In this issue of Energy Today, the American Energy Society is pleased to present summaries, highlights, and proceedings for "Sustainable Energy Infrastructure and the Gigaton Challenge." The virtual conference from July 13 through July 17, 2020, was co-hosted with the Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

The event featured a range of speakers including two former secretaries of energy, C-suite executives, venture investors, global activists and a Nobel Prize winner. Conference attendees and guest speakers considered strategies to address challenges related to energy and the environment: coordination and collaboration, large-scale solutions, inclusive networks, and changes to infrastructure.  A group of selected SISE Fellows used GoogleMaps and LinkedIn to build interconnected "communities of purpose" for the Midwest that were modeled on the Silicon Valley Ecosystem Map recently launched by the American Energy Society.

The Fellows created session summaries and video highlights of each panel for this issue and we're sharing them with you in this issue of Energy Today.

Editor's Note: The American Energy Society would like to thank Energy Foundry for their support of this special issue and to recognize their inspired mission: investing venture capital in today’s most promising energy innovators.

Table of Contents

The Convenors

Co-Chair:  Dr. George Crabtree
Director: Joint Center for Energy Storage Research Argonne National Laboratory
​University of Illinois, Chicago

Co-Chair:  Dr. Eric J. Vettel
​President, American Energy Society

Honorary Chair:  Rao Konidena
President, Rakon Energy

Keynote Address: Secretary Steven Chu
​
​Professor of Physics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology,​ Stanford University
Former US Secretary of Energy (2009-2012)
Nobel Prize, Physics (1997)

Monday, July 13
​
Introducing the Gigaton Problem

Daniel Poneman
​
President and CEO, Centrus Energy Corp.
Former US Deputy Secretary of Energy (2009 - 2014)
Acting Secretary of Energy (2013)

Melanie Kenderdine 

Principal, Energy Futures Initiative

Tuesday, July 14
​
The New Energy Economy

Christopher Gould

Head of Corporate Strategy, Chief Innovation & Sustainability Officer, Exelon​

 
​Decarbonizing the New Energy Economy
​
​Elena Crete: Manager, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN)
Ryan Jones: Co-Founder, Evolved Energy Research
Jamil Farbes: Principal, Evolved Energy Research 

Wednesday, July 15

Keynote Address: Dr. Michael K. Dorsey

Limited Partner, IberSun Solar and IberSun Africa
Co-Founder & Treasurer, Sunrise Movement

Data As a Tool for Change

​Marcella Bondie Keenan: ​Program Director, Center for Neighborhood Technology
Jocelyn Leitzinger: Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
Eric Nost: Assistant Professor, Geography, University of Guelph
Anna Wolf: Project Manager, Water and Transportation, Center for Neighborhood Technology

Change Through Organizing and Activism 
​
Annamaria Leon: Co-Founder, Permaculture Chicago Teaching Institute
Christopher Walsh: Hub Coordinator, Sunrise Movement Chicago
Ashley Young: Lead Youth Organizer (Florida), Alliance for Climate Education

Thursday, July 16

Wanted: Social Impact Start-ups

Jason Blumberg
CEO and Managing Director, Energy Foundry

Francis Wang
CEO, NanoGraf Corporation

​Wanted: Social Impact Entrepreneurs

Erik Birkerts: CEO, Clean Energy Trust
Amy Francetic: Managing Director, Buoyant Ventures
James Schulte: Director, Exelorate Growth, Exelon

Friday, July 17

A Network for the Heartland and Beyond

SPECIAL KEYNOTE - Rachel McCormick: Consul General of Canada In Dallas, United States

​Aaron Annable: Counsellor, Embassy of Canada (Washington, DC)
Hamid Arastoopour: Director, Wanger Institute for Sustainability and Energy Research IIT
​John Brogly: Water Director, Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance
​Deborah Philbrick: Program Officer, Climate Solutions

Conference resources and reading list 

• ​Energy Ecosystem Mapping Project: Chicago
• Energy Today, Sustainable Infrastructure Part I ​
• Energy Today, ​Sustainable Infrastructure Part 2