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Green Connections 2021:

The mission is zero emission

 10TH ANNUAL GREEN CONNECTIONS - VIRTUAL CONFERENCE 
NOVEMBER 10TH & 11TH



thank you for participating in this year's green connections event!

With Scandinavia being world-leading in CleanTech and sustainability, SACC-SD has had a mission for over a decade to spread the passion and knowledge to Southern California and support American and Nordic CleanTech businesses. The Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego and the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles decided to collaborate and establish a two-day conference that inspires and educates about CleanTech and sustainability, and promotes networking and exchange of sustainable solutions between Nordic and American companies that share our passion for a healthy planet.

Green Connections 2021, together with the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego and the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles, we will host a two-day virtual seminar on November 10th & 11th with knowledgeable guest speakers and opportunities for discussions and networking.
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day 1: hydrogen solutions
day 2: electric transportation


​NOVEMBER 10-11TH
TIME:
​07:30-11am pSt
16:30-20:00 CEST

SIGN UP HERE
READ MORE & SEE THE PROGRAM

hydrogen solutions

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​Hydrogen energy storage is another form of chemical energy
storage in which electrical power is converted into hydrogen.
This energy can then be released again by using the gas as
fuel in acombustion engine or a fuel cell. Compared to
natural gas, Hydrogen burns the same with but withoutthe
carbon dioxide emissions.

Research has shown that Hydrogen energy storage is of
interest because the gas forms the basis for the hydrogen
economy in which it replaces fossilfuel in many
combustion applications.

Join us on November 10th to hear more about it!
Sign up

GREEN CONNECTIONS 2021

Picture
Hydrogen energy storage is another form of chemical energy storage in which electrical power is converted into hydrogen. This energy can then be released again by using the gas as fuel in acombustion engine or a fuel cell. Compared to natural gas, Hydrogen burns the same with but without the carbon dioxide emissions.

Research has shown that Hydrogen energy storage is of interest because the gas forms the basis for the hydrogen economy in which it replaces fossilfuel in many combustion applications.

Join us on November 10th to hear more about it!

As an important step towards a more sustainable way of transportation, we want to focus on electric solutions for transportation during our second day of Green Connections.

Research has shown that electric transportation is better for the environment than conventional transportation methods. When, for example, driving in a full electric mode, a vehicle produces zero tailpipe emissions, leading to a dramatic decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and smog.

Around 93% of people in California live in places where the air quality is below the federal or state air health-based quality standard. We believe California is ready for more sustainable solutions.

Join us on November 11th to hear more about it!
sign up

Currents of Energy & UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Green Connections invites visionaries, experts and decision makers from Southern California and the Nordic nations to exchange knowledge, ideas and technologies regarding renewable energy. This year Green Connections is arranged as a virtual conference during 10-11 November.
​

We are pleased to present to you the 10th annual Green Connections conference organized by the Swedish and Finnish Chambers of Commerce in San Diego (FACC) and in Strategic Partnership with the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in LA (NACC).

Please join us as a Sponsor, an Exhibitor, a Speaker, or an Attendee to promote global collaboration. 


Speakers of gc 2021

Our speakers are industry, academic and government leaders who represent the future of CleanTech, sustainability and renewable energy from the Nordics and Southern California. ​


​leif asp

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Professor at Chalmers



​johnny sjöström

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Executive Vice President At SSAB



​Vesa Koivumaa

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Head of Growth, AMER



​Anders forslund

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CEO at Heart Aerospace



​TANGUY DE LAMOTTE

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President of Candela US



​JULIEN GENNETIER

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Vice President of the Energy Division at Alfa Laval



​cecilia lif​

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Cecilia Lif, Trade Counselor at Embassy of Sweden



​Gunnar asplund

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​Electric Rail Technology



​elias hakalehto

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Adjunct Professor



​​Eirik Melaaen

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Director Midstream, NORWEP



​HANS-CHRISTIAN schulze

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CEO & founder of IOWN Renewable Energy Inc.



