[qi:_earth2tech] Two of the biggest challenges facing our society — economy and climate change — are so intertwined that it is virtually impossible to solve one problem without fixing the other. To eternal optimists, these challenges also offer opportunity and we are seeing that with major investment interest in alternative energies from folks as diverse as energy baron T. Boone Pickens to former Vice President Al Gore.

The cleantech movement is vital for our little corner of the world. If today’s broadband pipes are the 21st century highway system, electric power is the engine that keeps the traffic moving. From expensive data centers and large central offices, to routers and switches and all the way down to our iPhones — every single device depends on electricity. If we want our technical nirvana, we need to figure out ways to reduce our energy footprint.

We will explore some of these themes at Green:Net our one-day conference that will be held in San Francisco’s Golden Gateway Club on March 24, 2009. At the conference we will look at how software, the web and communication networks will help companies shape the future of our electrical system, deliver transportation infrastructure, create social movements and help reduce carbon emissions.

A team led by Katie Fehrenbacher, editor of our Earth2Tech blog, has helped put together the agenda for this conference. Here are some of the topics we are going to be exploring at the conference:

• Dotcom to Greenboom
• The Green Web Effect
• Green Data Centers: Low Carbon Diets for Your Data Center
• The New Networked Car
• Power Grid 2.0

Among our scheduled keynote speakers are:

• Bob Metcalfe, Inventor of Ethernet, General Partner at Polaris Venture Partners and proponent of Enernet, the energy network.
• Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist

Other confirmed speakers include:

• Saul Griffith – Co-founder of Makani Power, Squid Labs, Potenco and Wattzon, and MacArthur Prize Winner
• Jonathan Koomey – Professor, UC Berkley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Dr. Albert Esser – VP of Data Center Infrastructure Group, Dell
• Rob Aldrich – Principal, Energy Efficient Solutions, Cisco
• Bill Vogel – CEO, Trilliant
• Andy Tang – Director of Smart Web, PG&E
• Sunil Sharan – Smart Grid Director, GE
• Erin Carlson – Director, Yahoo for Good, Yahoo!

In days to come we will be updating the list of speakers and will update the conference web site accordingly. The event will also include a startup launch session, which will introduce 10 up and coming startups that are leveraging digital technologies for green aims. Speakers from companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell, Cisco, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Foundation Capital, JP Morgan, GE and Pacific Gas & Electric have also been added to the event schedule.

You can register for the conference at the conference web site, which also details information about schedule, speakers and the venue itself.

See you in San Francisco in March 2009!