You don’t always know an energy product when you see it.

With those and a few other well-chosen words, University of California, Santa Barbara, College of Engineering Dean Matt Tirrell kicked off one of the most promising technology events on campus in the past decade.

That event was the May 20 Santa Barbara Summit of Energy Efficiency, hosted at UCSB and featuring some of the top folks in the world of smart grids, smart policy, smart chips and smart buildings.

Speaking to an early morning crowd that filled slightly more than half the hall, Tirrell, Chancellor Henry Yang and John Bowers, who heads UCSB’s new energy efficiency institute, outlined their role in the nation’s new energy policy.

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