​HANS THORNELL

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Chairman of Green City Ferries



​Richard Berkling

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CEO of PowerCell



​BJÖRN PAULSSON

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Björn Paulsson CEO at Paulsson Inc



​KArin ebbinghaus

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CEO of ELONROAD



​Kevin norris

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Associate Engineer at UCSD



​ellinor ehrnberg

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President of Smoltek Innovation



​JAMES KAST

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Business Development Manager, Toyota Motor North America



​kajsa dahlberg

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Hydrogen Industry Manager
​at Alfa Laval



​Mike levin

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Congressman, House of Representatives



​Geir Bjørkeli

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CEO At Corvus Energy

MORE SPEAKERS COMING SOON, STAY TUNED!

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LEIF ASP
PROFESSOR AT THE MATERIAL AND COMPUTATIONAL MECHANICS, DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND MATERIALS, chalmers

Professor Leif Asp at the Department of Industrial and Materials Science at the Chalmers University of Technology will present ongoing research on structural battery composites in Sweden. Professor Asp has been involved in this field of research since 2007 and performs his research in close collaboration with colleagues from different labs at Chalmers, KTH, and Imperial College London. Professor Asp is former President of the International Committee of Composite Materials (ICCM) as well as the European Society of Composite Materials (ESCM). He is also a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Leif will present his research on structural battery composites, their constituents, manufacture, and performance. What if the battery can be part of the car body, the aircraft fuselage, or the interior? Can mass-less energy storage be achieved?

Listen to Professor Asp on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation
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GUNNAR ASPLUND
FOUNDER OF ELWAYS

In 2009 Gunnar Asplund started the company Elways after 39 years of work at ASEA/ABB working with High Voltage Direct Current, HVDC. Elways technology is now marketed by the company Evias that now has a system to charge electric road vehicles – both light and heavy – while driving, that eliminates the present limitation of batteries. Elways has patented the electric rail technology and is part of a Swedish consortium backing the eRoadArlanda project that also includes infrastructure company NCC and utility Vattenfall, which provides power from the national grid to the rail.

​Gunnar became an Honorary Doctor at the Royal Swedish University of Technology (KTH) in 2006. He has received the IEEE Uno Lamm Award, the Gold Medal of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering and the Polhem Price from the Swedish Engineering Society, and The big Swedish Price of Technology.


Listen to Asplund on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation
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KARIN EBBINGHAUS
CEO OF ELONROAD

Karin Ebbinghaus is the CEO of the innovative company Elonroad, which contributes to the system shift into to a more climate-friendly society. Elonroad enables acceleration into electrification of the transport sector by providing a novel kind of charging infrastructure.  Karin has a background as a lawyer and investor but fell for Elonroad and their inspiring approach to tackling the climate challenge with new thinking and belief in technology.

Listen to Ebbinghaus on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation
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JOHNNY SJÖSTRÖM
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND HEAD OF STEEL DIVISION AT SSAB

Dr. Johnny Sjostrom is currently working as Executive Vice President for SSAB and responsible for the Special Steel division. Dr. Sjostrom is also an associate professor at the Technical University of Luleå. Even if Dr. Sjostroms main research focus has been on additive manufacturing he is now heavily involved in the fossil free transformation at SSAB. The presentation will focus on the fossil free transformation in the steel industry and challenge of replacing a 1000 year old technology to a new fossil free production.

Listen to Sjöström on November 10th
Theme: Hydrogen Solutions
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ELIAS HAKALEHTO
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

Elias Hakalehto, PhD, MSc, graduated from the University of Helsinki as a microbiologist in 1983. In 1995 he received the Postgraduate Diploma in Biotechnology from Canterbury and London, U.K. He is an alumnus of University College London in biochemical engineering. He made the first gene transfer from antibiotic producing streptomycetes to Escherichia coli in the Westminster University (then Polytechnic of Central London).

