US-China Green e-Letter Vol. 2, Issue 1, February 2010

Editor-in-Chief: John Reinsch, Director of Public Communications
Senior Articles Editors: David Chang, Dena Chen, Jason Redmond, Eddy Park

ANNOUNCEMENT!

UCGEC Proudly Announces The 3rd US-China Green Energy Conference (June 19-23, 2010) in World Expo 2010

By Jason Redmond

The US-China Green Energy Council (UCGEC) in conjunction with the China Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will be hosting the third US-China Green Energy Conference in Shanghai during World Expo 2010, the largest international event after the Olympics and the World Cup this year.

The World Expo in Shanghai promises to be the biggest ever, as more that 200 nations and international organizations and over 70 million visitors will participate. The theme of Expo is “Better City, Better life”, which is to promote a green, low-carbon and sustainable urban living style worldwide. Our Green Energy Conference is a perfect fit into this fabulous event.

For one week starting June 18, the World Expo will transform into San Francisco Week to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of San Francisco and Shanghai becoming Sister Cities, the oldest sister city relationship between the United States and China. Also being one of the prominent official events in this week-long activity, our 3rd US-China Green Energy Conference kicks off June 19. The first day will be punctuated by a half-day of keynote speeches from top US/China government officials, mayors, corporate CEOs and renowned scholars. That will be followed by one and half days of panel discussion and roundtable meeting focusing on smart grid, green transportation, Energy efficiency, green IT, and venture capital and private equity investment trends. A project matching forum will also be hosted during the conference, to facilitate business collaboration on cleantech between US and China.

On June 22 the conference then shifts to Suzhou, China for two days which will include the US-China Mayor Green Summit. The Suzhou conference will provide a rare opportunity for face-to-face meetings between many US and Chinese mayors and other local government officials on both sides of the Pacific. Panel discussions will include Green Building and Eco-city, Renewable Energy, Electric Battery, and investment.

Overall, the Green Energy Conference aims to leverage the different strengths of both US and Chinese strategies in an effort to collaborate on projects that will work towards finding cost-effective and efficient solutions to global energy and environmental crises. Other initiatives will include promoting joint research between the two countries on clean energy that will serve as a unilateral platform for technology exchange and information collaboration. Finally, conference attendees will be expected to look for opportunities to facilitate project matching as well as create cleantech partnerships in both the public and private sectors.

For more information about our conference, please visit http://ucgef.org/events/china2010

Are you interested in being a sponsor and/or exhibitor in our conference? Please email your inquiry to qi.wang@ucgef.org

UCGEC NEWS:

UCGEC's Green IT Task Force Hosts Successful Seminar on Carbon Accounting

By John Reinsch

The UCGEC's Green IT Task Force recently kicked off the UCGEC's seminars for 2010 with "Enterprise Carbon Accounting: A Real Market or a Cleantech Bubble?" The speakers included Neal Dikerman of Carbonflow, Chris Farinacci of Hara, Bruce Klafter of Applied Materials, Rupesh Shah of Intuit and Karl Van Orsdol from the city of Palo Alto; the event was moderated by Joseph You, Senior Counsel at PG&E.

The event aimed at addressing the question of whether the carbon software market is sustainable long term and to what extent the drivers thereof have incentives to jump on board with the green movement. In answering these questions the speakers looked at evidence from, among others, government policy and private sector actions.

The event was overall very well received. Michael Lu (former Oracle Executive) had this to say:

"I think it's a great idea to focus on a well defined, narrowed focused topic. When you have the vendor and their customer present at the same time and talk about the selection process and the outcome of the implementation, it really gives the audiance a deep understanding of the issues. Overall, I considered it to be one of the best events I've attended. Thank you for reaching out. I hope to see you soon."

John Suh of General Motors also commented that:

"I liked the focused topic that evening and the panelists brought different perspectives. Perhaps one thing that could be added is more perspective of what is happening in Asia (e.g., China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc)."

The UCGEC's Green IT Task Force is looking forward to hosting future events. We would like to thank everyone who helped make this event a huge success – the collaboration of many individuals was necessary for this event to be a success, thanks to all who helped and especially all who attended. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the slides from this event please contact John Reinsch (john.reinsch@ucgef.org) and he will be happy to arrange this for you.

Successful Adura, CATARC, and UCGEC Meeting

By Dena Chen

Two years ago, Adura Systems, a clean energy technology company that applies low-power wireless mesh networking technology to building automation, and China Automotive Technology Research & Development Center (CATARC), a technical administrative body for the management of the auto industry, signed an agreement to increase electric vehicles in municipalities through fuel efficient municipal bus fleets.

