On Tuesday, five UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA candidates traveled to Washington, DC for Novogradac’s annual Renewable Energy Finance Conference. I’ve wanted to transition into the renewable energy space for quite some time; however, during my experience at business school, I have learned just how important finance is to getting renewable projects off of the ground. With this in mind, I was excited to get my finger on the pulse of renewable energy finance on Capitol Hill. The conference was both informative and social. I learned about the current tax credit options available and made a couple of leads that could turn into internship opportunities this summer. The general sense of the conference was that the rules of renewable energy finance change Read More
Monthly Archives: November 2009
Net Impact Session: What is the Smart Grid?
This past weekend, I went with about 25 other UNC Kenan-Flagler MBAs to the Net Impact annual conference, which was up at Cornell in Ithaca, NY. Over 2000 people attended the conference, which had great speakers such as GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt and Grameen Foundation’s head Alex Counts. My favorite session of the packed two-day conference was entitled, “Innovations in Electricity: The Smarter Grid of Tomorrow, Today”, and had the following three expert panelists: • Ted Howes, Global Lead of Energy Domain, IDEO • Cameron Brooks, Senior Director, Tendril Networks • Michael Jung, Policy Director, Silver Spring Networks IDEO is a leading product design firm, while the other two companies are emerging firms with demand-response technologies that Read More
Defining Energy Independence
On Oct. 30th, Brett Carter, the President of Duke Energy – Carolinas, visited UNC Kenan-Flagler for a discussion with MBA candidates around Duke Energy’s role regarding climate change. Carter was an excellent presenter, and while I disagree with some of his positions, he guided the conversation in an incredibly skilled, productive manner. Before digging into Duke Energy’s strategies to mitigate climate change, he raised the question, “How do we define energy independence?” One student proposed that it means the ability for America to generate all of its energy within its own borders. Another student expanded the definition to mean the freedom to generate energy. To me, the second definition is a more plausible scenario; however, it sounds more like energy Read More