US-China Green e-Letter Vol. 1 Issue 1, June 2009

Current Events in Global Green Energy:

DOE Announces Initial Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Framework: Laying the foundation for smart grid deployment, Energy Secretary Chu and Commerce Secretary Locke outline the standards for devices connecting to the grid.

Vice President Biden Announces Funding for Smart Grid Initiatives: Biden plans to distribute $3.3 billion in Smart Grid development grants and $615 million for
smart grid storage and monitoring under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

$2.4 Billion Funding Available for Carbon Capture and Storage Projects: Energy Secretary Chu announced that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide the funds as part of President Obama’s commitment to reducing CO2 emissions.

Joint WWF and People’s Bank of China Report calls for Sustainable Development Lending: This report outlines what is necessary for China’s financial sector to evolve – including a number of initiatives that revolve around sustainability, climate change mitigation, and environmental protection.

China Outpaces U.S. in Cleaner Coal-Fired Plants: China is building more efficient coalfired power plants at a time when Energy Secretary Steven Chu has halted construction of such plants.

UCGEC News:

UCGEC 2nd Annual US-China Green Energy Forum:

Building from the success of the first Green Energy Forum in Beijing in 2008, the UCGEC is proud to announce its Second US-China Green Energy Forum to be held on October 21-22 in Palo Alto, CA. Much has happened in the last year in the green energy space. The U.S. continues its tradition of innovation and development, but more importantly the election and inauguration of Barack Obama has brought about a drastic shift in U.S. energy policy. On the China side, energy efficiency continues to dominate the Beijing agenda, as perhaps best evidenced by the terms of China’s green heavy stimulus package and the flurry of green project development and investment in China. Despite these gains, energy efficiency still faces substantial challenges. The Second Annual US-China Green Energy Forum will highlight these issues and attempt to come up with some creative solutions. We hope to see you there!

UCGEC Washington DC Visit:

Recently, UCGEC representatives met with UCGEC Honorary Chair, Congressman Mike Honda. Congressman Honda is also Vice Chairman of Democratic National Committee. He expressed satisfaction with the progress the UCGEC has made in promoting green energy in the U.S. and China. To better understand the U.S. policy with regard to energy efficiency, the UCGEC is going to send a delegation, sponsored by Congressman Honda, to Washington DC in the summer to visit Congress, Senate, Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Education.

Congressman Mike Honda (center) met with UCGEC officers

UCGEC Hosts DALU Delegation:

Recently, a DALU delegation visited the U.S. The UCGEC was instrumental in facilitating a meet between the DALU delegation and executives from PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission. DALU expressed interest in investing in California.

CPUC Commissioner Dian Grueneich (friend of the UCGEC) Testifies Before Congress:

On April 23, 2009, Dian M. Grueneich testified before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment concerning the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) of 2009. Grueneich addressed three main areas of ACES: Renewable energy, transmission planning, and the smart grid. Overall, she claims that, “the ACES strikes an appropriate balance by setting important national policies while recognizing that the actual implementation of the transition to a clean energy economy will occur at the state and local levels.” She further explains that individual states have taken it upon themselves to implement renewable standards, and that ACES has simply taken those standards to a national level. According to transmission planning, Grueneich states that, “the federal transmission planning policy objectives set forth in the ACES require, for the first time, that transmission planning consider demandside options, including energy efficiency, distributed generation, smart-grid technologies, and demand response, as well as renewable energy on the supply-side.” Finally, Grueneich addresses potential impacts and benefits smart grid technologies will have on the environment and economy.

Read Commissioner Grueneich’s full testimony.

Want to Work for the UCGEC?

Want to work for a global non-profit? The UCGEC is currently looking for a Conference Director to coordinate the Second Annual US-China Green Energy Forum. For more information please visit the UCGEC website: http://ucgef.org/webfm_send/77. Want to get involved elsewhere in the UCGEC? UCGEC volunteers are dynamic, hardworking individuals interested in or working in cleantech. We are incredibly proud of our impressive roster of volunteers and always looking to expand. If you’re interested in becoming involved, please visit http://ucgef.org/joinus/volunteer.

