*Participants must be registered for an All-Access, Tutorial-Only or One-Day Tuesday pass.

This interactive workshop will show businesses, utilities, and building owners that they no longer have to guess which energy-efficient products, services, and offers will work best. Better data and new tools for understanding both consumer behavior and energy use take out much of that guesswork. They also improve the customer experience. Case studies of successful partnerships will provide constructive lessons on leveraging real-time customer data to improve business offerings and enhance customer relationships. 

Developed in partnership with Jennifer Amann, buildings program director, ACEEE.

*Participants must be registered for an All-Access, Tutorial-Only or One-Day Tuesday pass.

Regeneration is a fundamentally different paradigm, but is not practical to most people yet. Experience three perspectives of a Regenerative paradigm and how the paradigm we use, effects how we lead businesses and industries—includes results for business and effects in the world. 

We look at the history of thinking paradigms we use, unconsciously for the most part, making us blind to many of our “choices” over the centuries. Next is engagement in a practical application to business in general and in the world of design and construction in particular.  This four hour practicum will result in a more explicit understanding of what is a thinking paradigm and how it drives our thinking; generally these drivers are outside our awareness. We will explore how alternative worldviews can lead to profoundly different choices and outcomes; in both our ability to effect the world around us and our business outcomes.

We introduce a mix of ideas coupled with frameworks that will allow attendees to test these ideas on their own business. Three interest area groups will break out in the middle of the session (general paradigms; effects of paradigms on businesses of all types; and specifically, businesses addressing the built environment). We will end with an process designed for all attendees to carry the work home and engage others in their organization.

*Participants must be registered for an All-Access, Tutorial-Only or One-Day Tuesday pass.

Executives are increasingly in search of solutions for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the sky to reduce risks and increase resiliency of their supply chains. However, many barriers remain for corporates to turn carbon “drawdown” ideas into profitable actions. This workshop will help companies hone their vision for turning CO2 from a pollutant into a resource, and begin to design effective supply chain strategies where CO2 is treated as an asset, not a waste.

Tentative agenda for this half-day workshop:

• Overview: why is harnessing CO2 as a resource important for strong, resilient supply chains in a changing climate? What is the state of leading solutions (across agriculture, forestry, and industrial processes) for turning CO2 from a waste into an asset? How can companies start to strengthen their supply chains with CO2 harnessing solutions today?

• Panel 1 -- Food, fiber, and healthy soils: imperative of carbon-rich soils for strong and resilient agriculture and forestry supply chains

• Panel 2 -- Mining the sky: reducing stranded asset exposure via atmospheric CO2 capture and utilization.

• Concluding exercise: what support do companies need to begin incorporating CO2 harnessing products in their supply chain today (information, policy, markets, etc.)?

"Community solar is becoming big business," trumpeted GreenBiz in a 2016 article. But what role can the business community actually play? Policymakers, regulators and utilities are evolving their strategies to accommodate commercial customers and their desire to access new forms of shared solar. This breakout will explore how utility-led community solar efforts at Xcel Energy dovetail with the corporate renewable energy strategy at retailer Target, as well as the role that the National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL) has played in structuring policy and technologies needed to scale these efforts.

An investigation and solutions-focused discussion on how technology and ecological processes can interface, including resilience strategies from around the world. This diverse panel will share stories of how restoring ecology in our communities — through technological and natural means — can help accelerate the mitigation of our climate challenges.

This interactive session is for innovators, design thinkers, entrepreneurs, and intrapreneurs to learn about circular design methods, tools and mindsets. The IDEO team will help you practice putting these tools to use in designing products, services, and resilient organizations for the circular economy. In this workshop, you will learn:

• Ideation and design tools for workshops and team sessions
• Methods for organizational buy-in
• Approaches for building creative confidence

The list of companies committing to source 100 percent renewable energy as a means of reducing carbon emissions is growing rapidly, and in 2015, corporate buyers overtook electric utilities in procuring clean power. On the surface, this is an inspiring story, powerful and simple. But the process is anything but simple. The options are many, can be complex and can have varying levels of reported and real carbon reduction. This two-part workshop unpacks what it really means to  “procure” renewable energy as a strategy to help achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the grid's greenhouse gas emissions.

Part 2 of this workshop takes you to the next level of renewable energy procurement with three focused, interactive, round-robin sessions facilitated by experts in corporate clean energy procurement. The primary discussion topics include:

• Shades of green - Understanding the extent of real greenhouse gas emissions reductions made possible by this strategy

• Procurement mechanisms - Which procurement options best suit your company's goal and operational model(s) (owned/leased/outsourced facilities; large/centralized or small/distributed loads)

• International procurement - What choices are available for procurement in Europe and in regions where instruments don’t yet exist?

To the fashion and textiles industry, developing a circular system means more than just better recycling. It means creating clean and healthy material inputs designed for post-consumer recovery. It means designing durable clothes and changing consumer behavior to prolong wear and enhance care. And it means developing collection systems in parallel with innovative chemical and mechanical recycling processes that deliver raw materials back to manufacturers for their next phase of use. The fashion industry is already putting circular economy principles to work through material, systems and technology interventions. Hear from leaders in product design and materials recovery about the lessons they've learned and how this knowledge can be applied to other industries.

