Solar Decathlon

On Friday April 23, 100 or so young entrepreneurs gathered at Microsoft’s Mountain View, California campus to learn from one another and from some wrinkled Gen X and Boomer guests, myself included.  The occasion was SDForum’s “Tech Titans of Tomorrow,” the organization’s fourth annual gathering for teenagers interested in technology and business development.  I was invited to speak about corporate responsibility and sustainability and what those concepts mean to businesspeople.

With all the current discussion on topics like renewable energy, policies to incentivize solar investment, product cost and pricing, and different technologies and which one will emerge as the consumer choice, is anyone asking how the 2 billion people who currently do not have access to electricity obtain that access?

To recognize the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the leaders of Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society asked that very question to experts in the field at a conference sponsored by Applied Materials last month. Billed as “Power to the People, Renewable Energy for Underserved Communities,” a number of subject matter experts explored the topic with business and community leaders, community benefit organization leaders, and Santa Clara students.

I can’t resist one last update on the Solar Decathlon. Last week Team California took third place in the Solar Decathlon, a huge win, considering their size vs. some of the other schools. The Santa Clara University students should be proud of their results, especially in architecture, where they had set a specific goal to improve.

Appropriately, it was a warm, sunny afternoon in Washington, D.C. as the 2009 Solar Decathlon officially kicked off yesterday with a full color guard ceremony complete with several hundred solar devotees and the Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu.

As part of our kick-off activities for this year’s Solar Decathlon, Applied Materials hosted a panel discussion on scaling renewable energy at the National Press Club in Washington D.C yesterday. The panel included reps from Pacific Gas and Electric Company(PG&E), Bechtel, Green Strategies, the Bipartisan Policy Center as well as Applied Materials Chairman and CEO Mike Splinter.

The discussion focused on what concrete steps this country needs to take in order to realize the promise of renewable energy. The number one take-away from the conversation: Policy Certainty.