This week has an overlap of two tremendous — yet quite different — environments for getting to ‘touch and feel’ items at the leading edge of sustainable energy and water systems.
Tuesday through Thursday (20-22 Sept), National Defense University’s STAR-TIDES program holds it annual technology demonstration (register here). Now a decade in 
(see discussion of 2013 event during government shutdown), this combination (mini-)conference 
and trade/demonstration show focuses on leveraging technology to aid in disaster assistance and post-conflict environment. From portable renewable energy (read, mainly, solar) systems, to water purification, to low-cost sanitation solutions for developing world sewage, to portable / quick construction housing, to communications systems, this outdoors ‘tech show’ of about roughly 70 firms and organizations provides a chance to talk with people on the leading edge of solving real-world problems for some of the toughest environments any of us will encounter. If in the DC area and open for a few hours outdoors, an event well worth your time.
Wednesday through Friday (21-23 Sept), the World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC) is at the DC Convention Center. While WEEC has a rich and robust conference schedule (see here), WEEC’s real draw for me is the trade-show floor which typically takes up the Convention Center’s entire basement. The exhibitors are literally an A-to-Z list of firms with products and/or working in the energy space. While impossible to determine beforehand, I know that a day spent in the trade-show — discussing issues with various firms — will prove valuable with new insights on problems, solutions, and opportunities along with new firms/technologies to learn more about and track. If you can carve out four hours and have any desire for making Energy COOL discoveries, also very much worth the time.