Program

VERGE 18 Program

VERGE Energy Program

VERGE Circular Program

VERGE Transport Program

VERGE Circular Program

VERGE Energy Program

VERGE Transport Program

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Monday, October 15th, 2018

8:30am to 12:00pm

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Tour

Tutorial

Join us for a tour of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The tour will include conversations with researchers on the topics of clean energy and energy efficiency, distributed energy systems (DER), microgrids and cyber security in defense of DERs. Learn how Berkeley Lab scientists are developing algorithms and methodologies to identify, isolate and contain cyber attacks on the evolving energy infrastructure. Includes tour of FLEXLAB®, the world’s most advanced building efficiency test bed and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), among the world’s most powerful supercomputers dedicated to open research. Spaces are limited to 25. Sign-up details can be found on the final confirmation page when registering for VERGE 18. See more details on the tour here.

8:30am to 4:30pm

GRID Alternatives Bay Area Solar Installation Event

Tutorial

Join nonprofit GRID Alternatives to help install a solar system benefiting a low-income family in Oakland on Monday, October 15 from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM. No experience necessary - work will be guided by GRID's knowledgeable staff. Installation work takes place both on the roof and on the ground. Spaces are limited to 10. You must have purchased an All-Access, Cross-Conference, Single-Conference or One-Day pass in order to participate. Sign-up details can be found on the final confirmation page when registering for VERGE 18.

8:30am to 5:30pm

Partner Events

Leading organizations will be hosting a variety of co-located events, workshops and volunteer opportunities the day before VERGE 18 begins. Registration is separate for these partner events. Learn more here.

9:00am to 12:00pm

Paddling the Oakland Waterfront

Tutorial

Paddle Oakland’s diverse waterfront and beyond with REI Outdoor Programs. Skirting the embarcadero in the shadows of Oakland’s Shipyards on through the sensitive wildlife habitat of the marshes and wetlands surrounding San Leandro Bay, participants will explore the dynamic Oakland Estuary. All required gear will be provided. You must have purchased an All-Access, Cross-Conference, Single-Conference or One-Day pass in order to participate. Spaces are limited to 12. Sign-up details can be found on the final confirmation page when registering for VERGE 18.

1:30pm to 2:30pm

Pier 9 Autodesk Tour

Tutorial

Interested in the future of manufacturing and how the industry is changing? Join us for a private VERGE only tour at Autodesk’s Pier 9 facility, where Autodesk research teams collaborate with industry, academic, and entrepreneurial communities to speculate, validate, and test ideas about the future of manufacturing.

Located on Pier 9 of The Embarcadero in San Francisco, the facility hosts a range of advanced manufacturing equipment, robotics, general shop facilities and work spaces, and demonstrates new manufacturing technologies and workflows related to configurable microfactories, an area of interest for sustainability. Spaces are limited to 20. Sign-up details can be found on the final confirmation page when registering for VERGE 18.

3:00pm to 4:00pm

Salesforce Tower Tour

Tutorial

Join us for a sustainability tour of Salesforce Tower in San Francisco on Monday, October 15 from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Salesforce Tower provides an outstanding example of sustainable design, construction and financial feasibility. The tour will be led by Salesforce's Global Green Building Program Manager, Amanda Von Almen and will highlight the sustainable features of the Salesforce space. You must have purchased an All-Access, Cross-Conference, Single-Conference or One-Day pass in order to participate. Sign-up Sign-up details can be found on the final confirmation page when registering for VERGE 18.

Tuesday, October 16th, 2018

7:45am to 8:30am

Breakfast & Registration

8:00am to 12:15pm

Fleet Electrification Summit

Summit

The Fleet Electrification Summit is a half-day, invitation-only working session convening 100 key stakeholders to focus on how to accelerate the electrification of fleets.

Refer to our Fleet Electrification Summit page for more information and to request an invitation.

8:30am to 12:15pm

Circular Economy 101

Tutorial

This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats. In the meantime, we recommend pre-registering for your second-choice tutorial.

This half-day tutorial, designed for attendees from all sectors and backgrounds and presented by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will provide a foundational understanding of the circular economy — a model that fundamentally reimagines the traditional “take-make-waste” linear industrial model in favor of a system that designs out waste and pollution, decouples economic growth from natural resource consumption, increases resource productivity and regenerates natural systems.

The first part of the tutorial session will tour through our circular economy journey to date. From theory through to action, The Foundation team will start by explaining the guiding principles and then take participants through a series of case study examples which illustrate circular design spanning products, business models, and system level innovations.

To some, the circular economy concept can feel academic and detached from reality. The second part of the session will take a more in depth look at how we can 'sell in' and convince stakeholders to invest in circular economy initiatives. Much of the work concentrating on the circular economy to date has centred on deep analysis of the broader economic opportunity. Translating the theory into practical opportunities for colleagues working at the coal-face of operations, or executives faced with competing priorities, can present a critical challenge.

Fortunately, the circular economy is a big idea with many entry points. Significant work has already been completed by many diverse organisations of all sizes to demonstrate that the theoretical upside can be translated to real commercial opportunities today. Some of these organisations are already taking giant leaps towards circular economy models.

Dragon Rouge, an award-winning global creative agency and CE100 member, spoke with several of those leading organisations to understand what is working, and launched a report on the topic. During the second part of the session, The Foundation Team and Dragon Rouge representatives will distil insight on how you can effectively 'sell' the circular economy into different parts of your organisation.

Regenerative Futures Lab: Imagining the Unimaginable

Tutorial

Understanding regeneration requires moving beyond fragmented problem-solving and towards realizing new potentials within whole, complex systems.

The more we understand planetary life cycles of birth, growth, death, decay, and regeneration, the clearer it becomes that human civilization is dependent on and inseparable from them. Given the countless unintended consequences and existential threats we face, it’s easy to catastrophize the future.

Is it possible to reverse the impacts of these threats? For many of us, this is an unthinkable thought. Yet the role of foresight tools are to help us radically reimagine the future. Which begs the question: What paradigms and assumptions are informing foresight processes and our understanding of sustainability?

To date, the field of sustainability has been largely dominated by a mechanistic interpretations of natural resources, assets, and the commons, tacitly informed by models of competition and scarcity. How might we re-envision these - and explore potential futures - from a regenerative perspective?

This interactive workshop reframes how shared assets are imagined. Are they perpetually scarce (fixed and diminishing) or potentially abundant (living and regenerative)? How can we invest in assets - and communities - to increase their capacities and capabilities over time?

Featuring aerial photography of Oakland by Stephen Loewinsohn.

Pre-register to ensure access to your first choice of tutorial. Select “Already Registered?” here and enter your email address and confirmation number to log in. Then, click the “Modify” button to add a tutorial to your registration.

Self Driving Cars 101: Tech, Regulation & More

Tutorial

This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats.

This in-depth tutorial will dive into the technology, regulations, market, urban planning and design and state of the industry for self-driving vehicles. You'll hear from experts that have worked in the emerging sector for years and have witnessed its evolution. You'll learn how computer vision and LiDAR works. And you'll hear about the cities, states and companies ushering in this revolution.

AI and Blockchain for Good: Moving from Ideas to Application

Tutorial

This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats.

A hands-on, deep dive discovery session — including corporates, startups, thought leaders and experts — exploring artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain-enabled applications to create more sustainable solutions for our planet.

Power Markets and Innovation 101: How They Work and What's Next

Tutorial

This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats.

