• 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.

When I walked into the Denver Convention Center, I really didn’t know what to expect. I had been to a few other week long conferences unrelated to renewable energy and they were usually 90% yawns with the occasional gem of a speaker. But this conference was different. Oh yes, of course I’m a renewable energy junkie always looking for news on increases in solar cell efficiency or the gradual improvement of renewable portfolio standards in states across the nation, so I probably can’t be trusted to provide an unbiased opinion. However, you have to believe me when I tell you that being in the midst of people representing nations on every continent except Antarctica was intoxicating. During the week, my eyes were slowly opened to possibility once again.

Scientists, policy makers, advocates, radicals, environmentalists, community organizers, academics,geeks, and nobodies like me were gathered together for a week exchanging ideas, asking questions, sharing success and failures, and perpetuating possibilities of a future planet that practices, as the Brundlandt Commission stated, “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” I realized during a dizzying week of Ignite presentations, panel discussions, and plenary sessions that there were indeed kindred spirits working on behalf of a future while focusing on the present. WREF recharged my old fuel cell for what I hope is a long and fruitful life working towards a renewable, efficient, and sustainable world.

And last but not least, a huge thank you to the good folks at ASES who worked countless hours to organize a global conference nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. You’ve contributed fond memories to this blogger that I trust will last a lifetime. Now, I must get back to work…

Photo Credit: BrightParks

Answer: We’re getting there. It’s always good to ask the question of whether or not our society is sustainable. At home or within our places of business it is necessary to live within our means and do our part to reduce our consumption of natural resources, reuse things instead of throwing them away into a landfill, and recycle materials so that they can be reused in another product. The Thursday Ignite session at the WREF 2012 brought together a diverse array of speakers that understood the methods of becoming more sustainable. Overviews of each presentation are as follows:

• One presentation touted the great opportunity of educating the large U.S. Hispanic market on the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy (RE). There are approximately 50 million U.S. Hispanics with trillions of dollars of buying power. The opportunity is ripe to start targeting this untapped market with renewables especially where a large portion of Hispanics live. In the Southwest U.S., Hispanics could be key to an economic recovery for the nation while giving a much needed boost to the RE sector.
• Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” In the next presentation The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) advocated a new approach to solving our energy issues by using “systems thinking“. Roughly, systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. Our energy issues are so complex that we need to take everything that affects or touches the energy issue (environment, human health, economy, fuels, transportation, etc.) and think about how each of those work together to create this huge thing we label “the energy issue”.
• Up next was a rep from the Solar Electric Light Fund, a Washington D.C. non-profit that uses solar to assist those living in energy poverty. My attention was peaked right off the bat when the presenter said, “Energy is a human right.” The organization helps poorer communities around the world take ownership of their energy needs with solar PV and thermal. For example, they provided a solar drip irrigation system in Benin, West Africa, which enabled them to rid themselves of a fuel generator which was always susceptible to fuel supply disruptions. The community is now able to bring fresh vegetables to the market on a regular basis, which also helps provide economic stability.
• Finally, a novel idea presented by a recent Phd. took the Environmental Protection Agency’s “brownfield” project to another, more sustainable level called “BrightParks”. A substantial amount of the estimated 400,000-600,000 “brownfields” are landfills. The EPA’s brownfield project will take a landfill and either cover it with a solar array to supply electricity to the local community or they will create a public park on a landfill. The goal of BrightParks is to take this a step further and make these landfills a multifunctional space that produces clean energy, restores the native ecosystems, and creates a social space with a network of trails for people to enjoy.

The panel of speakers was impressive and truly provided methods of making our world a little more sustainable and renewable. How are you working towards a more sustainable and renewable world?

First-time presenters:

• The idea is that the format allows you to give a taste of your topic, then later you give details when asked. Some detail during the 5 minutes is good. Giving all the details of your paper is not OK.

• There are plenty of how-to guides out there on the internet. They are easy to find. Respect your audience.

• Practice. You can’t wing it and do well.

• The operative phrase for your presentation is: “make a long story short”.  That is: tell the story of your work. Not the gory details. Approach the task      as if you are at a party and mingling.

• Don’t read your slides. The slides support your story, your story does not support your slides.

• If you can’t tell the story of your work in 5 minutes, something is wrong. Think again. The Gettysburg address took less than 5 minutes. Companies try to convince you to consume their product in far less time than an Ignite presentation.

• Ignite is like a poster presentation. Treat it that way – you don’t give a 15-minute talk to someone looking at your poster.

Most of all have fun with this format as it goes quick!

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!

This year we’re happy to offer you a number of different formats for presentations. Here’s a handy glossary to help in your selection of the talks you’d like to attend.

Forum – These sessions typically do not include a presentation of an academic paper but may include several speakers in a panel format. Forum sessions are led by a moderator/organizer.

Ignite – We’re thrilled to bring this new format to WREF 2012. In coordination with O’Reilly Media and the global Ignite network, we will have several sessions at WREF that follow the dynamic and fast-paced Ignite format. During an Ignite, speakers will give a 5 minute presentation where the slides automatically advance every 15 seconds.

Poster – During a poster session, presenters will display the information from their paper in a poster format and will be available for discussion at certain times.

Technical – Similar to past ASES conferences, technical talks include brief presentations of research papers. Several presenters are grouped into each technical session and are moderated.

To get more details about all the sessions, click here.  If you don’t have your ticket yet, there’s still time to get yours. We look forward to seeing you WREF 2012!