Recently, Adura, CATARC, and the UCGEC, an organization of US and Chinese leaders devoted to searching for a global solution to combating global warming, energy security, and environment pollution, met at K&L Gates. K&L Gates has been a generous sponsor and host for events held by the UCGEC.

The purpose of the meeting was to re-affirm the partnership between Adura and CATARC and to discuss areas of potential future cooperation between the UCGEC and CATARC. In the meeting, CATARC reaffirmed its desire to cooperate with Adura and asked for prototypes to be completed as soon as possible. CATARC expressed an urgent need for electric vehicles in its municipalities.

Additionally, the UCGEC offered to help partner with CATARC. Besides continuing an amicable relationship, the UCGEC expressed an interested in helping with CATARC's May 2010 automotive delegation in the US. Overall, the meeting was a success. Leaders and members of the three organizations came together and showed a great desire to collaborate for a more sustainable future.

Hing Wong Speaks at SDForum Event

By David Chang

As the keynote speaker at SDForum's State of Clean Energy Conference, Hing Wong – a UCGEC board member – highlighted UCGEC's functions while explaining China's corporate and government partnership in cleantech development. In his segment, Hing discussed the bold goals of China's government for 2020: the 15% benchmark for renewable energy, a 40-45% carbon reduction target, and a 35 GPM vehicular fuel efficiency rate.

Hing described the role of leading corporations like Suntech, LDK, and Yingli that lead the movement in China's energy efficient efforts, highlighting the incredibly growth of these companies over the last decade. Of course, the effect of these corporations would not have found such success had it not been for the role of local governments working to woo these relatively new companies into investing in their cities.

Hing used Shanghai and Chengdu as a study of two very different cities who find several uses for cleantech. He points out how Shanghai, as a developed city, has the funds to pursue a systematic approach to renewable energy that has worked well for it despite its late start in the sector. As for Chengdu, Hing emphasized its diversified investment into the fields of energy, polysilicon materials, LEDs, and EVs, and how its goal by 2012 is to invest 20 billion RMB in these sectors and produce a 50 billion RMB revenue.

This discussion naturally led back to the role of China's central government and its involvement with the local infrastructure. With the central government's own stimulus packages and incentive programs for its corresponding goals, Hing notes that China has created a blend of fast progress and modulation that has produced promising results for the cleantech industry.

Hing ended his presentation with an update on the strong progress of the wind, solar, and electric vehicle industry in China, and he pointed out that even Warren Buffet has chosen to invest in China's batteries. Hing Wong's presentation at SDForum's Conference created an informative and enlightening picture on the state of China's cleantech progress.

UCGEC Facilitates Smart Grid Collaboration:

By Eddy Park

Smart grids, which constantly monitor and control the flow of energy throughout a power system, are arguably the most important development in energy efficiency, precisely because they are a virtual necessity for fully integrating renewable sources energy – mainly solar and wind, which are not predictable or available on-demand the way coal is, for example – as a realistic part of an alternative energy scheme.

Luckily, investors are aware of its importance as well, and last month, the UCGEC and the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association (CASPA) hosted a smart grid seminar attended by a venerable Chinese business delegation led by Dr. Zhengyu Zhang, Executive Chairman of China New Energy Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Weizhong Li, CEO of Giga Solar Holding Inc. More than 20 CASPA board members were also in attendance.

At this seminar, held on January 10 at the WSGR Law Firm in Palo Alto, attendees heard presentations by two UCGEC board members: Dr. Stephen Lee, Senior Technical Executive at EPRI, and Edward Cazalet, President of MegaWatt Storage Farms. The seminar was moderated by Qi Wang, the Executive Director of UCGEC, Sean Yan and Xianfeng Ding, both CASPA board members, and was organized at the request of the Chinese business delegation and the CASPA board members in attendance, as they recognized both the well-established expertise of the UCGEC board in this field and the value and potential of smart grids. CASPA, as an organization of semiconductor professionals, expressed particular interest in finding new applications for semiconductor technologies into smart grids. Indeed, semiconductors have one of the largest roles to play in implementing more efficient smart grids, preventing power loss and improving transmission, especially over long distances.

All parties consider the seminar a success; UCGEC and CASPA received positive feedback from attendees, who would like to see additional seminars. Dr. Zhang, too, expressed an interest in collaborating again in the near future.