This four-hour course will explain the fundamentals of how power markets work, the changes that have taken place in the past decade, and the revolutionary change that is about to occur. We will cover:

1. The fundamentals of how power is generated and dispatched
2. Who does what in the new world (utilities, regulators, entrepreneurs, and interactive consumers)
3. Factors driving technological change and the critical role of information technology
4. The key technologies - including wind, solar, storage, and other distributed energy resources
5. Emerging winners and losers
6. Business models, and global trends, including carbon, financial trends and national economic development policies
7. Regulatory models and experiences worth examining (including New York, California, Texas, Australia, China, and Germany
8. Implications for the future and potential outcomes
9. The challenge for planners and investors, and options for creating potential no-regrets strategies in an increasingly volatile market

Creating a Smart City in the Real World

Tutorial

This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats.

How can data contribute to the creation of a resilient, vibrant, safe and equitable community? Our experts will discuss how sensors are instrumenting cities around the world — collecting valuable insights about traffic, air quality and more. And they'll offer lessons learned from recent smart city deployments.

8:30am to 11:30am

Hiking the East Bay Hills

Tutorial

Join REI Outdoor Programs for a five mile hike in Oakland's Redwood Regional Park. Diverse wildlife and burbling creeks provide a beautiful backdrop for a moderate hike through the shady redwood forest. You must have purchased an All-Access, Cross-Conference, Single-Conference or One-Day pass in order to participate. Spaces are limited to 15. Sign-up details can be found on the final confirmation page when registering for VERGE 18.

12:15pm to 1:30pm

Lunch

Participants must be registered for an All-Access, Tutorial-Only or One-Day Tuesday pass to access lunch on Tuesday.

1:30pm to 1:45pm

Organizer's Welcome

GreenBiz welcomes everyone to VERGE 18 and sets the stage for this year's global flagship event — including attendees from our three new concurrent conferences: VERGE Energy, VERGE Transport and VERGE Circular.

1:45pm to 1:50pm

Mayor's Welcome

The City of Oakland's Mayor Libby Schaaf kicks off VERGE 18 (and the City's official "Clean Economy Week") and how cities like Oakland are critical to accelerating the clean economy.

1:50pm to 2:00pm

VERGE Talk: Opening Evocation — Welcome to Here

Creating the conditions for open hearts, rootedness in place, and a reminder and recognition of the deeper purpose of our gathering. Our goal is to help generate the will for change, and to remind all of us in the VERGE community that we are part of a developing story, where all of our work to date is part of a grander arc of process and progress. Featuring aerial photography of Oakland by Stephen Loewinsohn.

2:00pm to 2:20pm

Catalyzing a New Carbon Economy

An exploration of the new carbon economy, the promise of “carbon capture 2.0” and the market for carbon-utilizing and carbon-removing products and services across industries. From reinventing supply chains to transforming atmospheric CO2 into materials that can be used in the production of cement, plastics, and more, this multi-faced discussion will explore the potential for carbon as an economic driver rather than environmental enemy.

2:20pm to 2:30pm

VERGE Talk: Innovating for 100

It’s no secret that Silicon Valley drives the tech world. From smart cars to smart homes, California continues to boast the world’s latest high-tech innovations and developments. Yet many Californians still lack access to technological advancements that could dramatically improve their everyday lives. High-tech products and services are viewed by many residents in low- to moderate-income communities as out-of-reach luxuries rather than attainable necessities. The innovations shaping the future of energy, transportation, water access, agriculture, and beyond are no exception to this reality. Although everyone has access to these innovations (equality), that does not mean everyone has been given what they need to be successful (equity). We are on a mission to seek out the entrepreneurs whose business models are designed for this new market (equity out), as well as those seeking to build diverse teams (equity in).

2:30pm to 2:50pm

Unleashing the Global Circular Economy

A demystifying exploration into the phenomenon that is the "circular economy," why recycling will not get us there, how organizations around the world are unlocking upstream solutions, and why upending models across industries is a $2.3 trillion opportunity. Today’s economy is phenomenally wasteful: from clothing and food to buildings and smart devices - most of what's produced and consumed follows a ‘take, make, dispose’ model. Transitioning from a linear to a circular economy presents an economic and innovation opportunity that’s gaining traction globally, highlighted by China’s move to reject other countries’ garbage and the urgent problem of plastics in the ocean. But is the US at risk of lagging behind other global markets in embracing the full circular economy opportunity? The panel will also discuss the competitive potential for the US to embrace upstream innovation opportunities, not just those at the “end of the pipe."

2:50pm to 3:10pm

Circular Water and the Digital Transformation

Today, water scarcity is so prevalent that many of our desired economic, social, and environmental goals are out of reach. If we continue to treat water as a disposable, consumable resource, a global crisis is imminent. But if we seize the circular economy opportunity – and leverage technology that already exists to drive better water management and stewardship – we can not only protect our single most important shared resource, we can ensure that businesses can grow to meet the increasing demands of the world for years to come.

3:10pm to 3:15pm

VERGE Vanguards: Honoring Energy Pioneers

GreenBiz is excited to present our inaugural group of VERGE Vanguard honorees. From scaling affordable microgrids to catalyzing corporate renewables procurement, executive editor Joel Makower honors those transforming the energy sector.

3:15pm to 3:45pm

VERGE Accelerate: Energy Showcase

A pitch competition that provides entrepreneurs in energy, buildings, transportation, supply chains, water, food, and cities the opportunity to present to the diverse VERGE community: executives from the world's largest companies, public officials from progressive cities, venture capitalists, and others.

VERGE Accelerate on Day 1 of our event focuses on the most promising early-stage ENERGY startup solutions.

For more details, refer to our VERGE Accelerate page.

3:45pm to 4:15pm

Break

Short networking break during our opening plenary (general session).

Zero Waste at VERGE 18: Behind the Scenes with Waste Management

Tutorial

Join Waste Management on a Zero Waste Tour to understand what goes into creating a Zero Waste event like here at VERGE 18, from working with vendors to engaging attendees and coordinating waste services. This quick tour will provide insight into the collaboration that goes on behind the scenes. Meet at the Waste Management expo booth in West Hall at the start of the Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning networking breaks to participate in the tour. Space is limited.

4:15pm to 4:35pm

Financing the Future to Scale the Clean Economy

Complementary perspectives from across the finance ecosystem explain how they are helping to accelerate the clean economy — from clean energy technologies to sustainable transportation infrastructure to equitable community development. The panel will also discuss how to tap into the various financial sources, unlock these options as a business or a local government, and what it will take to scale clean economy growth.

4:35pm to 4:55pm

Electrifying Fleets — Accelerating an EV Revolution

Commercial and industrial vehicle fleets — from delivery vans to garbage trucks to transit buses — are beginning to electrify. This segment could go electric more rapidly than passenger vehicles, thanks to incentives and mandates, potential fuel savings and corporate sustainability goals. In this session you'll hear from some of the world's leaders — UPS, Walmart and BYD — that are buying and selling the latest electric fleet vehicles.

4:55pm to 5:05pm

Special Performance: Voice[On]Display

Opera artist Amanda Gregory and digital artist Can Büyükberber present Voice[On]Display: a live performance with Augmented Reality, representing the personified relationship between Nature, Technology, and Humans.

Originally developed during Büyükberber's Immersive Artist Research Residency at Adobe, Faces[On]Display is an ongoing augmented reality work and projection installation that uses face-tracking and facial gesture recognition to explore the notion of self-representation in contemporary digital culture.

