Latest GreenBeat speakers: Adrian Tuck, Andy Tang, Andy White & Allan Schurr

October 15th, 2009

I’m delighted to announce the latest speakers for our fast-approaching GreenBeat conference, the seminal event for leaders in the Smart Grid industry, on Nov. 18 and 19 in San Mateo, Calif.

It comes a perfect time: It looks increasingly like more federal legislation is going to come to a head, at the latest by next year — including measures that could force a massive transition from carbon based energy to alternative sources. And California is leading the way, with several important pieces of legislation passed this weekend.

Our speakers are the brains and stakeholders who will decide how the Smart Grid will be implemented.

Here are the newest additions to our lineup:

Adrian Tuck, chief executive of Tendril, a company that is leading the way in installing home energy monitors — letting you track how much electricity your refrigerator, your thermostat and every other major appliance in your home is using. They really are the leading home energy monitoring start-up, providing a more expansive ability to track your consumption than say, Google’s Powermeter, which has been limited so far to providing you a web dashboard to track your overall power usage. Tuck unveiled Tendril’s mobile application at DEMO earlier this year.

Andy Tang, senior director of Pacific Gas and Electric’s smart energy division. PG&E has rolled out the most advanced Smart Grid initiative in the country, and hit the news recently for its high-profile exit from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in protest of the chamber’s resistance to climate change legislation. It plans to roll out 10 million smart meters — meters that can wirelessly report energy usage data back to the utility and its customers in real time. Tang is responsible for PG&E’s clean air transportation projects (including plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles), as well as its demand response programs. Previously he led Intel’s WiMAX development.

Andy White, chief executive of Trilliant, the company that provides networks and software that allows much of the transfer of energy data on the Smart Grid. It recently partnered with automation giant ABB to make sure technologies created by the two companies are interoperable, continuing a trend of unifying standards that is key to realizing the potential of the Smart Grid. Previously, White was CEO of GE Nuclear Energy and of GE New Energy Ventures. He is also chairman of the World Nuclear Association, significant given that nuclear has again emerged as an attractive option for alternative energy.

Allan Schurr, vice president of strategy and utilities at IBM. IBM is significant for the Smart Grid because it provides most of the software that utilities use to route their energy. Schurr leads IBM’s work with partners, policy makers, and IBM services and technologies focused on customer management, advanced metering infrastructure and distributed energy. He previously held management jobs at Itron, Silicon Energy and Pacific Gas and Electric.