Dr. Hakalehto was the first researcher in a joint project between Valio Corporation and University of Helsinki leading to the acquisition and launching of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG probiotic strain. In 1989-90 he was a visiting scientist in the biotechnology unit and the department of membrane and ultrastructure research in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His R&D company Finnoflag Oy (est.1993) has carried out over 100 projects for various industries and universities.

​Dr. Hakalehto served as the member and secretary of the Toxicology and Microbiology section of the Finnish Committee of National Defense in 1997-2003. He wasnominated year 2008 as an Adjunct Professor of biotechnical microbe analytics in Kuopio (nowadays University of Eastern Finland), and an Adjunct Professor for the University of Helsinki in 2016 in microbiological agroecology.

Listen to Dr. Hakalehto on November 10th
Theme: Hydrogen Solutions
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KEVIN NORRIS
ASSOCIATE ENGINEER AT UCSD

Kevin installed and operates the Electric Vehicle infrastructure at UC San Diego, he is also the Project Manager for Energy Storage Research and Building Commissioning for new construction. Prior projects include demand charge reduction on DC Fast Chargers, Vehicle to Grid technology and ISO 15118 testing. Installation of the Campus CNG station, a 2.8 MW Fuel Cell using digester gas from a water treatment plant, Concentrated Photovoltaic arrays and various energy storage research projects totaling multimillion dollars in research money.

​Having over 28 years’ experience at the University with an Engineering background Kevin has worked in Building Commissioning and Sustainability for the past 12 years. Kevinmanages all aspects of the project for the University including legal agreements, plan review, building permit and inspection.

Listen to Norris on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation
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VESA KOIVUMAA
HEAD OF GROWTH, AMER

Vesa Koivumaa is Head of Growth, Americas for Voyage, division of Wärtsilä a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets.  Vesa’s areas of focus and responsibility are the exploration of strategic maritime solutions and technological growth opportunities.  
 
Over 20 years in a variety of senior executive and management positions including at Wärtsilä, Vesa’s primary areas of impact include: Integration and Harmonization of European Companies into the Americas Network Security, OEM, Complex Project Management, and Customer Experience Management (CX).  
 
Prior to Wartsila, Vesa worked as VP, Channel Management in San Francisco for Stonesoft, Americas, an IT security company acquired by Intel's subsidiary McAfee.  
 
Member of the Board, Maritime Blue, State of Washington and The Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, Greater Houston where he serves as President. 
   
A native of Finland, Vesa holds an MBA in International Business with a focus in Finance & Banking from the George Washington University.

Listen to Koivumaa on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation
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EIRIK MELAAEN
Director for Midstream & LNG, East Africa and Singapore at Norwegian
Energy Partners

Eirik Melaaen's background is from projects, management, business development and marketing within marine/yards, process and energy industry with focus on gas, LNG, hydrogen, CCS/CCUS and energy optimization. Broad experience and good understanding of international business, especially in Asian countries. He has held various positions in research, consulting and international companies. Eirik has a Ph.D. from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway within LNG technology.

​Norwegian Energy Partners (NORWEP) is an organisation supporting and assisting in the internationalisation of the Norwegian energy industry. NORWEP is acting as a catalyst for processes between Norwegian industry and international businesses and governments.

Listen to Melaaen on November 10th
Theme: Hydrogen Solutions
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ELLINOR EHRNBERG
​PRESIDENT OF SMOLTEK INNOVATION

Ellinor is President of Smoltek Innovation, a subsidiary to Smoltek Nanotech, that are pioneering new membrane-based applications in the field of energy storage and energy conversion based on Smolteks disruptive carbon nanostructure technology platform.

Current focus is on electrolyzers for hydrogen production where Smoltek’s technology has the potential to contribute to more area efficient electrodes, which would provide more efficient production in hydrogen production plants, as it would become possible to produce hydrogen at a lower cost or reducing the size of the plant.