Making its debut at the Festival of the Impossible exhibit at Minnesota Street Project, the interdisciplinary collaboration translates Gregory’s operatic vocal performance into a live projection map of the sounds and moods of the music, creating a multi-sensory exploration of meaning. Electronic soundscapes and real-time visuals portray an elegant dialogue between the archetypal embodiment of Nature as Earth’s evolutionary force, and Technology as the extension of human capabilities and will. The piece offers a vignette to experience ourselves as an extension of nature, interlinked with technology as an extension of us.

5:05pm to 5:30pm

Pathways to 100% Renewable Energy

An exploration into the various strategies and solutions that companies, utilities and clean energy leaders are taking in their pursuit of 100% renewable energy — including how to help put renewable electricity in places that wouldn't otherwise have access to that power to help accelerate the pace of our global clean energy transition. The panelists will also discuss how to speed up decarbonization - not just in energy but other sectors (transportation, industry, ag, etc).

5:30pm to 7:00pm

Networking Reception

Networking Reception with Emerging Leaders Meet & Greet! Plus join PXiSE Energy Solutions for microgrid wine at their Specialty Bar (located in the Interconnect Expo).

Wednesday, October 17th, 2018

7:45am to 8:30am

Breakfast & Registration

8:00am to 12:15pm

Microgrid Summit

Summit

The Microgrid Summit is a half-day, invitation-only working session convening 100 key stakeholders to focus on how to accelerate the deployment of clean, grid-connected microgrids.

Refer to our Microgrid Summit page for more information and to request an invitation.

8:30am to 9:30am

Innovation and the Last Mile

Breakout

With the explosion of dockless scooters, the bike-sharing arms race, and the proliferation of location-based mobile apps, startups have been developing and growing last-mile mobility services like never before. But the process of launching and managing infrastructure networks isn't for the faint of heart. Hear the lessons learned from entrepreneurs and transit authorities when it comes to using tech and innovation to tackle the last mile.

Next-Gen Infrastructure: The Transition to a Distributed, Digital World

Breakout

A wave of automation driven by commercial drones, artificial intelligence and the internet of things is sweeping across power plants, water districts and the power grid. This discussion will examine how digital technologies are reshaping the electric grid and water distribution systems, and how that makeover could affect cost, reliability and sustainability.

Built Positive: Creating Positive Impact from Molecule to Metropolis

Breakout

Examine the opportunity for circularity in the built environment, discuss the implications of materials choices and explore how circular economy practices can be scaled up from the molecule to the metropolis.

Through case studies from their own work at the product, asset and local government level, panelists will challenge the audience to think about potential circular interventions in their own work, what roles or collaborators are needed to make them happen, and how to initiate those conversations.

Composting at Scale

Breakout

In urban areas, disposing of food scraps is often the only touchpoint that residents have with resource management — a tactile, visceral experience of environmental engagement. However, organic waste in landfills contributes to 5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, so industrial-scale composting is crucial. This session will explore the shifting flow of biological materials in cities to regenerate soil and community while scaling the industrial management of organic waste.

A Thoughtful Conversation about the War on Plastic

Breakout

Is plastic the problem, or plastic waste? Is it all plastics, or just some? Is it all products, or only a few? As a global war on plastic escalates, more companies and cities are being asked to take actions to limit its use and waste. However, plastic is ubiquitous and cheap and continues to play a vital role in ensuring health, safety and product delivery and longevity. This session will break down these key issues and explore the conflicting perspectives and priorities when it comes to navigating the plastic challenge.

Why Early Adopters are Electrifying Fleets

Breakout

Certain commercial vehicles will go electric first like delivery vans, and the commercial transportation sector has the potential to electrify much more quickly than the passenger one. In this session you'll hear from fleet managers, vendors and logistics companies about how they envision the electrification of commercial transport, what will be beachheads in this transition, and why early movers are choosing battery power. GreenBiz in conjunction with UPS will be unveiling the results of an innovative research project to help large businesses navigate the technology and policy barriers of fleet and building electrification.

Scaling the 100% Renewables Movement

Breakout

What will it take to help more midsize and small companies, communities and cities source clean power? This session will consider multiple emerging approaches, including new forms of virtual power purchasing arrangements and deal options that risk-averse organizations can seriously consider. We’ll also explore how forward-thinking companies are using their bargaining influence and procurement muscle to help their business partners, suppliers and customers make the switch and make an impact.

Autonomous Vehicle Planning (Hint: You’re Behind)

Breakout

With potentially lower costs and greater fleet efficiency, autonomous shared vehicles are already attracting investors, urban sustainability planners, and riders. While most fleet operators think autonomous vehicles are a futuristic technology, the truth is that autonomous fleets are already on the roadways and have driven millions of miles this year. The future is here. How should you plan for it?

Economy First: Scaling Investment in Circularity

Breakout

Circular economy solutions will only scale when the economics are sound, and a divergence from the existing linear model will require new and innovating financing. Hear from investors about what it will take to finance circularity. And learn about the market signals that will guide investment opportunities.

9:30am to 9:45am

Transition

9:45am to 10:45am

Solutions for Sustainable Urban Goods Delivery

Breakout

The rise of e-commerce and near instant delivery in cities has led to challenges like urban congestion, air pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions. But some corporate leaders, environmentalists, tech companies and local governments are figuring out solutions. Hear from some of the innovators that are looking to develop sustainable goods delivery plans.

Promising Aggregation Approaches for Renewables Procurement

Breakout

What will it take to involve more companies in clean power purchase agreements? This workshop will explore emerging project aggregation models — scenarios in which multiple organizations collaborate and pool their financial resources to help get a new solar array or wind farm off the ground.

Energy Storage Technologies: How To Pick the Right Solution

Breakout

This session will evaluate potential energy storage applications, and what technologies make the most sense — technically and financially — for those solutions. The perspectives include a global technology company, a multi-national telecommunications company, a large investor-owned utility and a renewable and energy storage developer. The solutions that will be considered as part of this discussion: lithium ion, flow, thermal options and fuel cells as well as how and when to pair energy storage with renewable energy.

Push or Pull? How Companies, Consumers and Cities Drive Circular Change

Breakout

Consumers demand an end to plastic straws, cities ban single-use bags and companies voluntarily move towards circularity. What are the most effective drivers of systems change? This session will explore the various levers of change, including policy, consumer pressure, corporate advocacy and partnerships, as well as the interplay of these factors and the impact of collaboration amongst industry partners to meet circular economy goals.

Lessons from Ground Zero: Energy Recovery and Resilience

Breakout

How we can modernize the power grid in a timely, equitable and affordable manner to get ahead of the next round of natural disasters. This session will provide perspectives from a utility regulator, a Naval Facilities leader, a city infrastructure expert and a utility leader.

Cities Embrace Slow Moving, Electric & Autonomous

Breakout

Cities are experimenting with how to use slow-moving, electric and autonomous vehicles as a replacement for new city infrastructure. Hear case studies from cities, automakers and tech vendors around projects that led to lower cost, flexible and more sustainable city transportation networks.

Circular Water: Strategies for a Resource-Constrained World

Breakout

The impacts of drought, population growth, aging infrastructure, climate change, and other challenges threaten the long-term availability of water and by 2030, the world’s demand for fresh water is projected to outstrip supply by 40 percent. For companies, it's increasingly difficult to access the water they need to meet growing customer demands, local governments are finding they’ve under-invested in water strategies or allowed existing structures to deteriorate. These stakeholders also often find themselves competing for access to water.

