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Wednesday, May 13, 2015
10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Pre-Forum Workshop (for Utility and Government Attendees Only)
Session Co-Chairs: Paul Reid, Azusa Light and Water, and Ron Horstman, Western Area Power Administration
You won’t want to miss this pre-conference session offering attendees the opportunity to candidly discuss issues that are impacting utilities in 2015. Bring the topics that keep you up at night and see what you can learn from other utility personnel who wrestle with some of your same concerns. The collective brain power will be enlightening. Discussion topics will include:
- Community solar & potential impacts on utilities
- Distributed generation & micro grid technologies for improved reliability & replacing utility infrastructure
- Utility benefits from net metering & feed-in tariffs
- Super Efficient Apartment Sized Refrigerator with (Optional) Demand Response Capability: What is the Value to Utilities for Load Management?
12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Lunch Buffet
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Welcoming Remarks
Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Opening Keynote: Transformation is NOW (204 MB)
Josh Radoff, Co-Founder and Principal, YR&G
Josh’s ability to engage audiences on the delicate subjects utilities are facing will captivate every attendee, and make them think about the responsibilities and the possibilities we all have in front of us. Josh Radoff is Co-Founder and Principal of YR&G, a sustainability consulting company with offices in Denver, New York, and Chicago. YR&G works on a range of green building and corporate sustainability projects across the country and internationally. Josh is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Denver, teaching classes on Sustainable Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy Systems. He is also co-chair of the ULI Colorado Healthy Places Committee, a Board Member of DRCOG’s Sustainable Communities Initiative Executive Committee, and a current member of USGBC’s Market Advisory Committee. Josh has a background in sustainable energy engineering and holds Masters’ degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Columbia University in New York.
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Networking Break with Energy Quiz hosted by ESG
Quiz Emcee: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Join in our annual Energy Quiz centered around the Forum theme. You will be in awe and totally ‘transformed’ by this year’s prizes.
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Policy/Strategic View: Energy Efficiency in a Low Carbon, Distributed Energy Future
A Town hall-style discussion about transforming the market to measure, finance, and deliver oodles of negawatts.
Session Co-Chairs: Dave Ashuckian, California Energy Commission and Cheri Davis, Sacramento Municipal Utility District
- Patrick Saxton, California Energy Commission
- Peter Skala, California Public Utilities Commission
- Matt Golden, Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project
- Mark D'Antonio, ERS
4:30 pm – 5:15 pm
Meet the Exhibitors
Session Co-Chairs: Dennis Guido, Staples & Associates and Mark Gosvener, ESG
Get to know the Forum exhibitors in this lightning round of conversation starters designer to help you better network and learn
5:15 pm
Adjourn
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Reception
6:30 pm
Dinner hosted by RHA
8:00 pm
Networking Campfire hosted by Embertec
Unwind at a casual gathering around the fire ring to reflect on the day's discussion and look ahead to tomorrow.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
7:30 – 8:30 am
Breakfast Buffet
8:30 am – 10:00 am
Workforce Development and Retention
Session Co-Chairs: Kevin Palmer, Riverside Public Utilities and Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power
With increased competition, rapidly changing technology, growing customer expectations, and an aging workforce, successful utilities require a workforce that can meet these challenges. This session will provide practical information and best practices that you can apply in developing your “workforce of the future”.
10:00 am – 10:30 pm
Networking Break with Energy Quiz hosted by ESG
Quiz Emcee: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Customer View: Changing Customer Needs and Expectations
Session Co-Chairs: Vanessa Lara, Merced Irrigation District and Paul Reid, Azusa Light and Water
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Midpoint Keynote Presentation: Customer Engagement is a Journey not a Transaction
Sharon Grove, Director of Customer Experience , Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Utilities are facing more competition for customers attention, and putting more and more program offerings on the table isn’t the whole answer. We have to have our employees be able to market our programs and build customer relationships that speak to individual customer account concerns and desires. I will be speaking about what that means for hiring, training, and motivating employees to be who our customers need them to be so we can all achieve our desired objectives. Sharon Grove joined the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) in May 2012. Ms. Grove brings 30 years of utility and customer service management experience to LADWP. Previously, she held several executive positions at Exelon Corporation, and NICOR Corporation, both large investor-owned utilities located in northern Illinois. Ms. Grove’s goal is to ensure that LADWP customers have a good experience when dealing with the Department. She is responsible for leading the Customer Service Division operations, directing and positioning customer experience strategies, aligning business processes, understanding marketing and customer insights, deploying customer contact strategies, and managing customer complaint resolution. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics from Lehigh University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Utility Program Snapshots: Utilities Rise to Challenges with Innovative Programs
Session Co-Chairs: Kevin Palmer, Riverside Public Utilities and Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power
What are the “next best things” in utility programs? This panel will share their innovative programs and the various challenges they encountered in implementing these program. Learn about the resources necessary to successfully launch these programs along with lessons learned as well as valuable information on program effectiveness and results.
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Utility Program Stand-Up Challenge
Session Co-Chairs: Bob Hondeville, Modesto Irrigation District, and Leif Christiansen, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Join us for the craziest round of concurrent sessions ever! Imagine speed dating meets the lightning round of a TV game show! You choose 4 from a list of storyboards detailing utility-sponsored energy program initiatives. Each storyboard presenter has up to 5 minutes (plus up to 10 minutes for Q&A) to share with you the program’s goals, successes and lessons learned. A bell rings, you choose another storyboard, and the 15-minute clock starts again. After four rotations, the remaining time will be left for you to visit the other storyboard to see what you missed.
