Ok, so I didn’t quite manage the daily blogs I had expected but truth be told it was one overwhelming experience and I just didn’t find the time.  So here’s a quick run down of what happened.

Day 2 was my panel day.  Sustainable Cities: Transforming Communities.  Chaired by Peter Sharratt of Deloitte, and with Mayor Rex Parris of Lancaster, California, Alan Frost, Director of Masdar City and Rutu Dave of the World Bank.

My focus for London was to talk about the challenge of retrofitting old housing stock, offices and public buildings while at the same addressing the demand side and decentralising energy generation.  It was a great opportunity to talk about all the local community energy projects that have been developed over the past couple of years plus the wider strategic aims of London.  It was also a great opportunity to talk about the greenest Olympic Games ever.

Mayor Parris focused on the solar revolution that’s been going on in Lancaster CA, the sunniest place in the USA and the optimum conditions to generate solar power.  What an inspirational guy!  Definitely a man on a mission and an utterly inspirational story of never taking no for an answer, persevering and bringing the community with you.

Now I’d heard a lot about Masdar City, the ambitious UAE project to build a carbon neutral city in the desert.  What was fascinating to hear from Alan Frost was how Masdar City is taking concepts from the past (cities like Yemen) and marrying them with the latest technologies.  It’s a strange thing to think that there could be a carbon neutral city half an hour away from Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital city, where the 4×4 rules and the AC is always cranked up the max.  But if Masdar can be an exemplar that other cities look to for inspiration, then it will have been a success.  Currently in construction, it will be a living experiment of sustainability in the desert.

Finally, Rutu Dave of the World Bank looked at the overwhelming challenges for cities in the developing world and how the World Bank has developed projects and methodologies that can make “greening” cities financially viable.   Just one part of the jigsaw that needs to fit into place if sustainable cities are to be the future.

For other highlights from days 3 and 4…

Planet Solar the solar ship that travelled round the world in 2011 was there! Previously the subject of a post on this blog, it was great to see her there in all her glory.  Smaller than I expected but no less impressive.  Visionary, inspiring and just pretty damn cool.

And Formula 1?  No, not the Yas Marina Circuit (although that was ridiculously fun!) but the technology taken from formula 1 constructors such as Williams used in everyday solutions to reduce energy consumption.  So the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that Formula 1 cars used has been scaled up by Williams to be used on larger vehicles such as trains to reduce their energy use by wasting less energy.  Clever thinking.  My better half remarked that all those Sundays he has spent watching Formula 1 were clearly justified because they were at the same time busy saving the world.  Nice try.

And finally, a big congratulations to Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for winning the Zayed Future Energy Prize.  CDP is an independent not-for-profit organisation that works to drive greenhouse gas emissions reduction and sustainable water use by businesses and cities.  It’s hard to reduce what you don’t know and the CDP provides the systems that allow measurement, disclosure and information.  Great to see it being recognised and hopefully part of changing our collective future.

Overall a fantastic experience.  And to anyone who doesn’t think that clean energy is “mainstream”, I’d suggest they book their tickets to Abu Dhabi for the WFES 2013 – you won’t be left in any doubt that it is a major industry with (thankfully) a bright future.