National Academies To Hold Two-Day Summit On Energy Issues

Energy policy is at the center of some of the nation’s most pressing challenges, from national security and the economy to global climate change. To provide a critical overview of America’s energy future, the National Academies are convening a summit of leading energy experts from the government, research institutions, and the private sector. The event will inform an Academies study under way called “America’s Energy Future: Technology Opportunities, Risks, and Tradeoffs.”



Topics to be examined over the course of the two-day summit include:

· geopolitical context of U.S. energy policy and global supply and demand;

· coal, nuclear power, biofuels, and hydrogen;

· implications for the automotive fuel economy;

· innovative energy projects for electricity production and hybrid vehicles;

· requirements for a sustainable energy future; and

· climate change technologies and CO2 reduction.



DETAILS:

March 13 and 14 from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. each day in the auditorium of the National Academy of Sciences building, 2100 C St., N.W., Washington, D.C. Those who cannot attend may listen to a live webcast of the event at http://www.national-academies.org.



Sessions will be moderated by Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences; and Charles M. Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering.



PRESENTERS INCLUDE:

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chair, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Samuel W. Bodman, secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Steven Chu, director, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and co-chair, Interacademy Council Study Panel on a Sustainable Energy Future

Robert W. Fri, senior fellow emeritus, Resources for the Future

Jose Goldemberg, secretary for the environment, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and co-chair, Global Energy Assessment Council, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

John P. Holdren, professor, Harvard University, and co-chair, National Commission on Energy Policy

Reuben Jeffery III, undersecretary for economic, energy, and agricultural affairs, U.S. Department of State

Amory Lovins, chief executive officer, Rocky Mountain Institute, and principal investigator, Winning the Oil End Game

Raymond L. Orbach, undersecretary for science, U.S. Department of Energy

Dan Reicher, director, Climate Change and Energy Initiatives, Google.org

James R. Schlesinger, chairman, Mitre Corp., and senior adviser, Lehman Brothers