Boston University School of Management (SMG) faculty and the Executive Leadership Center are energizing the debate over how best to accelerate the development and adoption of sustainable clean energy solutions, through new research and conferences.
Says Nalin Kulatilaka, Wing Tat Lee Family Professor of Finance & Economics, “Current and near-term energy technology innovations, together with regulatory changes and market forces, are at this moment creating a paradigm shift in the energy industry that challenges the viability of the status quo and offers tremendous opportunities for new business models.”
See Professor Kulatilaka’s presentation "Innovative Business Models to Drive Market Adoption" (pdf format)
BOSTON UNIERSITY CLEAN ENERGY CONFERENCE SERIES
To foster thought-leadership and innovation in this and related areas, the School of Management, as a partner in the Boston University Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability Initiative, is offering the following conference series:
MORE ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT NEW RESEARCH INIATIVES IN CLEAN ENERGY
Generating Thought Leadership in the Field
Explains Professor Kulatilaka, “my colleagues and I working at SMG and across the University on clean energy innovation are, in addition to our recent conferences, seeking to leverage and expand our research initiatives in the following key areas:
- Research in systems, business models, and smart grid technologies required for the large scale integration of renewables, electric vehicles, and smart buildings into the electric power infrastructure.
- Development and commercialization of new and emerging clean energy technologies through entrepreneurial business incubation, education, support and market integration.
- Analysis and development of policy initiatives, requisite real-time market developments, incentive arrangements, and regulatory frameworks related to energy, climate, and the environment.”
In summary, Professor Kulatilaka adds, “we expect that exploration into the transformation of the energy ecosystem as smart technology will enable fundamentally new layers in the industry stack to emerge. We’re excited to work with colleagues across academia, and partners in industry, anticipate, navigate, and tap these opportunities.”
The “Synergistic Management of Challenges to Sustainable Energy Adoption”
Assessing the state of clean energy technology development and adoption to date, Professor Kulatilaka explains, “Many environmentally-friendly technologies, when considered in isolation, encounter barriers to widespread adoption.
"For example, wind generated electricity may see its widespread adoption hampered by increasing costs of the fast capacity reserves required to safeguard against wind’s intermittency. Similarly, high penetration of electric vehicles may be checked by the cost of expanding the capacity of requisite distribution network.”
Of the new research he and his colleagues are undertaking, Professor Kulatilaka says, “Our multi-disciplinary team proposes synergistic management of these technologies. For example, coordinated smart charging of electric vehicle (EV) batteries can both mitigate the intermittency of wind power and ease congestion in the distribution network.
"Indeed, many clean energy technologies, including roof top photovoltaics, distributed storage, thermal energy conversion and conservation, offer sustainable solutions when combined with real-time markets enabled by the requisite cyber infrastructure for real-time information.”
“In addition,” he adds, “we propose new business models that use markets and innovative contract forms to connect generators, transmission and distribution (T&D) with end-users. Bridging information gaps, reducing transactions costs, and managing risk, such networked business models can direct investment capital to clean projects, spawn technological innovations and encourage greener end-user behavior.
“Moreover, such business models are key to motivating the evolutionary public policy that will facilitate this critical shift to energy sustainability.”
