Speakers
Steve Bolze President and CEO of Power and Water General Electric Company	Moray Dewhurst Vice-Chairman and Chief of Staff FPL Group, Inc.
Robert LaCount Senior Director IHS CERA	Minoru Shinohara Senior Vice President, Technology Development Division Nissan
Daniel Yergin Chairman IHS CERA (Chair)

On Thursday of CERAWeek 2010 IHS CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin chaired a plenary panel on "Climate Change, The Environment, and Technology: Building a New Energy Future." Dr. Yergin and the panelists covered a range of related issues including the changing landscape for energy demand, emerging power generation technologies, and strategic business planning in an uncertain regulatory environment.

Steve Bolze, President and Chief Executive Officer, GE Power and Water, presented an overview of the challenges facing the global electricity market and the technologies required to meet growing demand and emissions targets. Mr. Bolze explained that emerging markets are the centers of demand growth in the global power industry and will grow at approximately twice the rate of power demand in industrialized economies. He pointed out that power producers are expected to develop a power generation mix that can satisfy stakeholder demands for energy independence and low emissions. To conclude his overview of the challenges facing power producers, Mr. Bolze described the water intensity of power generation and explained that 60 percent of the world's population will face water constraints by 2025. In the second section of his presentation, Mr. Bolze walked the audience through the existing and emerging technological options for power generation but tempered the description with comments on the challenges to deploying each of the technologies. In conclusion Mr. Bolze argued that pragmatic and consistent government policies are essential to the efficient development of a global power industry. He singled out the United States as an example of a country that could make significant efficiency gains, adding that only 3 to 4 percent of US electricity is generated from renewable sources.

Minoru Shinohara, Senior Vice President of Technology Development Division at Nissan, described how the company's comprehensive vehicle development strategy has the potential to reduce carbon emissions and reduce transportation congestion. Mr. Shinohara explained that Nissan is pursuing several vehicle development programs simultaneously--enhancing the energy efficiency of existing models, developing state-of-the-art hybrid vehicles, and creating a fleet of fuel cell-powered electric vehicles that produce no carbon emissions. Mr. Shinohara said that Nissan's three-layer development strategy is aimed at improving society by reducing congestion; enhancing driver experience by providing high-quality, low-fuel-cost-vehicles; and protecting the environment by dramatically increasing engine energy efficiency. He reminded the audience that electrification of vehicles provides the flexibility critical to accomplishing overall energy and environmental objectives because many different fuels and technologies can be used to produce electricity.