A Sustainability Summit and a DOE Peer Review

It has been quite the week here in Tempe. Not only are we preparing the shop for our upcoming open house, we've had two separate events related to our core business, both of which Trevor had the pleasure of speaking at.

Arizona Sustainability Summit

We are all stakeholders in Arizona's Future. Arizona Forward hosted its annual sustainability summit on Tuesday, October 11 this year. This is is a signature event where to bring a diverse group of stakeholders together to collaborate, share ideas and create action steps for critical priority issues for the state.

Interactive breakout sessions create opportunities for members to share ideas and recommend solutions. Thought leaders and subject matter experts provide their perspectives that launch discussions and help forge solutions for the future.  Each year, the outcomes of the summit guide Arizona Forward’s prioritization of the work we do, as we focus on the most pressing sustainability issues for our state.

While there were a number of topics spanning water conservation, climate action, clean air and even transportation, our focus was of course on the afternoon session, "How can entrepreneurs enable Arizona's transition to a circular economy?"

The panel was led by City of Phoenix Circular Economy manager Amanda Jordan, and Trevor was joined on the panel by entrepreneurs from the fashion, plastic recycling, food waste and glass industries. Each shared unique perspectives on how we can close the supply chain loop and live more sustainably.

From there, Trevor jumped on a plane to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the...

Department of Energy Energy Storage Peer Review Conference

The annual DOE peer review brings together researchers from across the DOE landscape – national laboratories, industry, government, and academia – to summarize the state of the art in energy storage research, development, and application.

The 2022 event was held from October 11-13, which presented a small conflict. Since Trevor was at the Sustainability Summit on the 11th, our lead engineer, Jack, made the trip to New Mexico to fill in for the first day.

Higherwire had a poster to show progress on our Phase I SBIR at the event. Trevor flew in for the 12th and 13th, fully expecting to come away with numerous contacts and new perspectives on cutting-edge technologies for energy storage and power electronics.

The DOE had other plans.

A presenter for the Power Electronics session was unable to make it, so the DOE asked Higherwire to present. With no slides prepared, Trevor went to work late into the night putting together material befitting of a roomful of PhD's. Despite only about 16 hours to prep, his speech went off without a hitch. You can read the presentation on the DOE website here, and our poster here.

We're back at it developing new battery assemblies later this week. Stay tuned for exciting product updates.