The Abrams Clean Tech Report

 

11/2 6:30 PM PST Palo Alto Research Center (PARC): The Industry of Water. REGISTER NOW

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

Well, I signed up for a little more than I bargained for in offering to get this group of speakers together, because this has been a major time suck for me, but it’s been completely worthwhile. Anyone who feels left out, and like they should have been included in the panel – my apologies. There was no real rhyme or reason for why you were or were not included. I started working on getting the speakers lined up a good couple of weeks later than intended, due to being absolutely buried in some client projects, and as a result, I was lucky enough as it was to be able to gather these amazing people for the MIT Club of NorCal. I might add – this is not something that requires one to be an MIT alum. I am not. You, too, can help put together events like this. Water is a resource we take for granted wayyyy to much around here, and if tomorrow there were a major earthquake – and water resources and supplies dwindled to little to nothing – do you know who you’d call? Or what you’d do? Or would you know who was responsible for making sure water got where it was supposed to go? Have you considered where your dollars go each month when you pay your water bill, in terms of what kinds of technologies are being implemented to maintain a safe and pure water supply? Do you know how gray water is being reused? And what you can do to make a difference? I bet a lot of these are questions you haven’t considered. Me neither until I started to study more. Hope you can come. Thanks to the MIT RE steering committee for doing such a great job of helping me to do this, as it’s my first time organizing an event for them and with them! Anna and Gregg and John – thank you!!!
REGISTER HERE ONLINE. https://alum.mit.edu/smarTrans/register-login.vhtml?eventID=7877&groupID=154

Date: 11/02/2006 Thu Time: 6:30pm Venue: PARC research center Location: 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, CA Cost: Online: $15 Student Online: $10 Contact: mitnewenergy@yahoo.com

MIT Club of Northern California Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Program Presents One of a series of events for Energy Entrepreneurs Sponsored by the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)

THE INDUSTRY OF WATER: FUTURE OF AN ESSENTIAL SUPPLY CHAIN

Water has always been a critical issue in California. We’ve had both too much and too little of it. Now we’ve reached a watershed in Legislative Initiative activity regarding our water future. Please join us for – The Industry Of Water: a discussion of the state of the water supply chain – with discussion of opportunities, innovations, threats, successes, and policies affecting innovation and water industry growth.

This forum blends entrepreneurs, policy makers, and industry experts who are at the leading edge of developing water policy and commercializing water technologies to address environmental issues. The forum will discuss opportunities for companies with a Silicon Valley mindset to use their entrepreneurial spirit and technological expertise to succeed in this market.

Our outstanding panel of experts for this interactive discussion includes:

* Jared Huffman, Senior attorney with NRDC’s western water project
* Bill Kocher, Santa Cruz City Water Director
* Dr. Shihab Kuran, Sanabelle Water CEO & Enpar Vice-Chairman
* Eric van Gestel, Enverity Corporation, President and Chief Executive Officer
* Slav W. Hermanowicz, Professor, University of California at Berkeley
* The Aquaya Institute, Speaker TBD
* Bill Reilly, President & CEO of Aqua International Partners; former EPA administrator (invited)
* MODERATOR: Joel Makower, co-founder and principal of Clean Edge Inc.; noted industry commentator

Open to the general public. Seating is limited – we recommend registering early.
About Your Hosts

The Renewable Energy and Clean Technology Series is part of the MIT Club of Northern California’s Entrepreneurship Program. We seek to promote local entrepreneurship in the full range of clean technologies such as renewable energy, clean fuels, green building, clean manufacturing, and more. For more information: http://www.mitcnc.org/CleanTech.htm

If you wish to sponsor upcoming events please email: anna.halpern.lande@alum.mit.edu.

Directions http://www.parc.com/about/directions.html

From San Francisco Airport (SFO) / 280 Southbound

From San Jose Airport (SJC) / 280 Northbound

From 101 North and South
Panelist Biographies

Professor Slav W. Hermanowicz, from Berkeley, who was educated in the field of environmental engineering in his native Poland and obtained a PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada. He has been at the University of California at Berkeley since 1983 where he has conducted research and teaching in the area of environmental protection with special emphasis on water, water reuse, water pollution control and sustainability. The focus of his research was on biofilms and biofilm reactors, nutrient control, membrane bioreactors and biostability of drinking water.

