by HEC Team | Mar 2, 2017 | 2017, News
Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chair of 8 80 Cities, headlines the 2017 Maui Energy Conference with his keynote on The 8 80 City: Creating vibrant, healthy, and resilient communities for all.
The world urban population will double from 3.5 billion to 7.0 billion in the next 35 years. The cities we build today will be where billions of people will live for many hundreds of years. This represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to support the development of healthy, sustainable, and inclusive cities.
Amidst the challenges of population growth and shifting demographics, cities around the world are also grappling with climate change, rising obesity, traffic congestion, and a sluggish economy.
We seem to be facing a “perfect storm” of threats and challenges, but in every challenge lies opportunity. How we plan, build and cultivate a healthy city life for people of all ages, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds has never been more important than it is today.
How can we improve the quality of life for people in cities regardless of age or social status? What is the role of sustainable mobility in promoting health, happiness, and stronger local economies? Gil answers these questions while also explaining a simple and effective principle for inclusive city building: ensuring the safety and joy of children and older adults (from 8 year olds to 80 year olds) are at the forefront of every decision we make in our cities.
Drawing on his experience working with over 250 cities across 6 continents, Gil provides a holistic approach to tackling key urban challenges by focusing on both bold but doable actions any community can take to become stronger and more resilient in the face of change.
Click here for more information on the complete 2017 program.
by HEC Team | Jan 26, 2017 | 2017, News
Guillermo Penalosa, Founder & Chair 8 80 Cities
A broader focus has attracted new and captivating speakers to this year’s Maui Energy Conference, to be held at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, March 22-24. Hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) the conference theme covers topics from electricity and gas to transportation and water delivery systems.
Keynote speaker, Guillermo (Gil) Penalosa is passionate about cities for all people. He is the founder and Chair of the Board of 8 80 Cities, an internationally recognized non-profit organization based in Canada that was created on the philosophy that if you created a great city for an 8 year old and an 80 year old, you will create a successful city for all people.
Gil is also chair of World Urban Parks, as well as senior adviser to Children & Nature, Vision Zero Network, and America Walks. His leadership and advice has been sought out in more than 250 different cities across six continents. He advises decision makers and communities on how to create vibrant cities and healthy communities for everyone regardless of age, gender and social, economic, or ethnic background.
“While urban design might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to the Maui Energy Conference,” says Conference Program Committee member, Jonathan Koehn, “Urban design dictates lifestyle, and lifestyle has a huge impact on people’s energy footprint. There are so many ways that the physical infrastructure around us influences our energy choices.”
Another draw for this year’s Conference will be Carol Sim, Environmental Affairs Director at Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines has been a leader in the airline industry in utilizing alternative jet fuel. It made history in November flying the world’s first commercial flight using a new sustainable alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals.
Carol Sim will join the panel on Innovations in Transportation, which takes a look at what steps can be taken to create and facilitate a resilient transportation sector.
A new feature for the program will include a number of Case Studies presented in special fifteen minute segments. Boris von Bormann of Mercedes-Benz will share their work with the world’s largest second use battery storage. In efforts to stabilize the grid, Daimler AG, The Mobility House AG and GETEC have joined forces to develop a 13 MWh battery storage project in Germany using a total of 1000 battery systems from second-generation Smart Fortwo electric drive cars.
Hawaii Energy’s case study will highlight a few of their success stories that showcase their commitment to helping small businesses of Hawaii lower operating costs through energy efficiency. Theodore Peck from Holu Energy will present two case studies of commercial on-grid microgrids operational in Hawaii with third party ownership, integrating PV and energy storage systems to create multiple value streams on both sides of the meter.
In a fourth case study presentation, Silver Spring Networks will share details on how its utility customers deliver savings to consumers via AMI and Smart Grid deployments.
The 2017 Maui Energy Conference is shaping up to be a timely and innovative forum as Hawaii transitions to a clean energy economy. Early Bird registration ends on January 31.
Click here for the full program.
