CTO Challenge

CTO Design Challenge – “Scaling Alternative Energy: How Can It Be Done?”: With Ty Carlson, Architect, SiArch Group, Microsoft; Thomas Aidan Curran, CTO, Products & Innovation, Deutsche Telekom AG; Eric Openshaw, Vice Chairman and U.S. Technology Leader, Deloitte; Jerry M. Woodall, National Medal of Technology Laureate, and Berry M. and Patricia L. Epstein Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University; and Per-Kristian Halvorsen, SVP and Chief Innovation Officer, Intuit; hosted by David Brin, Author, Physicist, and Co-Host of TV’s “ArchiTechs” series – Resource and judge: Nathan Lewis, George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology

Image Source: KQED QUEST - Some rights reserved.

The Challenge:

Driving the limit of global warming to less than 2% growth.

Reducing carbon emissions to 14 gigatons of emissions by 2050, rather than the 62 that are predicted today.

Reducing carbon emissions by 30% by 2020, 50% by 2030.

Our panel of CTOs worked far into the wee hours of the night, burning the candle at both ends, with input from our community of world leaders in technology and economics to solve this problem. The result is a comprehensive national plan for scaling alternative energy, that unites Americans around constructive, inclusive energy policies and practices and mandates collaboration of technologies and best practices. The full plan is below.

Summary: Mobilize our companies to innovate and produce the technologies to get us there

New Ways of Thinking

  1. Solar in public right-of-ways
  2. Designation of solar parks (solar zones), ie landfills, rehabilitated superfund sites, abandoned heavy industry areas
  3. Symbiosis: moving water and solar power (20%); covering aqueducts with solar

4.  Legacy systems waste energy: systems designed when energy was “free” are no longer applicable.

Additional Ideas

Ban any new coal plant that does not have carbon capture and offset capabilities

Create incentives to upgrade parking garages to have electric/plug-in parking and cover garages with solar panels

Putting solar power on top of buses for powering air conditioning. or other auxiliary issues

Mandate governments to adopt strict energy efficiency improvements, ie building codes, street lighting (LED), convert gov’t vehicle fleets to 50% renewables

Drive dramatic increases in energy efficiency through incentives and education

Public policy matters (strict emission standards for transportation: stairstep model, increasing annually

Energy storage management: movement from “the grid” to “the mesh” ; we need to manage it, understand how it works. Distributing the energy from solar using the least amount of transmission energy as possible.

Drive innovation program– “X-prize on steroids; increase solar efficiency, high efficiency storage, multiple models, develop clean coal, optimized transmission

Develop an alliance of innovation players: differentiation in implementation, not research

Use university campuses as models

Share technology w. sister cities, use modeling to get info out

Increasing Supply

Drive solar adoption “When you have an oil spill, you have a major problem. When you have a solar spill, perhaps not so much,” Michael Pfeffer on Solar.

Develop new housing units and technologies in developing countries– middle class homes that are energy efficiient

Make new railroads, move nuclear plants forward

Green training programs to create green jobs

Mandatory adoption of government ecosystems around the world to drive green jobs: transitioning military employees to green job workers.

Solar Options

Solar roofing, solar tanks to capture and pump the water at night.

Refocus and Reallocate Societal Resources

– Review existing programs and subsidies going in the wrong direction

– Retool financial outcomes to guarantee the market for purchasing this tech

– Transnational alliance of businesses

Phase 1
Model Existing Cities

Target 600 Alternate Energy Ecosystems w. federal financing guaratees that comply with best practices and approved designs

Create an ongoing CTO advisory board

We Must Enroll the Energy Companies

– non-participation would be punished by non-renewing government contracts for offshore drilling, etc

– Developing energy storage

“It was remarkable to sit in the room and watch the true passion for this subject.” Jerry Woodall.

“If we are going to achieve this goal, then we need to mobilize now.” Monica Harrington

“One of the main problems is that we can’t afford to do this here and now, and we certainly can’t afford to do this if China doesn’t step into the equation,” Nate Lewis

What’s next?

Pooling resources, allying CTOs around clean energy, sponsoring prizes, league of CTOs, draw in the government as a trusted partner