Ellinor has over 30 years of experience from various global roles in innovation, business development, strategy, company acquisitions, research, sales and business management –mainly with a focus on growth and new technology. She has a background from leading rolesmainly within SKF, but also from Husqvarna, Mölnlycke Health Care, RISE and Arthur D Little.

Listen to Ehrnberg on November 10th
Theme: Hydrogen Solutions
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ANDERS FORSLUND
CEO AT HEART AEROSPACE

Anders is the founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace. He founded the company in 2018 together with Klara Andreasson with the aim of electrifying short-haul regional aviation, with an early focus on the Nordic countries. 

Before starting Heart, Anders was an aerospace researcher at Chalmers University, where he was a driving force behind the research project Elise-Electric Aviation in Sweden, funded by the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova. He spent 2013-2014 at MIT, where his work on geometric variation of aerospace components was awarded the Charles M. Manly Memorial Medal. He is also a founding member of the Nordic Network for Electric Aviation.

Anders has a Ph.D. in Aerospace Product Development and a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Chalmers. He has a dual M.Sc. in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University and Luleå University, as a part of the SpaceMaster program. He is also a member of the Prince Daniel fellowship for young entrepreneurs.

Listen to Forslund on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation Innovation
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 HANS-CHRISTIAN SCHULZE
CEO AND FOUNDER OF IOWN RENEWABLE ENERGY INC.

Hans-Christian is CEO and founder of IOWN Renewable Energy Inc. (IOWN). He is also serving as County Manager of Eolus North America, Inc. Hans-Christian is an electrical power systems engineer, active in the power and utility industry since 2005. He has been responsible for developing about 1,000 MW of renewable energy projects and has raised over $1 billion dollars’ worth of financing of renewable energy projects. His journey in the wind industry started when he co-founded the Swedish wind developer Svenska Vindbolaget AB, which was sold and merged into Eolus Vind AB, one of the largest wind developers in the Nordics, in 2011.

At Eolus, he took on the Deputy CEO, COO and Head of Transactions positions and he helped the company growing and getting to the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange. Motivated by the challenge of a new market, Hans-Christian founded IOWN in 2014 in La Jolla, CA. After resigning from his positions at Eolus Vind AB, he moved permanently to California in 2015. IOWN was hired by Eolus to lead the entry into the North American renewable market and to establish Eolus wind, solar and storage pipeline in the US.

Hans-Christian will talk about the role of long duration energy storage in the transition to renewable energy.

​Listen to Hans-Chrisitan on November 10th
Theme: Hydrogen Solutions
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JAMES HARKER
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER WITH THE ELECTRIFIED VEHICLE AND TECHNOLOGIES OFFICE AT TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA

James is a Business Development Manager with the Electrified Vehicle and Technologies Office at Toyota Motor North America. His role includes a number of business development activities to expand the adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles in the U.S., namely the Toyota Mirai and Toyota’s Project Portal Class 8 truck.

​Before joining Toyota, James supported the Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow. He holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Irvine, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho.

​Listen to Harker on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation Solutions
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TANGUY DE LAMOTTE
PRESIDENT OF CANDELA US

Famous from the yacht racing circuit, de Lamotte has a number of titles under his belt, among them two wins in the prestigious Fastnet race. But he is perhaps best-known to the public for engaging in some of the world’s most excruciating, long-distance sail races. A Naval Architect by training, he designed and built his own boats and raced twice in the Mini Transat race across the Atlantic. In 2012, de Lamotte participated in the infamous 2012 Vendée Globe round-the-world race – known as the “Mount Everest of the seas”

Based in San Francisco, Tanguy de Lamotte is the ideal person to build up the Swedish tech company’s US Division, focusing on promoting the revolutionary leisure boats as well as Candela’s commercial passenger craft, the P-30 and P-12.


​Listen to Delamotte on November 11th
Theme: Electric Transportation Solutions