Agenda

9:00am – 10:00am

Session I | Net Zero Colorado

Colorado could become 100 percent powered by renewable energy by 2040, a desire of Governor Jared Polis. We’ll hear from the governor about his plans, including the costs, strategies for attainment and reasons behind the effort.

This session will also provide a snapshot of what local communities and counties are doing with their sustainability initiatives, including energy efficiency and zero waste.

SPECIAL GUEST

Governor Jared Polis

State of Colorado

PRESENTERS

Jonathan Koehn
Environmental Affairs Manager
City of Boulder

Wade Troxell
Mayor
City of Fort Collins

Lori Hodges
Director, Office of Emergency Management
Larimer County

Deb Gardner
Commissioner
Boulder County

Darla Arians
Sustainability Board Member
City of Broomfield

10:15am – 11:15am

Session II | The Circular Economy

Municipalities and counties throughout the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado have embraced ambitious goals to achieve zero waste in the manufacture, use, storage and recycling of materials. But the focus has shifted away from simply recycling to embrace reuse of materials, creating a “Circular Economy” that not only promotes diversion but also reuse of products and materials. What are the advantages of this approach, and how can regional governments and companies collaborate on creating the infrastructure to build the system?
PANELISTS

Jeremy Attema (Moderator)
Senior Project Manager
stok

Suzanne (Zan) Jones
Executive Director
Eco-Cycle

Yvonne Myers
Director of Health Systems
Columbine Health

Kara Mertz
Sustainability Manager
City of Boulder

Christopher Todd
Director, Business Operations
RootShyft

Session III | Electrifying Mobility

Colorado has joined other Western states to increase the number of electric-vehicle charging stations, but the story of electrification goes far beyond EV infrastructure. From electrification of fleets and transit systems to new EV pilots by rideshare companies such as Lyft and the emerging role of micro-mobility solutions such as electric scooters, the electrification of mobility expands daily. What does the big picture look like for electrification, and what are the benefits and risks of these various solutions?
PANELISTS

Christian Williss (Moderator)
Director, Transportation Fuels & Technology
Colorado Energy Office

Joe Mitchell
President & CEO
UQM Technologies Inc./Danfoss

Tim Reeser
CEO & Founder
Lightning Systems

Sophie Shulman
Chief/Innovative Mobility
CDOT

Jon Walker
Sustainability Policy Manager
Lyft

View Bios

11:30am – 12:15pm

Lunch Keynote | The Growing Urgency

The U.N. Environment Program’s Emissions Gap Report indicates that even with current commitments under the Paris Climate Accords, temperatures are expected to increase by 3.2 degrees Celsius, creating even more wider-ranging and more-destructive climate impacts. That means that collective ambitions must increase fivefold to address the problem, but is there cause for hope? We’ll hear from several experts on how the problem can be solved, including with leadership from state and local governments.
KEYNOTE

Peter Backlund
Associate Director
School of Global Environmental Sustainability

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Session IV | Climate Change, Business & Industry

Business and industry have long been regarded as part of the problem when it comes to climate change, but many companies are actively working to be part of the solution. Many businesses are adopting corporate mandates for renewable energy and onsite generation, but others are moving beyond just examining their own climate-change policies to focus on their supply chains, ensuring that those companies are working to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as well. Our panel of industry experts will discuss what industries are doing, and how public-private partnerships can lead the transformation to a renewable-energy future.
PANELISTS

Zac Swank (Moderator)
Manager
PACE – Boulder County

Jake Arlein
Partner
stok

Mark Stevens
Environmental Initiatives + Activism
Patagonia

Chuck Kutscher
Fellow, Senior Research Associate
Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute

Jim Quinlan
President
Jax Mercantile

Session V | Building Smart

Developers and property owners face increasing demands to make their buildings more energy-efficient, with some governments actively enforcing or considering new regulations to force the issue. What are the challenges, opportunities, benefits and emerging trends in building net-zero buildings, as well as transforming existing buildings to net zero? What does it take for a developer or property owner to take that leap and how can government and the private sector support these efforts?
PANELISTS

Victor Olgyay (Moderator)
Principal, Building
Rocky Mountain Institute

Josie Plaut
Associate Director
CSU – Institute for the Built Environment

John Phelan
Resource Conservation Manager
City of Fort Collins

Susan McFaddin
CFO
Solaris Energy

Ben Woolf
Director, Commercial Investments
Conscience Bay Company

View Bios

1:45pm –2:45pm

Session VI | Reliability in a Net-Zero World

As utilities in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado shift toward renewables, customers such as high-tech companies, health-care providers, universities and federal laboratories are working to ensure that the shift does not sacrifice one essential element: reliability. How are utilities working to plan and design a reliable system, and how are private-sector companies not only relaying reliability concerns to the region’s utilities but also reaping benefits from shifting toward renewable energy themselves?
PANELISTS

Quinn Antus (Moderator)
Executive Director
Signal Tech Coalition

Donald McPhail
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Uplight

Samantha Reifer
Business Development Analyst
Scale Microgrid Solutions

David White
Vice President, Member & Government Relations
Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, Inc.

Jerome Davis
Regional Vice President
Xcel