SATURDAY, November 14

Symposium on Sustainability, 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM, Ramo Auditorium
"Energy and Other Sustainability Challenges," Keynote Speaker: Steven Koonin, Undersecretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy

Abstract:
Development and population growth are placing unprecedented demands on global resources. This talk will examine these circumstances, with a focus on the US energy situation.

Global energy demand is growing. Today, fossil fuels provide about 80% of the world's energy, and the conventional use of fossil fuels is causing carbon dioxide to accumulate in the atmosphere and affect the climate. For the US, this energy landscape poses two largely separable problems: security of supply, which is mostly about liquid hydrocarbons for transport (i.e., imported oil) and GHG emissions, which arise largely from stationary sources providing heat and power.

How can we bring about the required revolution in our energy system? What technologies do we need and what institutions will best facilitate their development? What policies will be required to hasten development and deployment? What will be the costs? How long will it take? How can we meet these goals while creating jobs and fostering prosperity?

Many of these complex problems also apply to other sustainability issues, including water and food. The challenges of addressing them will set the national and global agendas for the next many decades.

Panel Moderator: James Langer, Marshall Scholar 1955, University of California-Santa Barbara

Panelists:
Harry Atwater, California Institute of Technology;
Paul Dimotakis, California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
William Gross, Idealab;
Seema Jayachandran, Marshall Scholar 1993, Stanford University; and
Mary Nichols, California Air Resources Board