Today we had a double shot of symposiums: Renewable and Energy Efficiency, bot sponsored by PG&E (as well as some other California utility companies). The symposium was at the PG&E building in San Francisco. Again it was set up as panels. The renewable panel had discussions about various renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and biomass. The panelists consisted of representatives of companies in these areas as well as someone from the venture capital community. The panel was interesting, but not all that related to what we are doing.

The Energy Efficiency panel was mainly focused on efficient lighting solutions, which mostly meant LED lighting. The panelists consisted of academics, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists, but all related to efficient lighting. Since this was the category we entered, it was a little disappointing to see the lighting only focus. As it turns out, we were moved into the Smart Power category, so it didn’t really matter. From the panel it looks like LED lighting will take over from Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs) in the next 5 years or so. Right now they are mainly just too expensive for standard lighting use.