In this context, businesses continue to set targets at the corporate level but most have not yet been able to operationalize those goals at the local-level. A 2017 survey by GreenBiz and Ecolab showed that although 75 percent of companies have water-related targets, most do not integrate water into their planning processes, and 82 percent lack the tools and strategies to turn water data into action.

In this session, hear from companies and cities tackling their water management with a circular approach. Learn about the tools and tactics they use to establish and operationalize circular water strategies that are economically beneficial, environmentally sustainable and socially equitable.

The Blockchain-Food Nexus

Breakout

Does this emerging technology have real-world potential to transform the global food and agriculture system? This session will explore blockchain applications aimed at enriching soil health, encouraging regenerative agricultural practices and improving supply chain transparency and food safety from farm to fork.

Innovation in Practice: Building a Circular Economy in Construction

Breakout

Learn from experts turning ideas into action as they discuss successfully integrating circular strategies to optimize waste stream management, product manufacturing, and industry engagement to reduce the carbon impact of construction. Explore approaches that promise to herald new innovations in the built environment — helping to prevent the "outsourcing of pollution" by reinventing the market for typically carbon-intensive products and processes in the building industry.

The Circular City

Breakout

The concept of the circular economy offers a framework through which city governments and policymakers, urban planners and designers, businesses and individuals can rethink urban systems — and begin to close the loop on the flow of materials. As cities embark on the transition towards a circular economy, information and digital technology will play a crucial role in helping them address these challenges. Data forms part of the “connective tissue” linking urban systems together — from the movement of traffic, to the health of buildings, to how citizens can produce and consume energy. This session will explore the role of data in transforming urban life and building long-term prosperity, resource sufficiency, economic viability and well-being in a circular city.

10:45am to 11:15am

Break

11:15am to 12:15pm

Best Practices: Employee, Customer EV Engagement

Breakout

One of the biggest drivers of new electric vehicle ownership is an employer's installation of a workplace charging station. Retailers, offices and fueling centers are taking part in the EV transition in important ways. Discover how and where the opportunities lie.

Optimizing Water Infrastructure in the Built Environment

Breakout

To efficiently manage water in the built environment, we must think beyond the boundaries of buildings. This session will discuss some of the most innovative and regenerative water infrastructure projects that design for abundance, take the burden off of aging infrastructure and reimagine the flow of water in cities.

Turning Electric Vehicles into Grid Resources

Breakout

What are the policy, regulatory and business model implications of connecting millions of EVs to the power grid? This session will explore the challenges and opportunities from the perspective of utilities, regulators, technology providers and EV infrastructure providers.

How Cities & Mobility Providers Share & Use Data

Breakout

The rise of mobility services — from ride hailing to scooter and bike sharing to new apps — are providing major opportunities in cities. But there's also the potential for unforeseen urban effects like congestion and safety concerns. City agencies and companies are working together to more effectively share data and use data in smart ways to tackle problems. This session will examine how cities and mobility companies are collaborating around sharing data and using data in new ways to build sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Bringing Offshore Wind Down to Earth

Breakout

Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that the global offshore wind market will grow sixfold by 2030. This discussion will cover what corporate buyers should really know about purchasing electricity from offshore farms including the financial, technological, environmental and social benefits/challenges.

The Path to Holistic Energy Management

Breakout

This session will present the findings of a new GreenBiz Research project examining how companies with a global footprint set energy efficiency and clean power goals, demonstrate the value of those approaches, and use data to implement comprehensive energy management strategies. We will hear from panelists across health care, real estate and technology companies with recommendations on how to approach energy projects holistically across a range of internal and external stakeholders.

Designing Cities For Autonomous & On-Demand

Breakout

City infrastructure, land use and even housing will need to be rethought as computers begin driving our cars and vehicles are increasingly used on-demand. Automated, shared vehicles could usher in an era of increased greenhouse gas emissions and congestion or propel a world of cleaner and more efficient transportation. Hear from designers, architects and transportation planners about how they envision the future.

Meaningful Metrics for New Models

Breakout

Many companies are enthusiastic about the potential of circular business models, but how do they assess the benefits of new business models, such as product takeback or leasing? As industries innovate, they will need a common framework for evaluating the impacts and making credible claims. This conversation will focus on work being done to establish methods for measuring the environmental and social impact of circular business models.

Turning Carbon into Value

Breakout

This session will explore the burgeoning market for carbon capture technologies that transform atmospheric CO2 into materials that can be used in the production of cement, plastics — and more. This dialogue isn't just about drawing down emissions, it's about creating entirely new revenue opportunities.

Value Chain Engagement for a Circular Plastic Supply Chain

Breakout

Circularity cannot be achieved in a silo; a systemic shift requires engagement across the entire value chain. Brands, manufacturers, municipalities and materials recovery facilities/processors each face different challenges in scaling circularity, so cross-functional communication will be key to understanding and motivating them. This session will bring together key stakeholders to discuss what it will take to achieve a truly circular plastic supply chain.

Will Blockchain Technologies Disrupt Energy Markets?

Breakout

Large companies, utilities and startups have invested significant funding and resources to investigate ways blockchain technologies could disrupt traditional energy distribution models and services. This session will explore real-world blockchain deployments across regulated and non-regulated markets focused on applications including transactive energy, supply traceability and other use cases.

12:15pm to 1:30pm

Lunch

12:15pm to 12:45pm

Solution Series - Convention Center Lighting Case Study - Project Decision Points

Solution Series Lounge in the Interconnect Expo (West Hall)

PG&E, Ecology Action, the Marriott and the City of Oakland present a lighting project case study. Learn about the energy efficiency, rebate and on-bill financing process and opportunities that brought together this project team.

12:30pm to 1:15pm

Guru Lunch: Using Climate Data to Improve Health Equity

Lunch

Climate change is making the places we live somehow simultaneously wetter and drier, as well as hotter, dirtier, and fire-ier(?). The health impacts of these changes are broad and potentially severe. Still, climate change presents the greatest opportunity to radically improve the health of people, communities, and the economy. Join us in this lunch discussion to imagine the potential for emerging business opportunities to improve human health and help us uncover synergies between building resilience and growing your business.

About VERGE Guru Lunches: Join like minded attendees for interactive moderated lunch discussions around a particular topic. Each table discussion will be led by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants.

Guru Lunch: Biomimicry in Practice

Lunch

The problem of getting people with different perspectives to talk to eachother is just as true in design as it is in politics. Designers stopped taking biology in college (or even high school). Engineers specialize early and may not take any further biology (or chemistry). And if nature can show us breakthrough structures, patterns, and concepts in energy, transportation, water systems, or textiles, who will be the few that know how to use this lens? Join Biomimicry Institute ED Beth Rattner in a conversation about how the Institute is helping entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs) find the right biological models and then make next-generation circular and regenerative products.

Guru Lunch: How Do We Make Saving Electrons Sexy?

Lunch

You already know that one of the best ways your organization can reduce its impact on the environment is to reduce your energy use — via energy efficiency and renewables. The good news is, consumers, customers, employees and others expect the companies they buy from or work for to do right by the planet — and they expect you to use clean energy as a major piece of that effort. The bad news is, packaging up a sexy, compelling story about energy consumption reduction is hard. So what's the best way to tell that story? This Guru Lunch will be facilitated by Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO of Shelton Group, the nation's leading marketing and communications focused exclusively in energy and the environment.

