Adam Bumpus, Senior Research Fellow at the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne, talks his excitement about how accelerators can spur innovation and startups’ technologies, opening new sustainable business models. He also discusses how blockchain can aid the energy revolution.
Andrew Robbins, Executive Director and CEO, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, electric rail, electrification, public, transportation.
Christine Riccardi, Regional Director of the Office of Infrastructure Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, infrastructure resiliency, disruption prevention, self-sufficiency of communities, public-private-partnerships
Many experts think that the fastest path to decarbonization is to electrify everything — buildings, transportation and communities. But there is danger in myopic thinking, and systemic challenges lie ahead. California and Hawaii energy leaders share their stories on how each state is tackling these barriers and creating new models to unleash profitable opportunities.
Many experts think that the fastest path to decarbonization is to electrify everything — buildings, transportation and communities. But there is danger in myopic thinking, and systemic challenges lie ahead. California and Hawaii energy leaders share their stories on how each state is tackling these barriers and creating new models to unleash profitable opportunities.
Kicking off the second day with a message from special guest, Senator Brian Schatz.
How can Hawaii set a gold standard that better aligns with its values as well as those around the world? A panel of policymakers and influencers from Hawaii and beyond — including one who has implemented carbon standards in California — will explore the design possibilities, implementation strategies, potential impacts and lessons learned from operating under this expanded paradigm.
Internationally acclaimed poet and storyteller Kealoha is back to perform another special piece for the VERGE Hawaii audience.
Over the course of just a few hours, Hurricane Maria exposed how fragile Puerto Rico is. Years of underinvestment in infrastructure and the recent financial crisis let the island languish, making the devastation far worse than it would have been otherwise. The storm caused the island’s entire electric grid to fail, its network of roads and highways to be disrupted, and access to clean drinking water lost. With no shortage of ideas on how to rebuild using better, stronger and cleaner technologies, who decides what gets built? How will it all be financed?
One of the top data visualization experts in the country demonstrates what happens when you take Hawaii’s expansive energy data sets and present them simply and elegantly to help the state’s commissioners and policymakers make more informed decisions about models to achieve its clean energy goals.