Energy Resources & Access

Fellow Story

Wolf says saving emperor penguins requires swift climate action

Audiences around the world were captivated by March of the Penguins, a 2005 film that grippingly depicted the almost unfathomable hardships the emperor penguin endures to nurture each new generation. In darkness and extreme cold, the males protect their mates' eggs as they fast for months through the world's harshest winter weather.
March 17, 2014
Fellow Story

Levin co-authors report on appropriate time frames for post-202 emissions-reduction contributions

As countries negotiate a new international climate agreement for the post-2020 period—including at this week’s intersessional meeting in Bonn, Germany—the key choices for putting the world on a secure pathway to a low-carbon future should be front-of-mind. The new agreement will be essential for putting in place the policies beyond 2020 that ensure a shift from high-carbon to low-carbon and climate-resilient investments. To do this, the agreement will have to send the right signals to governments and businesses about the trajectory we need to be on.
March 15, 2014
Fellow Story

Wheeler leads development of new sustainable environmental design major

“There was a concern for people with an interest in sustainable environmental design who would go to landscape architecture but would not get in,” said Sharla Cheney, undergraduate adviser for landscape architecture and environmental design. LDA is an intensive and selective program that only allows up to 36 applicants to declare it as a major each year. SED allows students without an aptitude for art, drafting and design interested in sustainable planning to pursue a degree.
March 14, 2014
Fellow Story

Sims Gallagher on new book on diffusion of clean energy technologies

From Dean James Stavridis of The Fletcher School at Tufts University: This month I speak with alumna Kelly Sims Gallagher, associate professor of energy and environmental policy at The Fletcher School, about her latest research, her upcoming book, and several exciting developments at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP), where she is the director.
March 14, 2014
Fellow Story

Linden's team builds innovative solar-powered toilet with Gates Foundation funding

A revolutionary University of Colorado Boulder toilet fueled by the sun that is being developed to help some of the 2.5 billion people around the world lacking safe and sustainable sanitation will be unveiled in India this month.
March 13, 2014
Fellow Story

Foss says diluted bitumen spill impacts particularly severe, lasting for New Hampshire

"The changes in hydraulics and internal pressures associated with reversing flow in a pipeline, particularly one that crosses multiple hills and valleys, can increase the risk of a spill," said Director of Conservation Carol Foss of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire explained in a recent press conference. "While any discharge of crude oil into the North Country environment would be a disaster, impacts of a dilbit spill would be particularly severe and lasting.
March 12, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen says West Virginia's Renewable Portfolio Standard is a "hollow bill"

Evan Hansen, principal with Downstream Strategies, said the state’s RPS needs to change significantly if West Virginia is to have a future that includes renewables. The current RPS has allowed the state to rely on existing alternative energy projects, even projects from out of state. “It’s done absolutely nothing to promote the use of renewables,” he said. “Not one renewable energy project has been built to satisfy those requirements … It was an entirely hollow bill.”
March 12, 2014
Fellow Story

An Ocean in the Desert: RocketHub campaign launched to transform Biosphere 2 biome

Rafe Sagarin has been working the last several months at Biosphere 2, which is now owned by the University of Arizona. We have been working to find the right balance of scientific research, STEM education, and visitor outreach for this strange and rather amazing facility with a history to match.
March 12, 2014
Foundation News

How Can We Support a Low Carbon Future?

As pressure is mounting for short term action on the long term implications of a changing climate, we're interested in Fellows' thoughts on this question: How can Switzer Fellows align their individual efforts on climate change and energy...
March 11, 2014
Fellow Story

Klee awaiting confirmation as next commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

If Robert Klee is daunted by the challenge that lies ahead as the state’s next Department of Energy and Environmental Protection commissioner, he doesn’t show it. The agency’s former chief of staff under then-Commissioner Dan Esty, Klee views his pending ascendancy to DEEP’s top job as an opportunity to remake Connecticut at a historic juncture. During an 90-minute interview last week at his office, Klee said the state is on the verge of seismic shifts in terms of energy, solid waste and recycling as well as reuse of brownfield properties across the state.
March 11, 2014