Introduction to the UCGEC

UCGEC (US-China Green Energy Council) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Our goal is to disseminate information about clean technologies and coordinate action among players in the cleantech community. Essentially, we try to identify problems then put people together that are capable of addressing these problems. All these actions are aimed at the development, promotion, and implementation of green energy technologies.

Our team is comprised of individuals working in various industries within the cleantech umbrella, including: engineers, investors, lawyers, academics and more. We encourage you to learn more about our esteemed board of directors and executive committee. Without the contributions of these people, all of whom volunteer their time, the UCGEC would not be possible. Subsequent e-Letters will provide a focus on certain UCGEC members, officers, or directors. We hope you will enjoy getting to know us a little better each month!

The UCGEC on Twitter and Facebook!

Stay up-to-date with the UCGEC in between each monthly e-Letter by following us on twitter and by joining our facebook group.

UCGEC Industry Task Force News and Events:

UCGEC Industry Task Forces:

The terms “cleantech” or “green energy” are broad in scope and difficult to define. In recognition of how inefficient it would be to solve energy efficiency under such a broad umbrella the UCGEC has established three industry-specific task forces: Smart Grid; Transportation; and Green Buildings. These initial task forces were chosen based on the biggest problem areas in terms of carbon emissions. Each task force is unique in its structure and scope, but the overall goals remain the same: reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency within their space. Each UCGEC monthly e-Letter will contain sections specific to the three industry task forces to provide updates about current news and events.

Smart Grid Task Force:

On April 29, 2009 the UCGEC’s Smart Grid Task Force kicked off its first seminar of its Smart Grid Seminar Series. The event was held before a sellout crowd at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto. The event was so successful that UCGEC officers and volunteers had to leave the venue because of occupancy restrictions! Representatives of Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Intel, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and many more attended the event. You can view pictures taken during the event here.

Here is some email feedback we received from the audiences:

• “This was one of the best events I have attended! Full of interesting and useful ideas and information.” – Dick
• “Many thanks for sending the presentation material, they are fascinating. Do you have a schedule for future events?” – an HP Manager
• “Looking through the slides, it is clear this was a hit.” – an HP Director
• “I liked the presentations and discussion a lot.” – Founder of a tech company

Overflowed 1st Smart Grid Seminar

Given the success of the first seminar, the UCGEC fully intends to follow up with additional seminars. In this vein, the Smart Grid Steering Committee is pleased to announce its Second Smart Grid Seminar: How IT Will Enable Smart Grid. The seminar will be held on July 9, 2009 from 6-9 pm. Google has graciously agreed to host the seminar on its campus. Presenters will include representatives from IBM, Intel, Google and the UCGEC. More information will be released shortly. We hope you can attend!

UCGEC Smart Grid Seminar Series No.2: "How IT will Enable the Smart Grid", July 9th, 2009 (co-hosted with Google)

Transportation Industry Task Force:

With the recent establishment of the Transportation Task Force, the UCGEC has officially moved into the transportation space. The Transportation Task Force is currently working on a Seminar series of its own, the first installment of which is slated for June 25, 2009. In the meantime, Ning Zhou, a leader of the Transportation team is currently traveling around China to learn about the challenges facing China’s transportation infrastructure (both public and private). More information on both of these developments as soon as it is available.

UCGEC Transportation Seminar Series No. 1: "Green Vehicles Overview – Where is the Opportunity for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV)?", June 29th, 2009

Green Building / Eco-City Task Force:

The UCGEC’s Green Building industry task force is up and running! The 1st Green Building Seminar will be held on July 21st. HYSTA (Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association) will be our co-host.

IT and Energy Task Force:

The UCGEC’s latest industry task force kicked off this week. It will be launching its own initiatives and events in the coming weeks.