Monthly archive

Advancing a Novel Application for Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Capture Utilizing Fuel Cells

March 16th, 2017

Efficiently and affordably capturing CO2 from utility scale power generation is a global challenge and a large potential market opportunity.  Conventional carbon capture technologies use power and represent an expense.  FuelCell Energy and ExxonMobil are advancing a novel application for installing carbonate fuel cells at combustion-based power plants to efficiently capture CO2 while simultaneously producing power from the fuel cells.  Affordable and scalable, fuel cell carbon capture is a potential game-changer. 

USEA Now - February 2017

February 2nd, 2017
USEA Now

The New Global Dynamics for Coal

February 17th, 2017

Benjamin Sporton will look at how the global coal market is changing and what happens to the Paris Agreement under the new Trump administration.

Benjamin Sporton

Job Title: 
Chief Executive
Organization: 
World Coal Association

Benjamin Sporton was appointed Chief Executive of the World Coal Association in June 2015 after serving as Acting Chief Executive in November 2014.

Benjamin joined the World Coal Association as Policy Director in May 2010 and became Deputy Chief Executive in May 2012. Before his appointment as Chief Executive Benjamin led WCA’s strategic and business planning, and was responsible for leading WCA's policy and advocacy work with a particular focus on energy poverty, sustainable development and climate change issues.

Benjamin is a Member of the International Advisory Committee to the Energy & Environment Foundation of India and a Member of the Coal Industry Advisory Board to the International Energy Agency.

Prior to joining the World Coal Association, Benjamin held senior policy leadership roles in United Kingdom and Australia. His achievements have included leading legislative reforms through the South Australian parliament to reform the state’s ailing workers compensation system, supporting the Mayor of London’s consultation on extension of the London Congestion Charge and modernising conduct of UK elections at the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

He holds an honours degree in politics from the University of Adelaide and has also studied at the University of Buenos Aires and the Australian Institute of Management.

Profile Type: 
Speaker

Philip E. Mihlmester

Job Title: 
Executive Vice President, Global Energy
Organization: 
ICF international

Philip Mihlmester serves as Executive Vice President, Global Energy, at ICF International. In this capacity, he oversees the firm’s global energy practice coordinating the efforts of over 1,300 energy professionals worldwide in the areas of electric power, petroleum, natural gas/LNG, coal, climate change, emissions, energy efficiency/demand side management, environmental, infrastructure security, and water issues. Mr. Mihlmester oversees ICF’s client interactions, which include major power, oil, gas, and renewable energy companies, governments, financial institutions, and NGO’s.

Mr. Mihlmester advises senior corporate and government managers on a variety of strategic issues in the energy sector, including transmission, asset optimization, energy efficiency, and climate issues, as well as infrastructure security. Mr. Mihlmester also currently directs a team of consultants supporting the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electric Delivery and Energy Reliability.

Prior to joining ICF International in 1999, Mr. Mihlmester served as Vice President and Deputy Practice Leader of the Energy Practice at Aspen Systems Corporation (1986-1999) where he was largely responsible for the firm’s work in energy efficiency and pollution prevention. From 1980 to 1986, Mr. Mihlmester served as a Director and Assistant Vice President at Applied Management Sciences, Inc. where he also worked on energy and environmental issues and was the Deputy Practice Leader. Mr. Mihlmester began his career in 1976 when he joined Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc. as a Research Assistant, working on synthetic fuels and advanced fossil energy systems and policies.

Mr. Mihlmester holds an M.S. in Operations Research from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He completed a one year graduate fellowship in Foreign Service and International Economics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Mihlmester earned his A.B. at Columbia University in New York, NY. He also has training in management facilitation techniques.

Steven Fine

Job Title: 
Vice President ICF Commercial Energy Division
Organization: 
ICF

Steve is a Vice President with ICF Commercial Energy Division and leads the Distributed Energy Resources Team. Steve has particular expertise in evaluating the economics of conventional and renewable energy resources—both central station and distributed generation—within the context of developing technologies, market design and environmental regulations.  He works with many of the major US power companies and developers in evaluating the impact of distributed energy resources (DER) on their system and the implications for their business models and their distribution system planning and operations.

He has published numerous whitepapers on the Value of Solar and Distributed Resources and is actively working with the DER team to develop innovative analytical frameworks that can be used by utilities and third parties to more accurately assess the value of these resources in the context of system planning. This includes work with PG&E on the development of a framework for quantifying the costs and benefits of integrating DER’s on their system for the nation’s first public Distributed Resource Plan filings as well as supporting the six investor owned utilities in New York (the Joint Utilties) in their regulatory filings within the context of the NY REV process.

Prior to ICF, Steve worked for Luz Industries, an early developer of utility scale solar thermal electric power plants in Israel and California.  He has a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA in Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Profile Type: 
Speaker

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