The three-day Future of Energy Forum, running through Wednesday on Tulane’s main campus in Uptown New Orleans, features more than 40 sessions covering data center growth, battery advancements, nuclear energy, critical minerals, carbon capture, shifting energy regulations, sustainable energy, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, reports NOLA.com.
Pierre Conner, executive director of the Tulane Energy Institute, said the event intentionally addresses all sides of these issues as stakeholders struggle to balance the often-conflicting goals of energy reliability, resiliency, accessibility and affordability. Hot topics at this year’s event include water use for data centers, the impact of the U.S.’s actions in Venezuela on the Gulf Coast oil industry, and how politics — especially this year’s mid-term elections — could affect energy investment.
Keynote speakers at the forum include federal energy regulator David LaCerte, CenterPoint Energy CEO Jason Wells and the Energy Department’s top lawyer, Jonathan Brightbill. Other participants include Geoffrey Richardson, senior vice president of commercial and business development at ExxonMobil; Kevin McMahon, vice president of production assets, Gulf of America, at Shell; Claudia Morrow, senior vice president of corporate development and strategy at Vistra Corp.; Dustin Davidson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy; Jean-Paul Coussan, Louisiana public service commissioner; Gray Stream, executive chairman and president of Gulf Coast Sequestration; Julie Stokes, president and CEO of Ellevate Louisiana; Ian Walch, vice president of energy markets at ENFRA; Darryl Willis, corporate vice president for the energy and resources industry at Microsoft; and John Weiss, vice president of sustainability and environmental policy at Entergy. Read more from NOLA.com (a subscription may be required).
