Press Release
Press Release
12.18.15
Pillsbury sponsored the 2015 conference of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) at Stanford University on December 15. The topic, “Building ‘Risky’ Energy,” asked participants to consider how we can learn about and deploy energy technologies whose technical, economic and regulatory prospects are promising but uncertain. The technologies under discussion included nuclear fission and fusion, energy efficiency, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), advanced biofuels, wind and solar, and geothermal. Speakers included Doug Kimmelman of Energy Capital Partners and Nobel Physics Laureate Burton Richter.
Pillsbury partner Rob James was a member on a panel that addressed carbon capture and sequestration. Fossil fuels will continue to be a part of our energy mix for decades, but CO2 emission restrictions and disincentives will increase. The panel explored whether CCS projects can be viable means of accommodating both of these facts or if they are too problematic, both geologically (given concerns over induced seismicity) and economically (given expensive capture technologies and unknown liability exposures).
James offered observations from his paper on Finesses and Game-Changers in Frontier Project Development. He proposed recommendations for both collective and entrepreneurial action in developing projects under such frontier conditions—actions that may distinguish the initiatives that fail from the initiatives that ultimately succeed.
For more information about PESD and its conferences and publications, please visit PESD's website.