The blockchain, the software used for managing and verifying transactions in digital currencies such as bitcoin, has the potential to disrupt global industries. In the energy market alone there are already at least 100 application experiments under way. This panel discussion will bring together perspectives on where this much-hyped technology can play a significant role in shaping the peer-to-peer and transactive energy markets, Internet of Things (IoT) and beyond. In addition, experts will provide insights from a legal/regulatory background and from the venture capital perspective. 

Over the next decade, as much as 80 percent of the energy load from the California investor-owned utilities could depart in favor of Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs). Nationally, utilities in the regulated and deregulated markets are looking to improve customer options by creating new offerings. Meanwhile, corporate energy buyers are increasing their large-scale renewable procurement efforts and utilities continue to address their renewable portfolio standard goals. How can policymakers, utilities and customers work together to ensure both grid reliability and clean, affordable energy options?

Throughout the manufacturing space, multinationals as well as scrappier startups are struggling to evolve from mere data collection to smart, self-diagnosing infrastructure operations. Even the biggest industrials are left asking questions: How do we make sense of all the data we're gathering and leverage it to update our business model? This session will address critical quality & operational challenges — from energy management to water conservation — that various companies are using in real-time manufacturing data analysis in an IoT-enabled environment. 

The circular economy presents a tremendous opportunity for business, but what is the cost of the transition? Where has capital been deployed? Where is capital going? Where are the gaps, and what could we achieve if we can fill those gaps? Hear from the Closed Loop Fund and finance professionals about the investable opportunities in recycling and circular supply chains and what corporates can do to catalyze more capital.

As states adopt and consider 100% Renewable Portfolio Standards, we must consider the feasibility of electrifying everything — including the electric grid, buildings, mass transportation, passenger vehicles and home equipment like heat pumps.This session will explore the need, challenges and opportunities for mass electrification from the perspective of a California state policymaker, car manufacturer, entrepreneur and local government environmental leader.

Smart building technologies can enhance the work environment by responding to the time of day, available daylight and occupancy — even down to a personal workspace. That fosters more comfortable, inspiring, healthful, productive environments. This session will reveal lessons from leading organizations deploying at scale today — engaging a corporate occupant, developer, architect and city perspectives.

If we all agree that smart and resilient cities, renewable energy, and other climate solutions are goals worth pursuing, why aren't cities deploying the technology solutions companies have on the shelf now? Cities from across the country discuss the ways they are each respectively addressing market challenges and how they are taking action. Come learn from cutting edge cities on how they rallied the internal troops and external partners to develop a strategic vision for incorporating new technology tools and big data in to their day to day work.  Specific strategics for success as well as pitfalls to avoid will be discussed.

An interactive educational workshop by the co-author of the Living Building Challenge, teaching building owners and operators the specific practical steps that are needed to affordably build "deep green" projects at an integrated systems level.

How can smarter, tech-enabled infrastructure (energy, water, transportation, etc) promote equity across typically disenfranchised communities? What are the opportunities in a digital infrastructure transition, and how can corporates and community leaders enable more equitable pathways?

Energy management systems and demand response programs have long offered the ability to optimize the performance of buildings while smoothing system peaks. Advanced energy storage technologies and software analytics platforms now promise to turn a fleet of buildings into a set of dynamic batteries. This session will explore the implications for commercial enterprises and real estate developers, as well as the challenges associated with investing in large-scale energy storage installations.

Making a substantial corporate commitment to sourcing renewable energy is the easy part — the process of procuring solar, wind, biofuels and other clean power resources is complicated by myriad political, economic and financial factors, both internal and external. This panel will present and consider brand-new findings from joint research about renewable energy procurement fielded by Apex Clean Energy/GreenBiz. Among the data considered: Which types of clean power are most widely used? What role are on-site installations playing? Who is the most important figure influencing purchasing decisions? What are the biggest barriers delaying contracts? Which methods of renewable energy financing are most widely used? How might changes to federal tax incentives affect renewable energy procurement strategies? And, finally, how important are C-suite pledges to buy renewable energy when it comes to sealing deals?

Daily headlines abound with gushing predictions and cautionary tales about the potential of artificial intelligence to automate — and disrupt — a broad range of industries from health care to manufacturing. While applications related to corporate sustainability strategy are far more nascent, their potential impact could be profound. From automating energy efficiency processes to re-engineering product design to keeping far closer tabs on supply chain processes, systems infused with machine learning abilities and other AI characteristics could become one of your sustainability team's most important technological allies. Who stands to gain the most? And what are the potential downsides, especially when it comes to preparing today's workforce to collaborate with these cyber co-workers? This panel will debate potential applications, and how to prepare for the AI age.

There is still plenty of action in rooftop solar — according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association, the top 10 corporate solar users have installed panels at nearly 2,000 individual installations nationwide. This breakout will focus on why many companies are still prioritizing on-site energy projects, and why solar isn't the only game in town.