Events :: Workshops

2011 Workshop: The Road to a 100% Renewable Energy System

This workshop was organized by Michael Isaacson (UCSC), Chresten Traeholt (Danish Technological University), Brian Jenkins (UCDavis) and Brian Mathiesen (Aalborg University). It was funded by the Danish Agency for Science and Technology Innovation (DASTI), the California Institute for Information Technology Research in the Service of Society (CITRIS) and the newly formed Center for Sustainable Energy and Power Systems (CenSEPS) at UC Santa Cruz. This year it was held in conjunction with the California-Denmark Summer School on Renewable Energy, which is on August 1-17 in California this year at the UCSC and UCDavis campuses. The workshop had more than 100 attendees from academia, industry, national laboratories, government agencies and four countries. Due to the popularity of the subject and a successful workshop last year, we had to limit the attendance in order to enable free discussion.

Our goal was to bring together various researchers from both the technological side and the social/economic side to discuss the issues involved in implementing renewable energy into our national and local systems.  The workshop will focus on distributed energy generation the social, economic and environmental considerations and implications necessary to consider in developing a successful plan for 100% renewable energy systems of the future.

The first session heard the perspectives on the integration of renewable energy systems from the US, Danish and California perspectives. Other sessions considered technical solutions and social, economic and environmental considerations. The morning of the second day resulted in lively discussion of the issues brought up during the first day and discussions of future collaborations among attendees.

Event Schedule-Confirmed Speakers

August 1st

August 2nd

  • 8:30-9:00am
    Breakfast
  • 9:00-10:00am
    Summary of Panel Discussions/Further Discussions

  • On the second morning of the workshop, the moderators of each of the first day topical sessions summarized their session and led lively discussions about the issues involved. Their summary presentations can be found by clicking on the sessions below. In addition, there was a short presentation during the summary session on Social/Economic issues by Ronnie Lipschutz of UCSC. That is also linked below.

    From the results of the survey taken at the workshop, it appears that the workshop was successful and we will plan for a follow-up workshop next year. We are open to suggestions about potential topics.

    Needs/Benefits of 100% Renewable Energy System
    Moderator: Ali Shakouri

    Technological Solutions
    Moderator: Chresten Traeholt
  • 10:00-10:30am
    Coffee Break
  • 10:30-11:30am
    Summary of Panel Discussions/Further Discussions

    Social/Economic Considerations
    Moderator: Bryan Jenkins with discussions by Ronnie Lipschutz, UC Santa Cruz

    Solutions/Environmental Issues
    Moderator: Michael Isaacson
  • 11:30-12:00pm
    Lars Nielsen, Innovation Center Denmark Silicon Valley
    "Funding Opportunities for Research Collaboration"
  • 12:00-1:00pm
    Lunch Break
  • 1:00-2:00pm
    Next Steps
  • 2:00pm
    End of Workshop

Pictures