Keynote

Martin Roscheisen, CEO, Nanosolar

The Road to Inexpensive Solar Cells
Martin will talk about how he set out with a fellow Stanford PhD in 2002 to make solar power cheap by bringing Silicon Valley style technology innovation to the industry. Seven years of perseverance against all odds and $500 million in capital raised later, a modern high-tech factory is producing just that: inexpensive solar cells.

Session A

Craig Criddle, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Down the drain
Whether we pour it out or flush it away, we�re constantly sending contaminants into the water system. Where do they go after the drain and how can we clean them up? Professor Criddle will explain the fate that awaits these pollutants and the chemistry we can employ to keep our water supply and ecosystems clean.

Chris Edwards, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Energy, engines, and the environment
Energy is never destroyed so there will always be plenty. The problem is getting energy into a useful form. That's what engines do, but when they don't do it efficiently, it's the environment that carries the burden. In this talk we will see what it is about energy that is tricky, how energy can be organized for our use, and the ways we can make future energy systems more environmentally friendly.

Martin Fischer, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Constructed with Care
Buildings consume about 40% of the energy in the United States. Hence, architects and engineers need better tools to create more sustainable buildings and to answer questions such as how to design for efficient energy use, how long a building should last, and even whether occupants should have an "owner's manual" so that they make the most of the building's environmentally friendly design. Professor Fischer will discuss all these issues making use of examples of real projects such as the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building on campus and the retrofit of a Santa Clara County jail.

Session B

Jeff Koseff, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Inside the tides
After this session, your summer trips to the beach will become opportunities to think more deeply about the deep than you ever have before. Professor Koseff will explain and even demonstrate the motion of the ocean currents and explain some of the biggest environmental issues facing oceans today, including the health of coral reefs, tuna, and kelp forests.

Stacey Bent, Professor, Chemical Engineering

Making solar power affordable
The world�s energy needs are growing, but the economy isn�t. Although solar cells, which cleanly convert sunlight into electricity, have been around for decades, they are still too expensive. By making small changes in solar cell materials at atomic scales Professor Bent hopes to make solar cells more efficient so that they can compete more effectively with other sources of energy.

Banny Banerjee, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Sustainable by design
Would you be more likely to change a wasteful behavior if you could clearly see the improvement? Design thinkers create systems that take human needs into account and then come up with ideas that they test and improve until they work. Professor Banerjee will talk about one such idea, “Energy Informatics,” which collects and displays data about consumption and behavior to help people clearly see how their changes can have a positive effect.

Session C

Richard G. Luthy, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

State of thirst
The Bay Area's climate is semi-arid, but this year the state is deep into a full-on drought. Professor Luthy will explain the state's water woes and present a number of ways to conserve, reuse, and recycle water to meet demand in the nation's most populous state.

Bruce Clemens, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering

The solution is �stuff�
If we are going to make our energy technology renewable, sustainable, and affordable, we need to use new �stuff,� (a.k.a materials). Luckily there is exciting new research in tuning the properties of materials and devices by controlling their arrangement on the size scale of atoms and molecules. This talk will present some of the latest results on new materials for energy production, storage, and use.

Joe Stagner, Executive Director, Stanford Office of Sustainability and Energy Management

Power to the campus
Stanford is looking for new ways to tap old sources of energy to provide economic and environmentally friendly power for a sustainable campus. Join Mr. Stagner as he discusses ideas from the huge Invisible Stanford Solar Energy Plant you didn�t even know was there, to the possibility of Drilling for Energy On-Campus: From Earth and Water not Gas and Oil. Come hear about some of the exciting possibilities Stanford is developing for creating innovative energy sources.