Explorer and Sustainability Thought Leader Piccard to Speak at Global Ocean Energy Event

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Explorer and Sustainability Thought Leader Piccard to Speak at Global Ocean Energy Event

DATE:

April 12, 2021

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Explorer and Sustainability Thought Leader Piccard to Speak at Global Ocean Energy Event

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Jacques Piccard, the famous scientist and underwater explorer, plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other person.

It seems only fitting, then, that his son, Bertrand Piccard, will address the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE), on Thursday, April 29, 2021.

WHO IS BERTRAND PICCARD?

Bertrand Piccard is an explorer, a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry, and a visionary. He is regarded as an influential voice and a forward-thinking leader in progress and sustainability.

Exploration runs in the Piccard family. Bertrand’s father Jacques Piccard and his grandfather Auguste Piccard were discoverers … leading the way in exploring the ocean depths and the stratosphere.

Auguste was a physicist who was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere.

Jacques invented the bathyscaph, a vessel that allows humans to descend to great depths in oceans and was used by the U.S. Navy to dive nearly 7 miles below sea level in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench.

Bertrand says what he is passionate about discovering are “new ways of doing and thinking, in particular in the field of clean technologies for a better quality of life.”

SHARING SUSTAINABILITY VIEWS AT ICOE

Dr. Piccard will provide his insight about the intersect between clean technologies and the ocean in a featured session during the upcoming International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE).

The session, UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: What Is It and What Does It Mean for Marine Energy?, will focus on leveraging trends in ocean science and ocean development for the advancement of marine energy and Blue Economy opportunities.

Paul Holthus, founding president and CEO of the World Ocean Council, is moderating the session. Other high-powered speakers in the session include:

  • Birgit Liodden, founder and CEO of The Ocean Opportunity Lab (TOOL), the world’s first floating lab and hub for innovators across ocean industries, sustainable business and technology
  • David Millar, government accounts director for the Americas at Fugro, a Dutch multinational public company specializing in collecting and analasing geological data, both on land and at sea
  • Pierre Rousseau, strategic advisor for sustainable business at BNP Paribas, a French international banking group with a presence in 72 countries.
  • Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO of the DEME Group, a global company offering solutions for the offshore energy market, environmental and infra marine works, and dredging and land reclamation

To gain access to this session, as well as all the other content at this global ocean energy event, review the online registration details.

PICCARD NO STRANGER TO RENEWABLE ENERGY

A true innovator and proponent of renewable energy, Dr. Piccard is the chairman of Solar Impulse. In 1999, in an effort to raise public awareness for renewable energy, Piccard flew the first non-stop balloon flight around the world. Seven years later, in 2016, he again made history when he flew the Solar Impulse, a completely solar-powered plane, around the world.

Piccard has dedicated himself to demonstrating the synergy between clean energy technologies and advancement in economic development. He is a firm believer that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand.

Piccard is the visionary behind the Solar Impulse Foundation, a foundation inspired by the 2016 solar-fueled flight. The Foundation focuses on identifying and introducing one thousand solutions capable of protecting the environment without negatively impacting profits. These solutions are introduced to decision makers as tools to help inform policy and environmental goals.

Piccard says of the project, “Today, thousands of solutions exist that can boost economic growth while preserving nature, but they are often hidden in startups or research labs. They remain unknown to decision makers and are not implemented at industry level…we aim to select 1,000 clean and efficient solutions with a label proving their profitability. Imagine the impact that this will have on the world!”

On April 13, 2021, the Solar Foundation unveiled these 1,000 clean and efficient solutions. In the announcement, Piccard said: “The Solar Impulse Foundation, its experts and partners have identified, assessed and labeled 1,000 technological solutions capable of protecting the environment in a financially profitable way.” Among the solutions are several waterpower-related ones:

  • CalWave wave energy converter
  • GENERMA Wave Energy
  • Hydrokinetic Turbine by Bridge Gap Renewables
  • QED Naval Limited and Tocardo Turbines
  • Tocardo tidal energy turbines

Piccard says using solutions, like these list above, on a large scale would be a “huge asset for the environment and the economy, and would provide an ambitious roadmap for a cleaner and more efficient world.”

Piccard has been recognized as a Champion of the Earth and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment.