Highlights from the technical sessions:

• New techniques for making high-performance quantum-dot and nanoparticle photovoltaic cells.
• The status of the High Definition PV Project, and industry-wide program to reduce the cost of solar installations through plug-and-play standardization.
• Several new techniques to reduce the cost of dispatchable power from utility-scale concentrating solar (CSP) thermal plants, a key development in providing cheap, clean solar power to run municipal grids through the night.
• Solar-powered furnaces that generate hydrogen or syngas fuels at high efficiency.
• A wide variety of simplified techniques for minute-to-minute and hour-to-hour forecasting of solar farm output, useful for balancing loads across geographical regions.
• Efficient new ways to store solar-heated hot water – and use solar heat to drive air-conditioners.
• Low-cost feedstocks to make cheap biodiesel.
• Hybrid light rail that runs when the grid goes down.
• Driving large desalinization and waste-water recovery systems with renewable energy.

Photovoltaics ・Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) ・ Solar Thermal ・Hydro ・Small-Scale, Distributed Wind ・Hydro ・Forecasting & Modeling ・Sustainable Transportation ・Water – Energy Nexus

If your organization would like recognition as a Participating Organization, and you agree to promote the event, the American Solar Energy Society can provide a discount for your members to use.

Qualifying types of organizations include:

• 501(c)3 Nonprofit organizations
• Associations (business, trade or professional) including
  • commercial real estate
  • sustainable business practices groups
  • professional associations
  • chambers of commerce, and others
• Universities, vocational and trade schools as well as their associations
• Government agencies at all levels
• ASES Chapters
• LinkedIn groups
• Advocacy groups (nonprofit)
  

When your group qualifies as a Participating Organization, we will:

• Recognize your organization’s participation on the SOLAR 2013 website (including a link to your organization’s website) and in the program guide at the event
• Provide a discount code for you and your members to use, for registration as well as for exhibit space.
• Provide blurbs, graphics and links for you to use in your communications

To become a Participating Organization your group agrees to promote these SOLAR 2013 opportunities to your membership: 

• Participation as presenters and speakers (call for participation is now open)
• Exhibiting at SOLAR 2013
• Attendance at SOLAR 2013
• Using these types of promotion:
  • Adding a button to your website that links to the SOLAR 2013 website, and
  • Email, newsletter, social networking and other tools that you already use

Click here to get started!

Photo Credit: Denver Zoo

Denver lays claim to the greenest zoo in the world. We were lucky to have George Pond, Vice President for Planning & Capital Projects at the Denver Zoo outline how they achieved this status at WREF 2012. As Pond reminded us, It’s a zoo story–but it’s not a “zoo thing.” It’s really a story about how large facilities can transform from drains on the system to neutral or net positive in their energy consumption.

As the most popular cultural attraction in Colorado with 1.9 million guests this year, 3,500 different animals and 80 acres in Denver’s city park, the Denver Zoo has traditionally consumed a great deal of resources. The path to becoming the greenest zoo in the world started with simple activities like recycling, saving trees and the Green Team, a group of true believers. When they decided to get serious about sustainability they began by auditing themselves to have facts and figures to establish a basis for understanding and action steps. This means they don’t guess–they have hard numbers to guide them.  At one time, the Denver Zoo was one of the Top 5 largest water consumers with 383 million gallons a year. This was one Top 5 list where they didn’t want to see themselves included. So, they decided to change things starting with low hanging fruit in water conservation, which is critical–especially in a state like Colorado.

When Pond and his team looked at the details of the zoo’s water consumption they were surprised to learn that suspect areas like irrigation and the aquarium only contributed to 3% of the water consumption. The biggest culprit for water use were the bird exhibits which contributed to 54% of the water usage each year. The team scored a big hit by changing the schedule for the flamingo pond by reducing in half the usage taking it from 40 million to 20 million gallons a year. Although it was a very successful project it didn’t come easily. As Pond points out, the biggest impediment to becoming more sustainable isn’t technology, it’s interpersonal. It took a great deal of trust building with the bird staff to reduce consumption while still serving the birds and guests well.

Photo Credit: Denver Zoo

Once they tackled water conservation they decided to find more ways to become sustainable and meet their mission to secure a better world for animals through human understanding. The team originally looked to the elephants for energy generation through  gasification of waste.  If you don’t know what gasification is it’s a high temp/low oxygen process to convert solid fuel into combustible gas.  However, they were quickly told that their elephants just didn’t generate enough waste. Tell that to the zoo keepers! The team then looked to other alternatives to take the waste stream at the zoo and convert it into energy. The challenge the team faced was how to take a diverse waste stream and package it into something that resembled fuel.

To make the zoo the greenest in the world, they had to do a lot of the work themselves, even creating their own Biomass Experimental Energy Development Lab. The zoo currently has patents pending on their fuel creation innovations. To wit, they created what is believed to be the first hybrid gasified tuk tuk. Yep, they’ve got a truck powered by poop. The zoo even had an event where the margarita’s were made in a blender powered by yes–waste.

The team has already reduced their contributions  by an astonishing 1.5 million pounds a year. The Denver Zoo is currently net positive on energy and aims to be a zero waste facility by 2025. Here are a few of the other benchmarks they hope to hit in coming years: save as much as $200k/year, generate up to 1M kWh/year, produce 600k BTU/hr. Renewable energy is so endemic to the way they work now that even though becoming LEED certified at zoo is not very easy they are now in process to become LEED platinum. They’re proud to be leading the way to creating standards for zoos around LEED certification.

The Denver Zoo is actually leading the way around sustainability in general in their industry. Although zoos around the country are implementing solar power, the Denver Zoo challenges others in their industry to take a systems approach around sustainability and renewable energy. Becoming a truly sustainable facility hasn’t always been easy but it has been gratifying for the Denver Zoo. Pond’s advice for others?

Start where you are. 

Photo Credit: sc4devotion.com

SimCity has been building awareness around city building and environmental impact since 1989. Having the ability to build and design your own virtual city is fun and educational. Disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes and fires bring reality into the game and help develop critical thinking. A new edition of SimCity is due to be released next year and this version has added more elements that bring more environmental awareness to players. This new version promises to highlight the impact that humans can have on their environment by exploiting or using natural resources well. The game will also offer alternative energy options like solar and wind power along with more traditional energy sources like coal and oil.

“Together, players will address real global challenges such as climate change, the search for renewable resources and natural disasters. It’s up to the players to decide whether to compete or collaborate to shape the world of tomorrow – for better or for worse.” Electronic Arts

These new developments should help make the reality around climate change even more apparent. If you want real world information on climate change, register to attend WREF 2012 now. The Early Bird discount ends on April 13th.

The official announcement trailer is below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angstdei/3458416874/

Professional members of ASES are encouraged to participate in Division activities related to their field.  Each division holds a business meeting at the annual conference.

Here is the schedule of meetings to be held at the World Renewable Energy Forum, May 13 – 17, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.

• Conference Registration is required to attend in person.
• All  meetings will take place at the Colorado Convention Center.

• 501(c)3 Nonprofit organizations
• Business or trade associations
• Universities or schools
• ASES Chapters
• LinkedIn groups
• Advocacy groups
  

When you qualify as a participating organization, we will:

• Recognize your organization’s participation on the WREF website
• Provide a discount code for your members to use.

To become a participating organization you agree to:

• Put a button on your site that links to the WREF website
• Promote attendance at WREF to your members via email and other tools that you use

Click here to get started!