- Know Your Customers, David Shepherd-Gaw, Cowlitz PUD. Why customer demographics, community politics and the utility image are so important for the appropriate application of EE and RE programs or projects.
- Roseville Electric Utility’s Count Watts & Spooktacular, Vonette McCauley, Roseville Electric. Roseville Electric Utility will detail its campaign activities to encourage customers to reduce vampire energy loads. The Vampire Voltage campaign included a funny‐looking vampire mascot, Count Watts, and a Spooktacular event that raised awareness with more than 589‐ 242 adults and 347 children.
- Southern California Gas Company's On-Demand Efficiency (ODE) program, Phil Barnes, Benningfield Group, Inc. Over the past four years this program has provided incentives for the installation of over 1,100 on-demand control pumps on central hot water systems with recirculation loops in multifamily buildings in the SoCal Gas Company® territory. Hot water energy use has the largest savings potential based on the retro-fit improvement cost in multifamily buildings in California. On-demand controllers that operate the recirculation pump on an occupant demand basis versus continuously operating provide both natural gas and electricity savings. Learn how the utility and its allies work with manufacturing, distribution and installation channels to increase saturation of these controls.
- Enabling the Virtual Power Plant, Mike Mathews, Schneider Electric, and Jeff Rouser, PlanetEcosystems. Review of "My Energy Insight", a pilot project sponsored by Marin Clean Energy (MCE) to save energy by gaining greater insight and control over customers energy usage. Learn how the innovative software and hardware was used to engage customers to install and manage remotely-programmable control devices including thermostat, pool pump, and/or electric vehicle chargers. This allows MCE to control the energy load through the devices installed. Discover results to date and how this pilot will help to improve the performance of the electric grid, lower the cost of delivering electricity and reduce the need for building new power plants.
- Demand Response of CO2 Refrigerant Heat Pump Water Heaters, Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL under contract to WSU-Energy and in partnership with Efficiency Solutions LLC evaluated the demand response characteristics of two new-to-the US market carbon dioxide refrigerant heat pump water heaters. One water heater was an integrated unit and one was a split system with an outdoor unit. The units were tested in the PNNL lab homes. This work was sponsored by Bonneville Power Administration with cost sharing provided by the U.S. DOE.
- Aligning and Leveraging Municipal and Investor-owned Utility Programs to Meet State Goals, Matt Christie, TRC Solutions. A framework for, and example of, program design changes to align where possible, SMUD's SolarSmart program with PG&E's California Advanced Homes Program, CEC and CPUC goals and infrastructure, against the 2013 Title 24 code change, and to push toward California's Zero Net Energy Goals.
- Virtual Queuing, Jessica Sutorus, City of Colton Public Utilities (CEU). Learn how CEU improved customer service by managing customer flow for the utility billing area with a virtual queuing system. The system eliminates standing in line and creates a relaxed, pleasing environment to increase customer satisfaction, maximize customer flow efficiency, and reduce perceived wait time by offering online appointments and text messaging.
5:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Networking Break
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Reception
6:30 pm
Dinner
8:00 pm
“Any Port in a Storm” hosted by Resource Action Programs
Port wine tasting and the classic rock acoustic guitar stylings and singing of Kip Yager. Kip Yager, originally from upstate New York, has been playing solo on his 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars in the Tahoe Basin for the last 4 years. Previously, he lived in Colorado for 10 years. His repertoire includes: Beatles, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Moody Blues, CSNY, and a little bit of country, blues and originals inspired by the Rocky Mountain's laidback life style. Kip's passion for music is his way of connecting with the ones who grew up in the 60's & 70's.
Friday, May 15, 2015
7:30 am – 8:30 am
Breakfast Buffet
8:30 am – 11:00 am
Technology View: Revolutionary Technologies With Potential to Help Achieve Big Bold EE Goals
Session Co-Chairs: Rob Penney, Washington State University Energy Program, and Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
The always-popular Technology View panel invites innovation leaders from around the country to introduce exciting new and emerging energy efficiency technologies. Some virtually unknown technologies presented in past years now enjoy widespread adoption in the marketplace. Come hear about the technologies that will change energy use in the future.
- Alternative Commercial Laundry Technologies Poised to Offer Big Savings, Mary Horsey, E Source
- New Opportunities for Wastewater Treatment Facility Efficiency Improvement, Layne McWilliams, Cascade Energy
- Research Highlights from the Western Cooling Efficiency Center, Theresa E Pistochini,Western Cooling Efficiency Center
- Opportunities and Obstacles for Next Generation Lighting Systems, Michael Siminovitch, California Lighting Technology Center
- Energy Performance Based Acquisition Processes Integrated into Utility Programs, Andrew Parker, NREL
- Integrated Systems – Industry Needs and Approaches, Alecia Ward, LBNL
Networking Break with Energy Quiz hosted by ESG
Quiz Emcee: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Final round of our annual Energy Quiz centered around the Forum theme.
11:00 am
Adjourn
11:30 am
Lunch