Guru Lunch: Now We’re Cooking With(out) Gas

Lunch

Evidence is increasingly pointing to dramatically reducing or eliminating fossil fuel combustion in order to meet carbon targets and improve health outcomes. While the utility-scale shift to decarbonizing electricity is well underway, natural gas use is still predominant for heating and cooking. There are many examples of all-electric buildings, but this shift counters years of consumer outreach to go away from electrical resistance heating (powered by a dirty grid). Ben Galuza is an expert on high performance building design with Integral Group. He recently designed a ZNE all-electric medical office building for $1M less than the conventional design budget. This roundtable will discuss decarbonization and all-electric buildings, particularly in the context of high performance building design.

Guru Lunch: Really!?!? Electric Trucks? - An Insider's, Unbiased View

Lunch

This table discussion will be led by Rick Mihelic, Director Future Technologies Studies for the North American Council for Freight Efficiency — who works to scale technologies for efficiency and is now guiding future change in electric and automated trucks. There are many arguments for and against electric trucks, some very loud and persuasive, but the success of these innovative trucks will occur under the scrutiny of the marketplace who is charged with delivering our goods every day. The benefits and challenges of adoption are broad and difficult to monetize. Rick will facilitate a pragmatic discussion on commercial battery electric trucks.

Guru Lunch: Innovative Mobility to Reduce Driving — Road to Redemption or Dead End?

Lunch

Advances in batteries, sharing, and informatics are leading to innovative mobility models that can take cars off the road: “Micro” solutions like bike/scooter-share and individually-owned electric cargo bikes for households and commercial fleets are coming to cities around the U.S. Larger-scale technologies like carpool ride-hailing appear to help cut down on single-occupancy vehicles, and shared car services are giving people real alternatives to owning vehicles s altogether. What is the scale of the opportunity to actually reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) with these technologies? Which entities are most important for making it happen? Where are current trends taking us—and where is there needed a push?

Guru Lunch: Stacking Benefits — Innovation in Solar and Agriculture

Lunch

Learn about the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s InSPIRE study into low-impact solar development and pollinator-friendly solar from two leaders involved in the work. Meet previous VERGE presenter Rob Davis of the Center for Pollinators in Energy at Fresh Energy and Organic Valley’s Stanley Minnick and discuss the NREL study’s results to date and opportunities for new partners.

Guru Lunch: PropTech 2020 — Exploring the Most Promising Commercial Building Technologies

Lunch

Join Billy Grayson, Executive Director, Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance at The Urban Land Institute (ULI) for a discussion of emerging technologies that leading real estate companies are piloting TODAY that will likely be rolled out across portfolios soon. We will discuss some of the most promising near-term technologies in smart buildings, on-site energy production and storage, and advanced building materials.

Guru Lunch: AI for Utilities — The Emergence of the Neural Grid

Lunch

This discussion will focus on how utilities must adapt to the concept of a "neural grid" — where real-time analytics, distributed generation and artificial intelligence (AI) combine to deliver the next generation power grid. Join Noah Goldstein, Director, Energy at Navigant, to talk about how the reality of the neural grid could diverge from the concept, what is accelerating its arrival, and what is going to slow down adoption of the neural grid.

Guru Lunch: Mastering Breakthrough Facilitation

Lunch

Are you an active facilitator committed to mastering your craft to drive greatest impact towards our needed clean energy future? Breakthrough stakeholder engagement cannot happen without breakthrough facilitation. This will be a collaborative discussion — with a seasoned expert in workshop facilitating and collaborative engagement — on best practices for facilitating the future we need today.

Guru Lunch: Beyond the Low-Hanging Fruit — Maximizing Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Lunch

Corporate energy and sustainability managers are faced with the continued challenge of meeting reduction and optimization targets, but often are limited by the availability of information to identify opportunities or create long-term strategic plans. While the digital revolution presents significant opportunities for access to more information, infrastructure and resources are not always in place to support this transformation. Ari Kobb, Director, Energy & Sustainability Solutions at Siemens Building Technologies, will address the different types of energy data that is typically available, and how leaders can leverage this information to make informed decisions.

Guru Lunch: Electric and Smart Mobility for Your Workplace

Lunch

Mobility is going through its biggest disruption since the personal automobile came into widespread use. From shared electric scooters to electric cars and trucks to innovative new commute management platforms, there are more options than ever before for moving your employees. Come join Jeff Allen, Executive Director at Forth — a nonprofit trade association and advocate for smart mobility — who will provide his unbiased advice about how your business might take advantage of these new technologies by providing workplace charging, electrifying your own vehicles, etc.

Guru Lunch: Urban Mobility Data Sharing — Best Practices & Lessons Learned

Lunch

A further exploration of the breakout session titled "How Mobility Services & Cities Can Share Data" from 11:15-12:15 focused on ways in which cities and mobility companies have found paths for collaborating by sharing data in the rise of various mobility services — from ride hailing to scooter and bike sharing to new apps. These are major opportunities for cities but also unforeseen urban effects like congestion and safety concerns. Mobility data expert Regina Clewlow will talk about what's been working, what hasn't and what might be next.

Guru Lunch: Industries in Transition — Cross-Learnings in the Energy and Mobility Sectors

Lunch

What lessons can the growth of renewable energy teach people working in or interested in the new mobility space? Where are there similarities, and where are there differences? Is it possible that despite a later start, mobility will transition to a sustainable future faster than the electricity sector does?

Guru Lunch: Reducing Food Waste Through Packaging

Lunch

In the U.S., we waste 63 million tons of food annually at a cost of $218 billion. Join ReFED to explore emerging packaging solutions designed to reduce food waste by prolonging product freshness and slowing spoilage of perishable foods. Collectively, these solutions have the potential to prevent 72,000 tons of food waste annually while creating $167 million in economic value, sparking significant interst from food manufacturers, retailers, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Guru Lunch: How to Build Clean Energy Policy Coalitions

Lunch

An exploratory discussion led by Sam Jammal, Senior Manager, Governor Relations at BYD North America — one of the world's largest EV makers — about how companies, advocates and individuals can work together to support clean energy before federal, state and local government — focusing on how to build coalitions and identify the different voices to share this message.

Guru Lunch: Healthy and Circular? Design and Materials Management

Lunch

Details to come!

Guru Lunch: Scaling Clean Tech Faster Through Buyer-Supplier-Investor Collaborations

Lunch

Innovation is central to sustainable business and it is urgently needed to address the most pressing challenges in energy, transport, and circular economy. But are we fully leveraging the power of collaboration between buyers, suppliers, and investors to ensure solutions address business needs as well as sustainability goals and that technologies are positioned to scale? Nate Springer from BSR leads two buyer-supplier transport clean tech collaborations, Future of Fuels and Clean Cargo Working Group, and he designed the Sustainable Fuel Buyers’ Principles for vehicle fleets as well as supported the team that launched the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance with BSR, WWF, RMI, and WRI.

Guru Lunch: Innovative Solutions to Accelerate Grid-Scale Renewables Integration

Lunch

As increased renewable energy is integrated into the grid, there is increasing importance in the use of energy storage, demand response, efficient market design and advanced control technologies. Join Tim Allen, Senior Director, Energy Storage & Business Development at Sempra Renewables, in an exploration of the solutions enabling more seamless and cost-effective renewables integration and the grid investments that are necessary to increase clean energy sources while maintaining reliable and affordable power.

Guru Lunch: Can Buildings Solve the 'Duck Curve?'

