Preliminary Agenda (as of February 16, 2012)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Welcome Lounge

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Visit to Scott Terrell's home in Truckee, Calif. to view energy upgrades (RSVP required; space limited)
The Terrell home was upgraded to become a net zero electric home with a 4.8 kW solar PV system supplemented by solar thermal w/72 sq. ft. of panels for water heating. The 95% efficiency gas furnace with new sealed duct system is equipped w/an EC variable speed drive furnace fan motor. Almost all household electric loads exceed Energy Star requirements.  All building performance work was financed through Energy Upgrade California 0% loan.  Scott is Conservation Administrator with with Truckee-Donner Public Utility District. 

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 -- Utility Strategic Focus

8:30 am. – 10:00 am
Welcome Lounge

10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Pre-Forum Workshop for Utility and Government Attendees Only
Session Co-Chairs:  Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power and Paul Reid, Azusa Light and Water

Candid roundtable discussion on topics to include social media.  Tim Staples, CEO of Converge, will be making a brief presentation on the use of celebrities in promoting utility messages through social media.  Converge is a production firm that combines celebrity, new media and  promotion. Over the past five years, Converge has created promotional platforms with over 100 celebrities (including Mariah Carey, Courteney Cox, Shaquille O¹Neal, Miley Cyrus, Cindy Crawford, Usher and Steve Nash) for numerous major brands including Visa, Sprint, LG, Anheuser Busch and HTC.

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch Buffet

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Welcoming Remarks by Joyce Kinnear, City of Palo Alto Utilities

Welcome Keynote Presentation
It Ain't About Awareness:  Moving Mainstream Consumers towards Energy Efficiency
Suzanne Shelton, Shelton Group

Nearly half of Americans who've undertaken energy efficient improvements to their homes haven't seen the savings they expect. In fact, nearly 3/4 of the population say their bills have gone up over the last two years.  So moving them to adopt more energy efficient improvements isn't about educating them that they should do something...it's about overcoming the disappointment and anger that they did what you said and they didn't save any money on their bills. Once you're over that hurdle, it's about following the principals of behavior change:

1. Awakening them to automatic behaviors so they can make conscious choices
2. Being prescriptive and specific
3. Employing social norming techniques (which is a fancy way of saying, "apply peer pressure.")

Suzanne Shelton of Shelton Group, one of the nation's leading ad agencies at motivating mainstream consumers to make more sustainable choices, will share insights from her firm's quarterly polling of Americans, a quick primer on the key principals of behavioral science that utilities can leverage, and specific examples of campaigns that have created results.

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Refreshment Break with Energy Quiz hosted by Efficiency Services Group

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Policy/Strategic View
Session Chair: David Maul, Maul Energy Advisors

• Steve Larson, past Executive Director, California Energy Commission; past Executive Director, California Public Utility Commission; past Deputy Director, California Department Finance
• Noah Horowitz, National Resources Defense Council
• Paul Bony, Climatemaster
• Michael Weedall, Senior Advisory, E Source

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Meet the Sponsors and Exhibitors

5:00 p.m.
Adjourn

5:30 am – 6:30 pm
Reception hosted by Resource Action Programs

6:30 pm –8:00 pm
Dinner and Entertainment hosted by RHA

Thursday, May 10, 2012 -- Customer Tactical Focus

7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast Buffet

8:30 am – 10:00 am
Customer View
Session Chairs: Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power and Kate Schulenberg, Pacific Gas and Electric Company

10:00 am – 10:30 am
Refreshment Break with Energy Quiz hosted by Efficiency Services Group

10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Customer View (continued)

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch

1:00 am – 1:30 pm
Midway Keynote Presentation
California Energy Policy in a Carbon Constrained World
Panama Bartholomy, Deputy Director, California Energy Commission

.

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Utility Program Snapshots
Session Chairs:  Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power and Bruce Ceniceros, Sacramento Municipal Utility District

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Utility Program Stand-up Challenge with Ice Cream Social
Session Chair:  Elaine Hebert 
Join us for the craziest round of concurrent sessions ever! Imagine speed dating meets the lightning round of a TV game show! You choose from among 10 or so storyboards detailing utility-sponsored program initiatives or projects. Each storyboard presenter has 5 minutes to share with you the program’s successes and lessons learned. A bell rings, you choose another storyboard, and the 5-minute clock starts again. When it’s over, you vote for the programs that you believe are "most innovative" or "most likely to succeed."  But wait, there’s more!Everyone wins an ice cream sundae. 

Want to take the Challenge? The Utility Energy Forum is now accepting proposals for the Utility Program Stand-up Challenge storyboard presentations. The goal of this session is to offer a fun, creative, and high-energy venue for you -- utility, research, and trade ally representatives -- to share best practices and lessons learned from your energy efficiency program design, implementation, and evaluation experiences. We are introducing a new format this year: a “speed dating” format that’s also a tongue-in-cheek competition. Your presentation is limited to 5 minutes; audience members move from one presenter to the other in succession, which means you give your highly-tuned spiel several times in a row. The audience will vote for “most innovative,” “most likely to succeed,”… you get the idea. No sales pitches, please. We will award some fun prizes.

Submit your topic below. If we select yours, we will provide you with a stand for your storyboard (up to 30” x 40” poster) with a 12” square shelf for business cards or flyers. Unfortunately, we cannot provide electrical connections or tables. All storyboard presenters must register to attend at regular conference rates. To see examples of the 2011 presentations, visit http://www.utilityforum.org/2011/agenda.htm.

Take a moment to submit your utility program story at:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5hh5w5ngwzlkrdt/start

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Reception hosted by Resource Solutions Group

6:30 pm
Dinner with “Any Port in a Storm” hosted by Staples & Associates
A full-course dinner followed by port wine tasting and the classic rock acoustic guitar stylings and singing of Kip Yager
Kip Yager, originally from upstate New York, has been playing solo on his 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars in the Tahoe Basin for the last 4 years. Previously, he lived in Colorado for 10 years. His repertoire includes: Beatles, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Moody Blues, CSNY, and a little bit of country, blues and originals inspired by the Rocky Mountain's laidback life style. Kip's passion for music is his way of connecting with the ones who grew up in the 60's & 70's.

Friday, May 9, 2012 -- Technology Focus

7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast Buffet

8:30 am – 10:00 am
Technology View
Session Chairs: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Elaine Hebert

• Alan Meier, Home Energy magazine and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Karl Johnson, PIER
• Jay Stein, E Source
• Bruce Baccei, Sacramento Municipal Utility District

10:00 am – 10:30 am
Refreshment Break with Energy Quiz hosted by Efficiency Services Group

10:30 am – 11:30 am
Technology View (continued)

• Ryan Fedie, Bonneville Power Administration
• Jeff Harris Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
• Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

11:30 pm
Late-Breaking News

12:00 pm
Adjourn

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch Buffet