"75% of energy usage takes place in the top 20 megacities of the world. 40% of that is consumed by enterprises."
~ Wim Elfrink, EVP Services & Chief Globalization Officer, Cisco
"Two technologies made for each other: The electric car & the smart grid. The car is the killer app…(but) if this is a niche market, like a Prius, it will be a failure. Tying the car to the grid is the key to SmartGrid equaling energy independence. Because it offers a way to connects nuclear energy and renewables to our oil usage."
~ Robbie Diamond, President and CEO, Electrification Coalition
"I don’t know how many people are walking around saying 'Man I really wish my grid was smart'."
~ Rob Atkinson, President, Itif
"You need smart regulation—government with a vision—that will dare to be disruptive."
~ Wim Elfrink, EVP Services & Chief Globalization Officer, Cisco
"(We have tools) that collect, process, report, and reflect but what’s missing is the trigger to take action based on that reflection."
~ David Merkoski, Executive Creative Director, Frog Design
"It's going to be a lot harder to make consumers make the decisions rather than to have our technologies make right choices."
~ Jesse Berst, Executive Editor, Smart Grid Newsletter
"What are the metrics—not the results from the 25% of energy geeks, but from the broad base of customers?"
~ Alex Laskey, President and Founder, OPOWER
"We need to get the cars beyond the early adopters—to real consumers, in the 50,000s. Regions need to bid for the chance to get government support on the infrastructure, like bidding for the Olympics, otherwise you will be in the hybrid rut."
~ Robbie Diamond, President and CEO, Electrification Coalition
"We need to figure out how to turn up the crank on the innovation cycle—if it takes you three years to make the customer rate case, its not enough—we need to scale up our existing pilots."
~ Lars Lee-Potreck, EMEA Sales, eMeter
"I am looking for plug and play windmills at Home Depot, though maybe not in the next 18 months."
~ Fiona Sim, Director of the Intel Open Energy Initiative, Intel
Key question posed by Marc Gunther: "Does it have to be sold or can we just work it out in this room?"
~ Marc Gunther, Contributing Editor, Fortune Magazine
One answer from earlier in the day: "Smart meters don’t save energy, consumers do."
~ Fiona Sim, Director of the Intel Open Energy Initiative, Intel
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