Lunch

In commercial-scale electricity generation, the 'duck curve' is a graph of power production over the course of a day that shows the timing imbalance between peak demand and renewable energy production. In many energy markets the peak demand occurs after sunset, when solar power is no longer available. As renewable electricity becomes more and more plentiful at midday, what strategies could to be considered next to solve the daily generation/consumption mismatch, and what are the next challenges coming after we solve the duck curve problem? Join David Kaneda, Principal and Thought Leader at Integral Group, in this substantive, solutions-oriented lunch discussion.

Guru Lunch: Creating More Sustainable Products with Bio-Based Feedstocks

Lunch

Join Anellotech’s Chief Science Officer Chuck Sorensen for a thought-provoking discussion about the challenges that renewable bio-based materials face to displace today’s petroleum-based plastics supply chain. To reduce product’s carbon footprints as much as possible, brand owners and technology innovators need to work together to develop creative approaches to change the paradigm and compete effectively against the massive scale of the petrochemical industry. Chuck brings an interesting perspective to the conversation, having spent a significant amount of time in his career developing process technologies for one of the world’s largest oil companies, then with one of the world’s most innovative materials companies developing material and product solutions. He now works for Anellotech, a sustainable technology company focused on commercializing innovative production of cost-competitive renewable chemicals and fuels from non-food biomass.

1:00pm to 1:30pm

Solution Series - NRG’s Renewable Select: A New Recipe for Clean Energy

Solution Series Lounge in the Interconnect Expo (West Hall)

As corporations announce sustainability goals or advance closer to key milestones, many are in search of simple yet effective avenues to contract clean energy. This interview will discuss the challenges associated with traditional methods of procuring renewable energy and new and innovative alternatives that remove the complexities of on-site and V/PPA transactions and shorten the procurement cycle. Simplicity can be achieved by procuring clean energy through a retail electricity contract, enabling corporations to reach their sustainability goals faster than a PPA while assuming less cost and risk.

1:30pm to 1:35pm

Day 2 Welcome

A quick recap of yesterday's highlights, and a welcome to our second day's plenaries.

1:35pm to 1:50pm

VERGE Talk: Getting Mobility Infrastructure Right

Will a future of autonomous vehicles make our lives better or worse? What steps do we need to take now to make sure the deployment of driverless cars puts us on the right path?

1:50pm to 2:10pm

Lessons from Smart Cities in Urban Transport and Mobility

A conversation with two entrepreneurs who have helped shape the future of transportation. Hear their thoughts on what needs to happen for cities to deliver on sustainable transportation that is shared, electric and autonomous.

2:10pm to 2:25pm

Bringing Hyperloop to the Heartland

Special announcement by the team hoping to build a Hyperloop transportation system to the place where the U.S. Interstate system was born. Findings from the Hyperloop feasibility study to develop a route between Kansas City to St. Louis (250 miles) — potentially cutting the round trip travel time from 8 hours to 40 minutes — will be presented.

2:25pm to 2:45pm

Creating the Workplace of the Future

How Google and WeWork are creating spaces that enable workers to thrive - varied approaches and solutions, lessons learned and their visions for the future of work.

2:45pm to 3:05pm

Harnessing the Wind to Help a Sovereign Culture Thrive

An unprecedented partnership uniting six tribes of the Sioux Nation is poised to leverage one of the country’s strongest wind resources across North and South Dakota, accelerating the shift to clean energy, breaking decades of generational poverty, and creating a long-term path to self-sufficiency for the Cheyenne River, Flandreau Santee, Oglala, Rosebud, Standing Rock and Yankton Sioux Tribes.

Through the formation of the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ Power Authority, and its clean energy development company 7G Renewable Energy, the tribes are also advancing deeply-held cultural and spiritual beliefs by acting with the future and well-being of Mother Earth, and the next seven generations, in mind.

In an era when energy procurement has become a leading sustainability indicator, these projects present a new kind of opportunity for power offtakers to do more than mitigate carbon. They can help 7G Renewable Energy harness the force known as Ta’teh, sustaining the long-standing customs and sovereignty of an entire culture, and enhancing the ability of the Sioux to once again determine their own destiny.

3:05pm to 3:15pm

VERGE Talk: Renewable Energy Breakthroughs and the Tipping Point

We are at an amazing tipping point with recent renewable energy breakthroughs. To achieve a carbon-free world, the challenge is staggering, but so is the size of the opportunity. Technology and innovation pioneer Bill Gross shares new developments that make this tipping point a reality.

3:15pm to 3:20pm

VERGE Vanguards: Honoring Transportation Pioneers

GreenBiz is excited to present our inaugural group of VERGE Vanguard honorees. From redefining the future of urban mobility to electrifying fleets, executive editor Joel Makower honors the pioneers transforming the transportation sector.

3:20pm to 3:30pm

VERGE Talk: Progress Despite Politics — Lessons from a Red State Utility Commissioner

The Chair of Ohio's Public Utilities Commission explains how to advance grid modernization, transportation electrification and other clean technologies in a "red state" under today's contentious political climate.

3:30pm to 3:45pm

Leadership, Patriotism and Community Service

The head coach of the world champion Golden State Warriors is more than just a basketball legend. He is also fierce advocate for freedom and self-expression on politics, community and social issues.

3:45pm to 4:15pm

Break

Solution Series - Can I Do a Microgrid Now?

Solution Series Lounge in the Interconnect Expo (West Hall)

Come to this interactive session to learn how microgrids can be quickly and cost-effectively commissioned with the Ageto Renewable Controller (ARC). No longer does it requires years of planning and government grant funding to successfully build and commission a microgrid. With ARC, it is possible to have your renewable microgrid operating to your satisfaction in a matter of weeks. As part of the presentation, Anthony Johnson of Ageto Energy will be demonstrating the capabilities and functionality of ARC, and we will have partners discussing their experience developing their own microgrids.

Zero Waste at VERGE 18: Behind the Scenes with Waste Management

Tutorial

4:15pm to 4:45pm

VERGE Accelerate: Transport Showcase

VERGE Accelerate on Day 2 of our event focuses on the most promising early-stage TRANSPORTATION and MOBILITY startup solutions.

For more details, refer to our VERGE Accelerate page.

4:45pm to 5:10pm

Creating a Clean Economy for All

Community leaders, advocates and experts explore how the clean economy — including the technologies, models and policy changes enabling it — impacts communities, including the economic opportunities these changes can enable for underrepresented market segments. Panelists will share lessons and successes tying together transportation electrification, clean energy, public health and economic justice.

5:10pm to 5:20pm

Special Performance: Oakland School of the Arts — Vocal Rush

Vocal Rush is a two-time national champion a cappella ensemble based out of Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) and comprised of singers ages 15-18. Combining passion, talent and dedication, along with the vision of director/founder Lisa Forkish, Vocal Rush has become one of the most respected high school a capella groups in the U.S. since their inception in March 2011. Vocal Rush has received numerous accolades, including national championship titles in 2012 and 2013, a first place win at the L.A. A Cappella Festival, and most recently, a spot on NBC's hit a cappella competition show, "The Sing Off." The ensemble has the soulful stage presence and urban swag that not only reflects all that is unique to OSA, but also sets them apart in the a cappella scene. Vocal Rush brings to life the heart and soul of Oakland School for the Arts, putting their all into every performance.

5:30pm to 7:00pm

Networking Reception

Join PXiSE Energy Solutions for microgrid wine at their Specialty Bar (located in the Interconnect Expo)!

