• the 38^th National Passive Solar Energy Conference
• the 8^th ASES Policy and Marketing Conference, and
• the inaugural Young Professionals in Renewable Energy Conference.

The American Solar Energy Society invites participation from professionals with special knowledge in the solar, renewable or sustainability fields. Program selections are based solely on the merit of the abstract or proposal. Acceptance of abstracts or proposals for presentation is based on a review of submitted materials by the designated Solar 2013 review committee. Proposals may include technical papers (to be presented at the conference) as well as forum sessions.

 Technical paper presentations at the conference include:

• Oral presentations – Typically 10-20 minutes per paper presentation (length to be determined and included in acceptance information).
• Poster presentations – Presenters will create a poster to display and will have the opportunity to do a brief overview, followed by discussion.
• “Ignite” presentations – Each presenter has 5 minutes, 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide.

Forum sessions may include:

• Panel discussions organized on a specific topic.
• Demonstrations of technology or techniques.
• In-depth discussion or debates.
• “Shoot-outs” or comparisons of competing (or complementary) technologies.

These are the topical areas for Solar 2013:

Annual National Solar Conference

• Photovoltaics
• Concentrated Solar Power
• Solar Thermal
• Distributed Wind
• Resource Applications and Integration
• Sustainable Transportation
• Water and Energy Technologies
• Cross-Track, Multi-Technology, or Other

Passive Solar Conference

• Emerging Architecture & Passive Building Technologies
• Daylighting, Modeling and Building Automation

Solar and Renewable Policy & Finance Conference

• Finance & Industry Development
• Policy & Sustainability

 Young Professionals in Renewable Energy

The inaugural Young Professionals in Renewable Energy Conference will include sessions from other tracks at Solar 2013. If you would like your proposal to be considered for inclusion, please enter the appropriate information during the abstract submission process. Additional information will be available at solar2013.org.

Continuing Education Credits

Depending on topic, ASES may be able to offer professional continuing education credits for various technical sessions and forums.  Having a session approved for credit can potentially increase attendance and expose your presentation to interested conference attendees.  Presentations that qualify for CEUs will be grouped with other qualifying presentations to enable the entire session to offer credit. If your proposal meets the criteria and is accepted, additional information may be requested from you.

Important Information and Deadlines

• The deadline for submission is November 6, 2012.
• The review process is “blind” – author/submitter names are withheld during the review process.
• Please do not submit multiple formats (e.g., paper and forum) on the same research.
• You will have the opportunity to select your presentation-style preference
• Registration: the presenting author for accepted papers, as well as organizers of accepted forum proposals, must register by February 15, 2013 in order to secure the presentation in the schedule. Other registration information is included in the Terms and Conditions.

No this isn’t a hazing ritual for speakers–it’s Ignite, the latest presentation that is a worldwide phenomenon. Ignite is an innovative way to enlighten an audience on a particular topic. This fast-paced event began in 2006 in Seattle as the brain child of Brady Forrest, Technology Evangelist for O’Reilly Media and Bre Pettis of Makerbot.com, formerly of MAKE Magazine. Ignite is coming to WREF in just a few days. This year’s conference will feature more than 20 Ignite-style events throughout WREF.  Here are a few Ignites you may want to check out:

• Tuesday 10:30am - A Do-It-Yourself Manual for Solar Swimming Pool Heating and its Heater, After 39 Years of Operation by Francis de Winter

• Tuesday 2:45pm - Low Initial Capital and Operating Costs Industrial Air Conditioning System Design by Anwar El Hadi Abdel-Rahman

• Wednesday 10:30am - Applying Renewable Energy to Historic Properties by Thomas Keohan

• Thursday 1:15pm – Where are the Eco-Innovators? An Analysis of the KNowledge Flows Between Successive Generations of Green Technology Innovations by Daniel Johnson

You can see all the Ignites as well as all full conference details on the WREF 2012 site or by grabbing the WREF 2012 mobile app. We look forward to being enlightened Ignite style during the conference. Hope to see you there!

Photo Credit: Dave Parsons, Denver Zoo

One of the biggest events of the year in the renewable energy field is just a week away.

