Description: Nationally and globally, two important trends are accelerating in the wrong direction and threaten our environmental sustainability and energy security—carbon dioxide emissions are continuing to go up, while the ability to meet growing energy needs with our own resources is continuing to go down. We must start now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately stabilize atmospheric concentrations of CO2. At the same time, any solution we consider must also address the need for energy independence and security. This talk will explore potential actions that can be taken on both the supply side and demand side of the energy equation to address the challenges of the carbon journey—including carbon capture and sequestration, energy conversion technologies including coal gasification and biofuels, energy efficiency, integrating renewable energy onto the grid, the electrification of transportation and demand management. It will also include a discussion of how policy, technology and capital can work hand in hand to make significant progress possible.

Biography: Mike Davis is the Associate Laboratory Director for the Energy and Environment Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In this role, Mike is responsible for ensuring that PNNL delivers outstanding science and technology solutions to the most important energy and environment issues facing the nation and the Department of Energy. At the highest levels, the Energy and Environment Directorate and its roughly 1,000 staff members are responsible for contributing the research, development and deployment to increase the nation's energy capacity, reduce dependence on imported oil and reduce the environmental effects of legacy waste and energy use. The directorate conducts about $200 million of business annually for government and industrial clients.

Mike joined PNNL in 2005 as the Associate Laboratory Director for the Energy Science and Technology Directorate (a predecessor of today's Energy and Environment Directorate). Before coming to PNNL, he spent nearly a year as the Chief Technology Officer for ReliOn, Inc. (formerly Avista Labs). He joined Avista Labs in 2000 and has served as president and CEO for Avista and H2fuel. In these roles, he developed a business strategy and secured capitalization and human resources to deliver Avista's unique fuel cell products to market and to position H2fuel's sulfur-tolerant fuel processing technology. Under his leadership, the focus of Avista shifted from a research organization to a successful commercial business.

Prior to his career at Avista, Mike was president and CEO of Kyocera Solar, a leading global producer and supplier of solar electric components and systems, and of Kyocera's predecessor, Golden Genesis Company. During his tenure, Mike established Golden Genesis Company as the largest publicly traded distributor, integrator and marketer of solar electric systems and products for distributed power applications in the Western hemisphere.

Mike was appointed in 1989 by President Bush as the U.S. Department of Energy's Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Renewable Energy. During his four-year term, he launched programs such as the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium, the Renewable Energy Production Incentive and the Photovoltaic Manufacturing Initiative. He expanded the funding available for Conservation and Renewable Energy research programs from $350 to $850 million per year over three years. In October 1991, Mike received the Secretary's Gold Medal Award, recognizing him for charting "a new course of industry-driven, market-oriented research and development for the federal government."

In addition to his government and industry background, Mike has owned and operated a private mechanical contracting firm.

Mike is well-known nationally as a spokesperson for hydrogen, renewable energy and energy efficiency policy and technology issues. He is an invited member of the National Academy of Sciences' Renewable Energy Panel. He has provided leadership for several energy-related organizations, including serving as president of the Solar Energy Industries Association and Chairman of the National Hydrogen Association. He has held a seat on PNNL's Energy Laboratory Advisory Committee and was a member of Energy Science and Technology Directorate's review committee before joining PNNL.

Mike received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the US Air Force Academy in 1969 and his M.S. from the University of Illinois in 1970. Davis also served as an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering at the USAFA following service in Vietnam.