Low Fixed-Cost Green Energy for All: from Sweden to the US

As part of Climate Week NYC, join us for this two-panel session which will launch the publication of a new report, EnergyNet Explained: A How-To Guide for the 21st Century Energy System with co-authors from Sweden and the United States, followed by a second panel discussing related work in NYC and possible applications of this model. Free and open to all, this event will take place in the Skylight Room (9100) at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, NYC. Register to attend.

In the first panel, co-authors will describe in detail “The Internetification of Energy Distribution through EnergyNet as the ‘Third Wave’ of Digitalization of Critical Infrastructure” and talk about the launch. The SWS (Solar-Wind-Storage) EnergyNet System's "New Grid Architecture" will modernize and transform energy distribution through digitalization, internetification, and power electronics, creating a much cheaper, greener, and more resilient electric grid that will enable increasingly rapid expansion of locally generated solar and wind power. It was just implemented in two buildings in Lund, Sweden.

Panelists will describe recent developments and future large-scale implementation of the EnergyNet in Sweden and throughout the European Union, and discuss efforts to bring the EnergyNet to the US (California, Maryland, New York, and other states), particularly on college and university campuses, and in states, cities and communities with publicly owned utilities (e.g. NYPA, LIPA). This model also fits well with university-community partnerships, Sustainable Innovation Zones in South America and Europe, and NYC based efforts to implement microgrids, conduct building decarbonization and implement Local Law 97.

Also, panelists will explain the key benefits of the EnergyNet in utilizing solar panels and battery storage integrated with locally controlled microgrid distribution and open source/open standard software to promote energy cost savings, reduce GHG emissions, and enhance energy resilience, safety and security, grid capacity, EV mobility, and green innovation. Equally as crucial will be perspectives and discussion about how to address sustainability and quality of life, affordability and prosperity, autonomy and independence, inclusive workforce and economic development, and empowered democratic participation in real world settings.

SESSION ONE

Jonas Birgersson, Founder and Chairman, ViaEuropa; Chairman, EnergyNet Task Force (Lund, Sweden)

Dr. Jimmy Chen, Managing Director, StorageX Initiative, Precourt Institute for Energy, Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

Dr. Michael Menser, Associate Professor, Brooklyn College and City University of New York Graduate Center; Co-Director, NYC Climate Justice Hub and Public Power Observatory (NY)

Dr. Daniel Kammen, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of the Just Energy Transition, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC) [remote]

Dr. Newsha K. Ajami, Chief Strategy and Development Officer for Research, Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, CA)

Dr. Franklin Carrero-Martinez, Senior Director, Global Sustainability and Development, National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC)

Moderator: Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban Development (GUD); Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)

SESSION TWO

Dr. Ahmed Mohammed, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE), City College of the City University of New York (CUNY). He is the director of the CUNY Smart Grid Interdependencies Laboratory.

Jonas Birgersson, Founder and Chairman, ViaEuropa; Chairman, EnergyNet Task Force (Lund, Sweden)

Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban Development (GUD); Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)

Rebecca Lurie, Urban Studies Department, founder of the Community and Worker Ownership Project at the City University of NY School for Labor and Urban Studies; founding member of the worker-owned cooperative, New Deal Home Improvement Company and City Roots Contractors Guild.

Dr. Daniel Kammen, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of the Just Energy Transition, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC)

Moderator: Dr. Michael Menser, Associate Professor, Brooklyn College and City University of New York Graduate Center; Co-Director, NYC Climate Justice Hub and Public Power Observatory, New York, NY

These panel sessions are co-hosted by the Earth and Environmental Sciences Program and the Center for Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center. Visit our website here for more information about this event.