April 1, 2009 - Dan Arvizu, director of the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), discusses the current state of renewable energy technology and implementation in the U.S., as well as potential advancements in the near future. He focuses on the need to increase energy efficiency and to expand the renewable energy marketplace in the United States. A recent increase in the laboratory's budget is promising, but they also need to increase the speed of technology uptake. Arvizu argues that local economics are encouraged by green techology. If the United States begins on the path to sustainable energy use, then these incremental changes will bring about a transition within the energy sector. The key challenges are implementing renewable energy at scale, displacing petroleum fuels, and reducing the energy demands of industry. He focuses on buildings as one of the biggest targets for emissions reduction because they are big emitters and there are low-cost options to reduce their carbon output. Wind and solar are also becoming more viable renewable energy sources, but Arzivu expresses a need to improve current technologies. NREL is positioned to address the large-scale deployment issues that also currently exist. The laboratory planning to implement different combinations of alternative technologies in each country where it works, based on their energy sector's adaptability to the various technologies. Related Themes:

• behavior
• bio-fuel
• economics
• energy efficiency
• energy for the developing world
• energy policy
• renewable energy
• solar
• wind

February 25, 2009 - Jacques Bouchard, former head of the Nuclear Energy Division of Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique in France, gives a comprehensive overview of France's innovative development of nuclear energy technology. He emphasizes the concern about climate change and the need to implement a new energy system that emits lower greenhouse gases as reasons for the necessity of nuclear energy around the world. Bouchard presents the French Act on Waste Management as a model for nuclear development in other countries: the EDF Generation Fleet focuses on optimization which is dependent upon consumption and has very low carbon dioxide emissions. France has developed large nuclear power capacity, but needs to have better use of uranium resources. The nuclear industry is now ready to implement newer and safer reactors. Bouchard explains that within 15% of the cost of a nuclear plant is set aside so that decommission can be conducted safely. Although Bouchard promotes nuclear energy as a positive path for many countries, he suggests the precondition of political stability for countries interested in nuclear energy. Related Themes:

• climate change
• economics
• industry expertise
• nuclear

January 21, 2009 - Ilan Kroo, professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, discusses the impact of aviation on the environment and the idea of "sustainable" aviation. Transport is responsible for 13-20% of all greenhouse gases, and aviation accounts for about 13% of transportation. Additionally, burning fuel at higher altitudes has an increased effect on global warmingcompared to the same emissions at lower altitudes, which gives the airline industry a disproportionate impact on climate change. Kroo shows that airplane efficiency has improved by 70% since the first airplane design, but has a number of design recommendations for further increasing the fuel efficiency of planes. These include autonomous aerial refueling, formation flight, and altered wing shape for reduction of drag. Kroo recommends systems of fleet design, new configurations and technologies, and a new climate model as critical for future improvements.

Related Themes:

• clean tech
• economics
• green jobs
• modeling
• transportation fuel

January 7, 2009 - Lee Schipper, senior research engineer at the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University, discusses better and more realistic fuel economy options in the U.S. and other industrialized nations. Schipper reveals that a rise in income levels leads to slower growth in CO2 emissions. However, though technology to reduce emissions has improved, worldwide growth continues. While voluntary agreements to reduce emissions are an important part of the solution, only half of the goals of past agreements have been achieved. Schipper devises a strategy for viewing the many components of the emissions problem as they relate to transport, creating a method through which these components can be assessed and addressed concurrently. His analysis indicates that as the real fuel price increases, the total distance per vehicle per capita decreases, as does the fuel intensity. Because residents of the U.S. use cars to travel the large majority of the urban distance that they move, he concludes that the future of car use, particularly in the U.S., depends on transport policies, CO2 policies, and higher fuel prices. Outstanding questions remain regarding how the U.S. will transform the current transport system and how developing countries will utilize lessons learned by developed countries when designing their own transport policies.

Related Themes:

• economics
• petroleum
• transportation fuel