7:00pm to 8:00pm

Dinner Clubs

Activity

Dinner Clubs are no-host dinners that provide opportunities for attendees to take a deeper dive into a VERGE topic of interest. Dinner Club sign-ups will be available at the registration desk beginning at 7:45am on Wednesday. Spots are first-come, first-served and space is very limited.

8:00pm to 12:00am

VERGE After Dark Party

Mad Oak, 135 12th St, Oakland, CA 94607

Join us for the After Dark Party -- a VERGE tradition -- for a fun-filled evening featuring good music, drinks and more opportunities to connect with fellow attendees. Space is limited so plan to come early.

Your conference badge is your ticket in!

Thursday, October 18th, 2018

7:45am to 8:30am

Breakfast & Registration

8:30am to 9:30am

Building the Workplace of the Future

Breakout

How do interior design choices, better-informed site selections and automation technologies lead to healthy, happier and more productive workers? Some constructive ideas for constructing a more sustainable work environment — for workers and employers alike.

Biomimicry in Cities: Fireside Chat with Janine Benyus

Breakout

How can we design cities to function in harmony with the ecosystems they inhabit? By using a systemic, design-thinking approach, this session will explore the potential for cities to seek inspiration not only from nature as a whole but also from the specific environment in which they function.

From Start to Finish to Start: Strategies for Extending Apparel Lifecycles

Breakout

As product lifespans shrink across industries, some companies are exploring innovative approaches to capitalizing on a product's embedded quality through reuse cycles. From partnerships and industry-wide collaboration, to reimagining the end of a product's life as the start of a new one, to leveraging connectivity and technology to bridge the essential communication gap between stakeholders— this panel will provide a prototype for powering circularity at scale, with triple-bottom line impact.

How to Balance Self-Driving Safety & Innovation

Breakout

Accidents and fatalities that involve self-driving vehicles have shaken the automotive industry and the regulators tasked with keeping drivers and pedestrians safe. Everyone agrees safety measures need to be in place, but where's the line between protecting the public and ensuring that this emerging market can innovate and grow?

Transportation Moonshots: It's Not Science Fiction

Breakout

From flying cars to electrified roads to the much-discussed hyperloop, startups and researchers are working on transportation moonshots that seem pretty crazy but might actually become reality some day. Meet entrepreneurs and inventors working on brain-teasing innovations and learn what it will take to get these ideas onto the streets (or into the skies!).

Understanding International Energy Markets

Breakout

Clean power investments and projects are surging in China, largely due to aggressive policymaking and ongoing price decreases. This session will look globally to Asia, Europe and beyond to help corporate buyers understand the complexities of global renewables markets.

The Business Value of Pairing Onsite Renewables with Energy Storage

Breakout

This session will provide insights into how companies can make the business case for integrating onsite renewables with energy storage. This discussion will cover the latest technical and policy considerations, best practices in pairing energy storage with renewables and offer perspectives from major retailers, car manufacturers and other industry leaders.

Who's Winning in Ride-Sharing & Who Isn't?

Breakout

The opportunities of the ride-sharing revolution could be leaving some behind. Are low-income riders being neglected? Are ride sharing companies marginalizing their workforces? How can cities, companies and users address these concerns? A conversation on economics, equity and labor.

Cultivating and Scaling a Market for Regenerative Agriculture

Breakout

Regenerative agriculture — a system of farming principles that rebuilds natural ecosystems, draws down carbon dioxide emissions and provides long-term economic stability for farmers and ranchers — has the potential to sequester 23.2 gigatons of CO2 by 2050 and to harvest an estimated $1.9 trillion in operational savings. It's a question of disrupting the conventional practices that dominate the food and fiber industries. In this session, we'll hear about the investments regenerative ag pioneers are making to cultivate this promising approach.

Pathways to Accelerating Decarbonization

Breakout

Which are more effective: ambitious strategies that prioritize a carbon-free future vs. those that create low-carbon transition paths? Some policymakers promote a 100 percent renewable vision while others believe there needs to be a better bridge to the future, one that embraces low-carbon options such as nuclear power, natural gas and hydrogen. Perspectives from utilities, cities and the corporate world.

9:30am to 10:00am

Break

Zero Waste at VERGE 18: Behind the Scenes with Waste Management

Tutorial

10:00am to 10:05am

Day 3 Plenaries: Welcome

GreenBiz welcomes everyone to the last day's plenaries — with some special announcements.

10:05am to 10:25am

Global Resilience Strategies in a Climate-Constrained World

As extreme weather events increase at an alarming rate globally, communities are being forced to rebuild, future-proof or even potentially migrate in the aftermath. What are the opportunities to invest, design, plan for and implement resiliency across our communities and our businesses to ensure an economically viable future for all? And how are those working within the energy and transportation sectors as well as organizations pursuing circular economy solutions contributing toward increased resiliency?

The panel will offer key considerations for infrastructure adaptations, critical dependencies and interdependencies, and strategic investment planning that maximize the efficiency and sustainability opportunities while also ensuring newly introduced vulnerabilities are mitigated. The discussion will also include lessons learned from various environments around the world, debate the balance of innovation and infrastructure security and resilience, and highlight tangible examples where creating more circular supply chains has been a key driver for global corporate resilience.

10:25am to 10:35am

VERGE Talk: The Multimodal Future is Here Today

How will driverless (autonomous) vehicles fit into a multimodal transportation system — including walking, cycling, automobile, public transit, and more? May Mobility's work operating self-driving, electric micro shuttles in Detroit, Michigan is the perfect case study for this — and demonstrates how the future of transportation will be shaped by the types of partnerships being formed today.

10:35am to 10:55am

Moving from Ambition to Action: A Unique Collaboration

Renewable energy is a key strategy to help large companies address corporate sustainability commitments. Hear how Sysco is advancing its economic, social and environmental priorities, including through a unique partnership with NRG. This partnership resulted in an expedited agreement process to deliver a set of 25 megawatts of solar projects in multiple Texas communities. Beyond renewable energy, the conversation will also cover sustainability initiatives across supply chain, clean transportation and other projects.

10:55am to 11:05am

VERGE Talk: How Next-Gen Leaders and Technologies Create a Sea Change

How can we cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset in the next generation of leaders? What are the technologies that can help address the challenges facing our oceans? Answering these critical questions can influence a new wave of entrepreneurs and redefine the relationship between emerging technologies and social good.

11:05am to 11:15am

VERGE Talk: Transformational Design for Affordable Housing

An exploration into the often hidden power of design within urban spaces — including examples from past, present and future projects. Discover instances in which the design process has taken a novel approach to already existing ideas (or typologies), and the result has had a larger impact on the triple bottom line (social, ecological, financial) than originally expected. When considering elements beyond purely aesthetic or utilitarian goals — and in some cases, open-sourcing the process — can end in expansive positive results.

11:15am to 11:20am

VERGE Vanguards: Honoring Circular Economy Pioneers

GreenBiz is excited to present our inaugural group of VERGE Vanguard honorees. Executive editor Joel Makower honors the leaders catalyzing circular economy solutions globally.

11:20am to 11:50am

VERGE Accelerate: Circular Showcase

VERGE Accelerate on Day 3 of our event focuses on the most promising early-stage CIRCULAR ECONOMY startup solutions.

For more details, refer to our VERGE Accelerate page.

