DEC Energy Seminar: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate

Date: Tuesday, October 27
Time: 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

In 1999, Texas passed a landmark clean energy law, beginning a groundswell of new policies that promised to make the US a world leader in renewable energy. As Leah Stokes shows in Short Circuiting Policy, however, that policy did not lead to momentum in Texas, which failed to implement its solar laws or clean up its electricity system. Examining clean energy laws in Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Ohio over a thirty-year time frame, Stokes argues that organized combat between advocate and opponent interest groups is central to explaining why states are not on track to address the climate crisis. She tells the political history of our energy institutions, explaining how fossil fuel companies and electric utilities have promoted climate denial and delay. Stokes further explains the limits of policy feedback theory, showing the ways that interest groups drive retrenchment through lobbying, public opinion, political parties and the courts. More than a history of renewable energy policy in modern America, Short Circuiting Policy offers a bold new argument about how the policy process works, and why seeming victories can turn into losses when the opposition has enough resources to roll back laws.

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Feldberg Library- Energy Industry Exploration

The Feldberg Library at Tuck will hold an Industry Exploration session for Energy focused students on October 14 at 1:15 pm and 3:00 pm. The knowledgeable staff will show students who to locate market research reports and retrieve industry overviews.

DEC Energy Seminar: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Climate & Energy Leaders

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Time: 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

The climate crisis is a crisis of leadership. For too long too many leaders have prioritized corporate profits over the public good, exacerbating climate vulnerabilities while reinforcing economic and racial injustice. Transformation to a just, sustainable renewable-based society requires leaders who connect social justice and antiracist, feminist principles to climate and energy.  During the Trump era, connections among white supremacy; environmental destruction; and fossil fuel dependence have become more conspicuous. The inadequate and ineffective male-dominated framing of climate change as a narrow, isolated, discrete problem to be "solved" by technical solutions has inhibited investments in social change and social innovations. But inspiring leaders who are connecting climate and energy with job creation and economic justice, health and nutrition, housing and transportation, are advancing exciting transformative change. Bold diverse leaders are resisting the "the polluter elite" to restructure society by catalyzing a shift to a just, sustainable, regenerative, and healthy future.

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Energy Workshop with Jon Fouts T’92 “Financial Trends in Energy and Power”

The annual Revers Center for Energy Project Finance Workshop on Wednesday, October 7, from 12 – 2:30pm with Jon Fouts T’92, Managing Director, Global Power & Utility Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Division. This deep-dive workshop is an exciting opportunity for Tuck students looking to explore the industry or recruit for energy (especially banking and consulting). Energy Project Finance enables capital sources for utilities both at the national and international level. Jon Fouts T'92 (bio below) will lead the workshop with the support of relevant case studies. He will also cover: M&A trends in energy and power, the rise of ESG and renewable energy projects, and energy project finance with a review of cases.

Jon Fouts T'92 is the Managing Director for the Global Power and Utility Group in the Investment Banking Division for Morgan Stanley. As part of his role in the Global Power & Utility Group, Jon Fouts covers a number of the corporate power clients and is responsible for the alternative investor, independent developer and wind / renewable business. Since Jon started his career at Morgan Stanley in 1995, he has held numerous positions in the company and covered a number of the company’s important corporate and financial clients. Jon has extensive experience in advising a wide variety of clients in landmark mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and capital markets issues. Jon is a T’92 and also holds an A.B. (Economics and Political Science) magna cum laude from Bowdoin College.

Tuck students and staff can RSVP here to receive Zoom information. Dartmouth undergraduate and graduate students can email to participate.

New Energy Series: Steffi Muhanji and Wester Schoonenberg, Dartmouth College

Two major trends dominate the 21st century's changing energy landscape: globalization and climate change. The urban population has significantly increased accounting for over 60% of the world's population living on only 3% of the earth's surface. On the other hand, climate change has led to many challenges that are constantly threatening these urban populations. This requires not only sustainable infrastructure systems that can cater to the growing needs of the urban population but also the resilience of these systems and communities towards the effects of climate change. While decarbonization of key infrastructure systems is paramount, recognising the operational interdependence of various systems such as energy-water, and energy-transportation is necessary to realize their synergistic benefits. This presentation covers the study of such interdependent infrastructure systems from two angles: system structure and system behavior.

In the first part, Wester will discuss his work on the advancement of a Hetero-functional Graph Theory to study the structure of interdependent smart city infrastructure systems. Hetero-functional Graph Theory enables the modeling of multiple coupled unlike engineering systems of arbitrary topology to analyze their structure as well as resilience.

In the second part, Steffi will draw upon two full-scale renewable energy integration studies: The ISO New England System Operational Analysis and Renewable Energy Integration Study (SOARES), and the New England Energy-Water Nexus Study to highlight key challenges facing renewable energy integration and the benefits of actively engaging the demand side. Together, these studies show that energy-water resources and more generally demand-side resources can play a prominent grid balancing role in a decarbonized electricity grid.

Thayer School Jones Seminar Series: Electric Industry Responses to US SEC Disclosures

Learn how Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance did not increase climate-related disclosures, but instead, how responses by firms in the electric industry reflect a so-called “chilling effect,” where corporations avoid language that could be tied to regulatory enforcement.

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Energy Careers in Energy Consulting Lunch & Learn

Revers Center for Energy T’21 Fellows with experience recruiting and working in different energy fields within consulting will share their career pathways with the Tuck community. There are a variety of consulting firms that do on-campus and off-campus recruiting at Tuck. T’21 students who have recruited and interned in these potential careers will help navigate the different career options and share recruitment strategies for different firms and geographical locations.

Tuck staff and students sign up here.

DEC Energy Seminar: Improving Climate and Energy Communciations

Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Time: 12:15p.m.-1:15p.m.

Grasping the basic science and implications around climate and energy issues is essential for citizens to make well—informed decisions around these issues. However, it can be a challenge for scientists to translate their expertise into widely apprehensible information. In this talk, Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology and Behavioral Science at the University of Southern California, will summarize key insights from a variety of projects on how to improve risk and science communication aimed at members of the general public. 

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