Executive Director, California Efficiency + Demand Management Council

First Keynote Address: Senator Josh Becker

• Introduced by: Rich McBee, CLEAResult

Opening Plenary – Navigating Efficiently Through Turbulent Times: Meet the Influencers

As California faces a multitude of unprecedented challenges brought on by climate change, the purpose and role of efficiency and demand management couldn’t be more apparent. Yet these resources face their own challenges as California’s policy and regulatory leaders look for ways to overcome a myriad of barriers and obstacles. The purpose of this session is to invite senior leaders ranging from regulatory agencies, utilities, academia and NGOs to offer their perspectives on what it will take to rapidly accelerate efficiency, demand management and all other behind-the-meter resources to immediately address our climate change challenges. After introductory remarks, conference attendees will be invited to ask live questions Invite key decision makers to weigh in on audience-generated questions.

Panelists:

• Michael Sokol, CEC
• Ortensia Lopez, El Concilio of San Mateo County
• Tom Habashi, Monterey Bay Community Power
• Maril Wright, PG&E
• Moderator: Dian Grueneich, Stanford University and Former CPUC Commissioner

Second Keynote Address: Alice Reynolds
Senior Advisor for Energy at the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

• Introduced by: Lois Gordon, D&R International

Third Keynote Address: CPUC Commissioner Darcie Houck

• Introduced by: Brian Prusnek, SoCalGas

Art Rosenfeld Award

Presented to Jeanne Clinton

• See previous award recipients here

Session 1 – California is Moving Ahead with Decarbonization

With all Californians continuing to experience the effects of climate change, there is more resolve than ever to ensure that we have effective and meaningful decarbonization policies available to fight back. Over the past few years, a number of promising decarbonization initiatives have launched and are starting to make a difference. During this session we will take a deep dive into the current state of these efforts, discuss the potential impacts and the challenges that lie ahead. We will hear from leaders who are tasked with implementing various recent legislative efforts (AB 3232, SB 1477, etc.). We will hear from implementers and administrators of initiatives such as BUILD and TECH, Energy Optimization pilot efforts, and other debarb efforts such as renewable natural gas.

Panelists:

• Ammi Amarnath, EPRI
• Debyani Ghosh, Guidehouse
• Teddy Kisch, Energy Solutions
• Lydia Krefta, PG&E
• Moderator: Ellen Steiner, Opinion Dynamics

Session 2 – Distributed Energy Resources are Making a Difference

Distributed energy resources (DERs) have become an essential part of California’s grid of the future. With significant technological advances in automation and controls combined with new and evolving market programs, more customers are able to deploy these resources and meaningfully contribute to ensuring the stability of our grid. During this session we will explore a host of DER efforts that are taking place right now and are beginning to make a difference.

Panelists:

• Andy Satchwell, LBNL
• Rachel Huang, SMUD
• John Powers, Extensible Energy
• Moderator: Carmen Henrikson, TRC

Session 3 – Aligning Climate Policies with Equity Priorities

As we continue to rebuild our economy in a post-pandemic world, a spotlight has been placed on the extent to which climate policies and actions are fully considering and incorporating concerns related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). For far too long, DE&I considerations haven’t been given the highest priority when it comes to addressing climate change. But there are signs that things are changing as we relentlessly tackle the effects of climate change. More attention is being paid to building a clean energy economy with a sharper focus on DE&I. The purpose of this session is to learn about a number of efforts that are underway to align climate policies with equity priorities.

Panelists:

•  Megan Day, NREL
• Quinn Parker, Encolor
• Joanna Gubman, Urban Environmentalists
• Moderator: Jarred Metoyer, DNV

Closing Remarks: Gene Rodrigues
ICF and  Board Chair, California Efficiency + Demand Management Council

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