The 2010 Sustainable Innovation Summit: An Educational Program for Regional Energy Leaders

On Tuesday, June 22, the Chamber's Government Relations and Technology departments hosted a joint half-day event called the Sustainable Innovation Summit. The goal was to educate the public on available opportunities for energy sustainability and to give examples of local businesses that have already taken advantage of these opportunities, leading the area in to a new era of a more conscious approach to conservation. The event took place at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas, and had approximately 250 local business leaders in attendance.

The day started off with an exhibit hall and a breakfast keynote by Dr. Jeffrey Talley, a professor at SMU and a prominent military engineer. Dr. Talley spoke of his time in Iraq, where he was charged with the responsibility of rebuilding the infrastructure of Baghdad, post war. He also spoke of social entrepreneurship and sustainability from a global perspective.

Following the breakfast keynote, were two panel presentations. The first panel, entitled "Innovations for Emissions Reductions," included a case study by Transwestern regarding their Qurom 500 building and their management of utilities in this green-friendly building. The building management has seen significant cost savings by exploring these new systems. NRG Energy spoke on electric vehicles and the future infrastructure that will build around them while, TXU Energy talked about the challenges and opportunities relating to electricity supply v. demand in Texas.

The second panel, "Energy Generation Solutions," covered the topics of wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear energy generation methods, including case studies on the efforts of the Frisco ISD with geothermal solutions in their building construction. Hunt Consolidated and Luminant touched on wind, solar and nuclear power generation, and where Texas is heading in the next years of utilizing some of these sources.

The day ended with a luncheon, keynoted by the legendary T. Boone Pickens. It was an informal talk, moderated by Chamber President, Amb. James C. Oberwetter, and included audience Q&A. Mr. Pickens spoke on his viewpoint on the current energy legislation and what he would like to see in the future of the industry.

To see the presentations given by the speakers, visit the TBC website at www.dallastbc.org.