11:50am to 12:15pm

Closing Plenary: Uncovering Nature's Secrets to Reinvent Cities

The idea of buildings as a regenerative force sounds like an environmentalist’s pipe dream, but the concept is starting to be realized in offices, factories and other facilities. It requires vision and new design thinking, but also an understanding of how “the genius of biome” can make the built environment a positive contributor to cities around the world.

12:15pm to 1:30pm

Lunch

12:15pm to 4:30pm

Circular Plastics Summit

Summit

The Circular Plastics Summit is a half-day, invitation-only working session convening 100 key stakeholders to focus on how to redesign the plastics value chain to eliminate waste.

Refer to our Circular Plastics Summit page for more information and to request an invitation.

1:30pm to 2:30pm

Safe & Circular: Rethinking Design and Product Development

Breakout

Circular design doesn’t happen in hindsight: designers must integrate ideas around the circular economy from the inception of the product design process through to the end of a product’s useful life, ensuring true circularity for the materials, components and systems involved. Materials lie at the heart of this process: safe, circular materials choices form the foundation of successful circular design, but not all materials are safe enough or suitable for a circular economy.

Join this interactive session with Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and Ellen MacArthur Foundation to explore ways to reframe the material health challenge as an opportunity for successful circular design, ensuring your work promotes a safe, circular economy.

Forging Links Across the Circular Supply Chain

Breakout

While the circular economy creates and captures new value for businesses, it also brings new challenges and complexities across material supply chains. This session will bring together practitioners from across sectors to explore the idea of a "circular supply chain" and identify how companies can help establish transparency and embed sustainability across all links.

Ports & Airports: Clean Ways to Move Goods, People

Breakout

Some of the most innovative energy efficiency, logistics management and clean energy work is being done at the hubs that move goods and people. In this session you'll learn about the best practices of ports and airports and how they're lowering emissions, setting sustainability goals and embracing the latest computing, storage and renewable energy technologies.

Building the Microgrid of the Future with Next-Gen Technologies

Breakout

Recent technology advancements have paved the path for clean, resilient microgrids across a range of applications. This session will explore distributed energy resources deployments including fuel cell, energy storage and renewable technologies that are being integrated to create microgrids for entire corporate campuses or portions of cities. Our panelists will discuss the economic, reliability and sustainability benefits of embracing these technologies as well as the challenges in the accelerating growth of microgrids. This session will tie into the half-day, invitation-only Microgrid Summit being hosted at the VERGE conference.

Financing the Clean Economy for All

Breakout

Our experts will discuss ways to promote various financing tools across clean energy and transportation initiatives. Specifically, we'll review challenges and opportunities in providing funding to urban, rural and international communities and discuss ways to engage communities directly via market-based, utility-led and government-based options.

The (Building) Revolution Will Be Decarbonized

Breakout

Amidst unprecedented innovations in distributed energy resources, electric vehicles, and battery storage, the buildings industry has become stagnant, and stuck in the realm of one-off net-zero energy buildings, when we should be designing net-zero, resilient communities, and utility resources. If we are to achieve environmentally resilient, socially equitable cities and communities, the building industry needs to be more proactive, disruptive, and truly integrated into the energy revolution in terms of managing loads and load shapes, shifting to electricity, connecting load to regional renewables, and working with utilities to develop rate structures that spur investment. In doing so, buildings become the conduit to capture vehicle energy, facilitate shared resources (EVs and AVs), and prioritize the integration of storage.

This session will be an interactive discussion of the partnerships and collaboration needed between the developers, architects, utilities, DER innovators, technology companies, and community leaders and an exploration of the opportunities and challenges to integrating all of these stakeholders during design and construction, highlighting the tools and information flow that is needed by each party. Participants will gain insight into the challenges and obstacles within the building industry and how to better leverage current innovations and new partnerships so that buildings can truly support a decarbonized society.

The Second Life of EV Batteries: Reuse & Recycling

Breakout

The first wave of electric vehicle batteries are just beginning to reach the end of their useful life on the roads, and are now being tested out to store energy for buildings and the power grid. Automakers, utilities, energy storage service providers and battery manufacturers are trying to figure out how to develop a supply chain and system that enables affordable reuse and recycling of electric vehicle batteries at scale. What are the challenges and opportunities for this circular economy of energy storage?

With or Without U(tilities)

Breakout

More utilities are investing substantially in renewable energy, in large part because their commercial and residential customers want them to do so. This session will examine how large energy users are changing how they use energy and how they engage utilities — from programs that allow them to directly purchase renewables to partnership models such as green tariffs, community solar initiatives and more. Building on the outstanding stories featured in the new book, Sustainable Electricity II: A Conversation on Tradeoffs (Fox & Scott. October 2018. Springer Press), the speakers will discuss the realities of collaborating between electric utilities and large customers to adapt energy programs.

Getting your Company to Zero Waste

Breakout

What will it take to achieve "zero waste" for your company, and what does it mean to get there? This session will explore differing approaches, pathways and tactics to curbing waste production. Hear from experts at Wegmans, HP Inc. and Rubicon Global on how they have defined, navigated and achieved their zero waste goals.

2:30pm to 3:00pm

Break

3:00pm to 4:00pm

What's the Future of Renewable Thermal?

Breakout

The market for renewable thermal projects including biomass, landfill gas and solar thermal systems is less mature than the ecosystem that has emerged to advance corporate use of renewable electricity. How can companies scale their use of renewable thermal solutions? And what's the role of natural gas, liquid natural gas and other thermal options in pursuing a clean energy future?

Designing a Circular Food System

Breakout

How might we eliminate packaging from food delivery? How might we make the global impacts of food products clear and meaningful to people? How might we get excess fresh and healthy food to people who need it?

These are just a few of the challenges being addressed through the IDEO circular economy CoLab. Designed as a collaboration platform for solving complex global issues, CoLab invites major stakeholders across a given value system to come together and co-design new pathways forward. Through a series of intensive design and prototyping sprints; the circular economy CoLab takes a human lens on business opportunities aimed to have positive systemic impact. Please join IDEO, McDonald’s Corporation and Danone North America as they discuss what was tried, learned, designed… and where things are headed.

The Great Electric Vehicle Network Build Out

Breakout

Companies and utilities are spending big money on building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure for the coming rise in EVs. What are the challenges and opportunities facing this major EV infrastructure buildout happening in states across the U.S.

How Sharing Rides & Vehicles Can Cut Emissions

Breakout

Different types of shared mobility services have unique challenges when it comes to making networks cleaner and more efficient. Some are green but struggle to scale, others need to embrace electrification and lower emissions. How can companies, policymakers and users unlock the greenhouse gas reduction potential of these services?

Operation Take-Back: Models, Markets & Reverse Logistics

Breakout

What does it take to successfully reclaim a product and ensure the transition to its next life rather than an end of life? As companies begin to rethink waste, product take-back programs are an increasingly strategic approach for capturing previously untapped value. This session will explore these new business models, identify the market incentives and regulations that could help inspire higher rates of product returns and discuss the challenges of implementation from the economics of reverse logistics to engaging customers as partners in enabling circularity.

Community-Based Clean Energy: An Oakland Case Study

Breakout

This case study will evaluate the Oakland Clean Energy Initiative which will use local clean energy solutions to replace a 40-year old fossil fuel generating station in Oakland with up to 45MW of energy storage, energy efficiency and electric-system upgrades. The project will ensure transmission grid reliability in Oakland when the current power plant is retired. This session will provide perspectives from PG&E, East Bay Community Energy, environmental justice leaders and nearby customers about the objectives, challenges and timing of the project.

4:00pm to 5:30pm