UC Solar Symposium Focuses on Innovations and Policy

California Public Utilities Commission Commissioner Liane Randolph will offer the opening remarks at this year's UC Solar Research Symposium in San Francisco, scheduled for Oct. 16.

UC Solar, based at UC Merced, will present a variety of speakers and activities on solar-related innovations, policy, the political and economic climate, and more. Presentations will include:

• “Advancing California's Energy Innovation Ecosystem,” by Erik Stokes, manager of Energy Deployment and Market Facilitation for the California Energy Commission;
• “High-Temperature Coating for Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion,” by Renkun Chen, UC Solar co-director and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC San Diego;
• “Sustainability at E. & J. Gallo Winery,” by Kim D. MacFarlane, civil and environmental engineer at E. & J. Gallo Winery;
• “An Efficient Solar Thermal-Powered Evaporation System for Salt Harvesting and Wastewater Treatment,” by Professor Roland Winston, UC Solar director, and Professor Peggy O'Day, both with UC Merced;
• “Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy,” by John Perlin, an author and research scholar at UC Santa Barbara; and
• “Climate, Energy, Innovation and the Future of California” by Emilio Camacho, chief of staff to Commissioner David Hochschild of the California Energy Commission.

The symposium takes place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in the California Public Utilities Commission auditorium, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco.

Everyone is welcome to attend, but people are asked to register beforehand at the UC Solar website.