03.50pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

And with that, I’m going to conclude the second half of my coverage of this year’s BERC convention.  Keep an eye out for final thoughts from myself as well as my fellow bloggers as we look back on what we learned at the many presentations, discussions, and speeches that we’ve heard over the past two days.

03.47pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

After an impassioned discussion on public policy and the often frustrating nature of working in an industry that has its fair share of infighting, the solar panel is over.  However, one question was asked of each panelist before closing: can 20% of the US peak energy output come from solar by the year 2020?  Across the board (though with a few qualifications), the answer was yes.

03.35pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

Given a really strong solar technology, how could you ultimately get it on the roofs of houses around the world?  Well, once a product leaves the manufacturing plant, you have to worry about all kinds of things that have nothing to do with the technology per se.

For example, making a solar panel look attractive is a big goal of the industry.  It makes sense, too…you would want to put a giant metallic rectangle on your roof if you didn’t think it looked cool.

However, this isn’t all a bad thing, because apparently some cultures think that solar technology is cool enough to flaunt it.  One of the panelist notes a recent Japanese interest in fake solar roofs.  I guess it really is cool to be green.  Or at least to look green.

03.27pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

How do you amplify the innovative spark of smaller companies and startups?  A big problem in the market today emerges when smaller companies with really interesting ideas are out-muscled by the largest companies with superior manufacturing and marketing ability?

Once again, we see the same important distinction made between any emerging field: that of technology vs. scalability.  One possibility is to take advantage of licensing, a process by which smaller companies can commit their technology to larger ones in return for financing and manufacturing.

03.23pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

aaaand I’m back.  We’re currently in a conversation with a number of leading members in the solar power industry, talking about the future of solar and how to increase our reliance on renewable energy sources.

02.03pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

And with that, I take my leave for the next hour.  But don’t fret…I’ll be back!  See you in an hour.

02.02pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

So given this huge world need for energy storage, how can we create systems that are inexpensive yet scale well to match this need?

Another way of thinking about this is energy density.  Put another way: how much energy can you fit into a certain volume?  More energy density means smaller devices, longer battery lives, and more independence from the grid.

01.58pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

Professor Sastry just showed what I can only describe as a daunting graph – the capacity we currently possess using only batteries vs. the world’s total energy requirements.  You don’t need to see the picture to know what it looks like: little bar vs. reeeeeally big bar.

01.54pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

Along these lines, collaboration can’t just happen at one level of the research process.  There are people trying to solve energy problems at all different magnifications – some look at societies, some look at machines, others at batters, and some even operate at the atomic level.  Good collaboration means working with people both in our own level, as well as up and down the chain.

01.51pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

And the same goes for universities and industry.  She mentions that a recent project that paired PhD students with master’s students had great success in producing successful projects.  Just as the world of business requires many different people working on problems at many different levels, so should academia.  A graduate student need not be an island!

01.48pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

Professor Sastry just mentioned that education is another obstacle that we must overcome.  Our educational system is increasingly becoming scattered throughout the globe.  This is largely because of the waning dominance of the US in the world’s educational market.

A quick show of hands revealed that a large number of the attendees at this conference are 1st generation from other countries.  Increasingly, these intelligent scientists and engineers are returning to their home countries.  We need to ensure that collaboration continues regardless of geographic distance.

01.46pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

And what’s one of the biggest challenges to efficient vehicles?  Exploding batteries!

That’s right, apparently one of the biggest problems in designing electrical systems involves juicing the batteries just enough, but not so much that they overheat and (potentially) explode.  Apparently our most advanced lithium batteries are great at holding charge, but if you blow ‘em up, they tend to lose their usefulness.

01.44pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

Think about the Tesla, a staggeringly expensive automobile that both runs on electric power and burns a hole in your wallet.  Such a product, while noble in its attempt to maximize energy efficiency, doesn’t make sense for the so-called 99%.

This begs the question, how can you get costs down?  How can you make efficient vehicles accessible to the majority of the world?

01.41pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

Professor Sastry opened by emphasizing the fact that the future of energy research, and in many ways the where it stands today, are largely going to be driven by markets and needs outside of the United States.  While the world economy has historically been driven by a few huge markets, the future suggests that we need to start thinking about many emerging ones.

01.39pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

The BSR’s very own Sebastian Lounis (Sebastien is one of the co-directors of the BERC…see how cool we are at the BSR?) just gave a brief introductory talk.  Go Sebastian!

He just introduced Professor and entrepreneur Ann Marie Sastry, CEO of sakti3, and an influential name in the world of energy research.

01.30pm PDT, Chris Holdgraf

I’m no more than 5 minutes into my first ever energy conference, and alright I’ve been met with one of my favorite topics in the world:  lunch!  I hear that the energy goodness will begin pretty soon, so I’ll be busy filling up on green pasta in the meantime.