Conference Chair, Scott Sklar, invites YOU to join the American Solar Energy Society at their 53rd Annual National Solar Conference, SOLAR 2024: Connecting Technology & Policy, on May 20-23 in Washington, DC, at George Washington University.
As Conference Chair of the American Solar Energy Society’s SOLAR 2024 National Solar Conference in Washington, D.C., at George Washington University on May 20-23, 2024, I heartily invite you to this conference to hear speakers present in person or virtually, interact with a wide variety of experts and practitioners, and educate your Congressional representatives.
The conference theme, “Connecting Technology & Policy,” will promote the ASES mission to “accelerate equitable solar adoption and universal sustainable living by educating and building community.” It will focus on models and tools for negotiating the challenges to advancing renewables by following justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) principles.
Never before is such a meeting needed in our nation’s capital, before the 2024 national elections for President and Members of Congress.
There is much good news as a result of bipartisan passage of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (December 2021) and the Inflation Reduction Act (August 2022), which resulted in over 80 manufacturing plants all over the USA being constructed, which will be producing solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, electric vehicles, and batteries for vehicles, buildings, and the electric grid. And more renewable energy has been connected to the U.S. electric grid over the last two years than fossil fuels, a historic set of achievements.
However, forces are attempting to push back on these successes at the federal, state and local government levels, in part due to old legacy energy industries, certain political constituencies, and frankly just fear of change. This is similar to what the cellular industries and the internet-based industries faced in their market evolutions & revolutions. So those of you within the clean energy industries, local governments, community leaders, environmentalists, economic development practitioners, and many others need to be involved in a higher-level information-sharing, Congressional education, and media interaction that I know this conference will deliver for you.
Aside from presentations of all types, ASES will have a. technology and services show, an on-Capitol Hill education day, and extensive time for attendee interaction.
The George Washington University campus is five blocks from The White House in downtown Washington, DC. GWU has five buildings with photovoltaics, three buildings with solar thermal systems, and the GWU Hospital with a large combined heat & power system. GW’s other renewable energy project includes the Capital Partners Solar Project with Duke Energy Renewables, which began in 2015 and provides GWU with half of its electricity from three solar farms in North Carolina (https://provost.gwu.edu/capital-partners-solar-project). All of these solutions will contribute to the university’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2040 for GWU with over 8,000 professors and 44,597 students.
The impacts of climate change are upon us. Global conflicts are taking place. Sustainability of ecosystems are threatened. Lack of access to clean water is a global threat. Now is the time as never before to come to Washington, DC, exchange information, interact, educate others, and push for a sustainable energy future for ALL in this nation and on this planet. As one who has been over 40 years in this field, I am excited to meet and interact with you at this critical event.
Scott Sklar
Conference Chair, ASES 2024 Conference
Adjunct Professor & Sustainable Energy Director of GWU’s Environment & Energy Management Institute (EEMI) and President of The Stella Group, Ltd, a 23-year-old global clean energy owner’s rep company; awarded the prestigious Charles Greeley Abbot Award by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) on April 26, 2014