WREF 2012 will begin on May 13th at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. We have an amazing lineup of speakers on a variety of renewable energy topics from innovations in solar technology to the greenest zoo in the world and much more. This year WREF will also have presentations given in the  fun, fast-paced Ignite style.  This comprehensive conference will also feature renewable energy thought leaders like U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu,  Governor  John Hickenlooper, Ed Mazria of Architecture 2030 and many more in the plenary sessions.

If you don’t have you ticket yet you still have a chance to see  these speakers as a volunteer. We hope you’ll join us!

This speaker will be followed by the Women in Solar Award winner. At the time of this printing the winner has not been determined. This session is specifcally for women but all are invited. There will be time for networking. This luncheon usually sells out so get your tickets early.

To register click here.

A detailed schedule of presentations has been posted for the World Renewable Energy Forum, coming to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, May 13 to 17.

More than 200 sessions at this forum will cover the latest advances in:

• Advancements in Renewable Energy Technologies
• Energy Generation, Distribution and Transportation
• The Built Environment and Passive Solar Architecture
• Finance, Policy, Marketing, and Workforce Development
• Climate Change
• Energy Access, Social Dimensions, and Environmental Benefits
• Energy and Gender
• Showcase Colorado: Where Colorado Organizations Connect to the Global Marketplace.

For the complete, searchable schedule, including presenters and topics, click here.

For the very first time, the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Conference will be held under the same roof with the biennial World Renewable Energy Congress. The combined event is WREF 2012. The conference will draw prominent speakers and technical presentations from universities, renewable energy laboratories, installations and industries around the world. WREF 2012 will examine how renewable energy technologies address the world’s economic, environmental and security challenges at every scale, from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants.

Click here to register today! 

WREF 2012 is presented by the American Solar Energy Society, the World Renewable Energy Network, the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and the International Solar Energy Society. Conference program chair is Dr. Chuck Kutscher, principal engineer and group manager of NREL’s Thermal Systems Group. Co-chairs are Susan Greene, president of ASES, and Professor Ali Sayigh of the World Renewable Energy Congress.

Barbara Farhar, PhD

A one-day workshop, “Engaging Women in Clean Energy Solutions,” will emphasize energy, poverty, and gender issues in the developing world.

The workshop will be held Sunday, 13 May 2012, at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado, USA. An intensive focus on energy and gender will jump-start the conference week throughout which the Energy and Gender (EG) Section is organizing technical sessions and forums on energy and gender issues. Dr. Michelle Bachelet, Director of UN Women, has been invited to keynote the workshop and to address the Forum’s first plenary session. The Workshop will be opened by Professor Ali Sayigh, Director General of the World Renewable Energy Network (WREN).

Key issues will include energy as women’s business, cooking and electrification, methods for women’s inclusion in clean energy solutions, and climate and energy justice. A technical committee, chaired by Dr. Barbara Farhar, Ph.D. of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) at the University of Colorado at Boulder (USA), is developing the workshop as well as WREF’s EG section.

WREF2012 will focus on how renewable energy technology can address the world’s economic, environmental, and security challenges from an international perspective as well as explore what it will take to integrate renewables into the world’s energy infrastructure on a much larger scale. This international conference gathers the world’s top energy experts in covering research, technology transfer, manufacturing, installation, utilities, environment, policy, professional education, workforce development, consumer education, and small-scale distributed technologies.

Since WREF2012 will take place just one month before the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio+20), it provides an opportunity to highlight the importance of renewable energy in building a green economy, one of the key themes of Rio+20. It can also support the goals of the UN’s global campaign on Sustainable Energy for All by 2030.

This workshop on Engaging Women in Clean Energy Solutions will identify specific examples of gender-sensitive energy access initiatives and policies that support women’s economic empowerment, improve food security and water management, facilitate a widespread transition to low-emission energy technologies, conserve critical ecosystems, and promote successful adaptation to changing climate conditions.

WREF 2012 is being organized by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the World Renewable Energy Network (WREN), and is supported by the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES). The EG Section is also being sponsored by the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

WREF2012 comes at a watershed moment in the evolution of energy sourcing. Renewable energy sources are now crossing over the grid-parity divide into mainstream use throughout the world. The Forum will examine how renewable and sustainable energy technologies address the world’s economic, environmental, and security challenges at every scale from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants.

The EG section will also present technical sessions and forums focusing on the role of women in science and technology.

The workshop may be added to a conference registration for an additional $50, or may be purchased separately as a stand-alone event. Click here to register.

Register today at WREF2012.org!