Dr. Shihab Kuran, Sanabelle Water CEO & Enpar Vice-Chairman
Dr. Kuran’s interest in international water problems led to his innovative work in the field of capacitive deionization in 1990. Over the past fifteen years, his speeches have been widely covered and highlighted in the international media. Previously, Dr. Kuran was Vice President at Fairchild Semiconductor in South Portland, Maine, U.S.A., which is the world’s leading supplier of components that optimize system power in automotive, communications, computing, consumer and industrial applications. Prior to joining Fairchild, Dr. Kuran was senior vice president of strategic marketing at Sipex Corporation, Milpitas, California. USA, where he was responsible for the strategy and restructuring of the company’s focus on power management. Dr. Kuran has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.

Bill Kocher, Director, Santa Cruz Water District

Bill has been the Director of the Water Department for the City of Santa Cruz since 1985. His former work experience was as an Assistant Director of Public Works in a Chicago suburb, where he headed the water and sewer functions for the City. The natural tension between environmental protection and the production of drinking water for nearly 100,000 residents is heightened in Santa Cruz and the result has been gradual growth without any provision for water service, which has left the City enormously vulnerable to drought conditions. Bill’s legacy will be whether or not he can save the City from itself with regard to water supply. Bill’s undergraduate degrees were in industrial education and psychology. He has an MS from Chicago State University in Counseling Psychology, and he contends that in order to stay in such a job in Santa Cruz for more than 20 years, one is far better served with the education he has than engineering.

NRDC’s Jared Huffman, Senior Attorney with NRDC’s Western Water Project
As a Senior Attorney at NRDC for the past five years, Jared Huffman has played a leading role in the epic battle to restore flows and environmental values to California’s second-longest river, the San Joaquin. Jared has managed NRDC’s San Joaquin River program and serves as a key member of the legal team representing a coalition of conservation and fishing groups in a court battle to restore the river. In August 2004, Jared and his colleagues won a huge victory when a U.S. District Court Judge agreed with NRDC’s claim that the federal government’s operation of Friant Dam is illegal and that the river and its salmon runs must be restored. This incredible environmental success story- literally bringing California’s second greatest river back to life after decades of neglect – could stand alongside the Everglades as one of the great restoration accomplishments in U.S. history.

Enverity’s CEO, Eric van Gestel, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board
Mr. van Gestel has over twenty years experience in the environmental industry. Enverity Corporation builds and provides Web-enabled software applications for environmental compliance management that includes data tracking, workflow, calculation and analysis, and regulatory report/permit preparation. Prior to his current position with Enverity, he was the Managing Director of Environmental Resources Trust’s (ERT) Clean Power Program. From 1996 until 1999, Mr. van Gestel was the Director, architect and founder of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Buildings Ally Program. While there, Mr. van Gestel worked to create profitable opportunities for non-competing industry companies to cooperatively promote energy-efficiency and renewable energy. From 1988 through 1994, he worked for the US EPA as a Project Manager under CERCLA (“Superfund”), working very closely with corporate America in the environmental compliance, pollution-control and waste-management arena. Mr. van Gestel received his MBA from the Yale School of Management and his undergraduate degree from Colby College.

The Aquaya Institute – Ranjiv Khush

The Aquaya Institute is a nonprofit organization staffed by biomedical, environmental, and social scientists who are driven to advance public health by improving drinking water quality. Aquaya is currently focused on household-level water treatment measures. In addition to providing an immediate health benefit, these measures have the potential to drive local demand for improved water supply and sanitation infrastructure as well as water resource protection. Together with our partners and clients, Aquaya strives to achieve measurable reductions in water-related illness. By encouraging the development of market-based mechanisms for disseminating household-level water treatment measures, we will ensure sustained health improvements that will not only create demand for improved water infrastructure but will also provide economic opportunity for those at the “bottom of the pyramid”.

Joel Makower – Moderator
For nearly 20 years, Joel Makower has been a well-respected voice on business, the environment, and the bottom line. As a writer, speaker, and strategist on corporate environmental practices, clean technology, and green marketing, he has helped a wide range of companies align environmental responsibility with business success. The Associated Press has called him “The guru of green business practices.” Joel is founder and executive editor of GreenBiz.com, as well as its sister sites, ClimateBiz.com and GreenerBuildings.com. He also is a co-founder and principal of Clean Edge Inc., a research and publishing firm focusing on building markets for clean energy technologies; and serves as a senior consultant to GreenOrder, a sustainability strategy firm.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

^ back to top

 

Contact Lara Abrams

To contact Lara, please email her at lara@laraabrams.com or call 415 613 1704.

Archives

 

Blogroll

 

Sustainable Green Web Hosting