Author and Journalist Jeremy Rifkin and Others to Keynote



    WASHINGTON, July 30 /EMWNews/ -- Powering the next phase of smart

grid initiatives, organizers of GridWeek(TM) 2008 (http://www.gridweek.com) have

announced the session tracks for this four-day conference in September with

programs ranging from the impact of the smart grid and the carbon economy

and enabling new energy efficiencies, to the challenges of securing the

smart grid and implementing EISA 2007.



    Clasma Events also announced that Jeremy Rifkin, author and journalist;

Enrique Santacana, president and CEO of ABB Inc.; John Kelly, IBM senior

vice president and director of research; Bob Gilligan, general manager for

GE Energy's transmission and distribution business; and James Rogers, CEO

of Duke Energy, will all be among the keynote speakers addressing this

conference in Washington, D.C., September 22 - 25.



    Among the conference programs, keynotes and plenary sessions, including

for the first time an International Smart Grid Summit, topics will explore

the role, impact and challenges a smart grid will contribute to our

national energy security and sustainability. Sessions will explore such

topics as:



    -- How the smart grid will help to offset the more than $45 trillion

investment required to reduce the global carbon emissions to satisfactory

levels;



    -- What are the security risks a new smart grid network might face as

information technology links traditional and alternative power generation

systems, and how might a Network Security Framework address this concern;



    -- How the smart grid will create new market and economic models for

energy use;



    -- Empowering consumers to contribute their residential-generated

alternative energy to the grid, and controlling their own energy use

through demand response technologies;



    -- Trends and process in the technologies and standards needed to

foster the interoperability of the smart grid; and



    -- How the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) is

fueling advances and investments in the smart grid at both a federal and

state level.



    The GridWeek conference is being organized by Clasma Events Inc. in

partnership with the Department of Energy and the GridWise Alliance, with

platinum sponsor support from ABB, Elster, General Electric, IBM and

SmartSynch.



    For more information on GridWeek 2008 and to register to attend please

go to http://www.gridweek.com or call (972) 865-2247.

    About GridWeek (http://www.gridweek.com)



    GridWeek 2008 is where U.S. electricity grid thought leaders will

explore the smart grid's role in delivering sustainable energy. Energy

policy makers and members of public utility and information technology

industries will examine smart grid successes, role in carbon reduction,

alternative distributed generation, and the implementation of the Energy

Act of 2007. With speeches and other sessions about enabling energy and

utility efficiencies, IT and grid interoperability, new business models,

and energy security, GridWeek, produced by Clasma Events Inc., is the event

to outline smart grid possibilities and expectations as the U.S.

electricity system moves into the 21st century.