Energy – 2006 – 2007 Annual Theme

2006-2007 theme

Richard Alley – “Joseph Priestley Award Recipient”

Poster Alley FinalPennsylvania State University

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

The Good News on Energy, Environment and Our Future

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Watch Live

Humans have burned trees, whales, and now fossil fuels far faster than they grew back, enjoying the energy but suffering the environmental impacts and then shortages. Now, we are the first generation that can build a sustainable energy system, improving the economy, employment, environment, ethics, and national security.

The Joseph Priestley Award recipient is chosen by a different science department each year. The Department of Earth Sciences has selected this year’s recipient. The event is supported by the College’s Priestley Fund and is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of biology, chemistry, earth sciences, environmental studies, mathematics & computer science, psychology, and physics & astronomy.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

alley head shotRichard Alley (Ph.D. 1987, Geology, Wisconsin) is Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Penn State.  He studies the great ice sheets to help predict future changes in climate and sea level, and has conducted three field seasons in Antarctica, eight in Greenland, and three in Alaska.  He has been honored for research (including Read more

Anthony Ingraffea

Ingraffea PosterCornell University

Shale Gas and Oil Development: Latest Evidence on Leaky Wells, Methane Emissions, and Energy Policy

Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium (ATS), 7 p.m.
(360 W. Louther Street, Carlisle, PA)

Ingraffea will discuss the myths and realities concerning large-scale development of unconventional natural gas/oil resources in shale deposits on both a local and global scale.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund,  Center for Sustainability Education, department of environmental studies and Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring (ALLARM). The program is also part of the Clarke Forum’s  Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Dr Ingraffea ithaca fallsBiography (provided by the speaker)

Dr. Ingraffea is the Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering Emeritus and a Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University where he has been since 1977. He holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado. Dr. Ingraffea’s research concentrates on computer simulation and physical testing of complex fracturing processes. He and his students performed pioneering research in the use of interactive Read more

Michael Granoff

Granoff Final PosterHead of Oil Independence Policies, Better Place

The End of the Oil Monopoly

Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.

For 100 years, virtually all of global transport has been the domain of a single, depleting, polluting commodity to the detriment of the global economy, security and environment. But the trend is beginning to change in 2012 as the convergence of technology and creative business modeling has led to the creation of a less expensive and more convenient alternative to gasoline-driven automobiles. Pioneered in Israel, Denmark and Australia, this radical new approach has the potential to turn two giant industries upside down.

This event is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and The Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life and is part of The Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Mike Granoff lower resBiography (provided by the speaker)
Michael Granoff has been head of oil independence policies for Better Place since its founding in 2007. In that capacity, he helps stakeholders of all types calibrate policies consistent with the Better Place approach to ending the corrosive effect of oil dependence on economy, environment and security. Stakeholders with which Granoff works include governments on every Read more

Michael Klare

klareposterFive College professor of Peace and World Security Studies

The Great Struggle Over Energy

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

This lecture will explain how the world’s existing energy system, based on oil and other fossil fuels, will have to be replaced by a new one over the next 30 years or so due to resource scarcity and climate change. But as no known alternative can replace fossil fuels at the present time, there will be an intense struggle over the various contenders for this role – a struggle that will have immense consequences for the major energy firms, the major energy producers and consumers, and all human beings.

This event is jointly sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs.

michael klareBiography (provided by the speaker)
Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies, a joint appointment at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Professor Klare has written widely on world security affairs, the arms trade, and global resource politics. His most recent books include Resource Wars (2001), Blood Read more

Terry Engelder

marcellus shale web

Professor of Geosciences, Penn State University

Marcellus Gas Shale

Thursday, March 25, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m

* This event is part of the Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

Engelder will talk about the Marcellus gas shale that is located in Pennsylvania, the potential economic value it has for the state, and the probable ramifications it will have for political scientists, lawyers, policy analysts and environmentalists.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Geology, Center for Environmental & Sustainability Education, and the Department of Environmental Science.

About the Speaker
Terry Engelder, a leading authority on the recent Marcellus gas shale play, holds degrees from Penn State B.S. (’68), Yale M.S. (’72) and Texas A&M, Ph.D. (’73). He is currently a professor of geosciences at Penn State and has previously served on the staffs of the U.S. Geological Survey, Texaco, and Columbia University. Short-term academic appointments include those of visiting professor at Graz University in Austria and visiting professor at the University of Perugia in Italy. Other academic distinctions include a Fulbright Senior Fellowship in Australia, Penn State’s Wilson Distinguished Teaching Award, membership in a U.S. earth science delegation to visit the Soviet Union immediately following Read more

Dallas Burtraw

Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future

Next Steps in U.S. Climate Policy: Winners, Losers and Innovations in Policy Design

Climate Change for WebWednesday, February 24, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

* This event is part of the Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

After the international climate meetings in Copenhagen, the eyes of the world rest on the U.S. and its progress towards meeting its goals for achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The leading proposal in the U.S. is a market-based cap-and-trade program, but there are a variety of approaches in designing such a program. These alternatives have very different implications for the overall cost of climate policy, and perhaps more importantly, who bears that cost.

Economists argue that cap and trade can achieve environmental goals at much less cost than traditional regulatory approaches. However, the asset value of the tradable “emissions allowances” that are introduced under cap and trade would constitute one of the largest commodity markets in the world. How these allowances are distributed – free distribution, or distribution through an auction – will have enormous implications for the efficiency and distributional impact of the policy, and ultimately on the nation’s willingness to move Read more

Daniel Desmond

Deputy Secretary of the Office of Energy and Technology Deployment, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions

Focus the Nation
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7:00 p.m.

Keynote Speaker for “Focus the Nation”
Co-sponsored by Environmental Studies Department and Dickinson SAVES

Visit this link for more information on Dickinson’s Focus the Nation programs.

Issue in Context
Global warming is a phenomenon believed to occur as a result of the build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil has caused the concentrations of heat-trapping “greenhouse gases” to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from dissipating, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.
Greenhouse gases are necessary to life as we know it, because they keep the planet’s surface warm. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, the Earth’s temperature is climbing above previously recorded levels. According to NASA data, the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 to 1.4°F in the last 100 years. Eleven of the last twelve years rank among the warmest years recorded since 1850, with Read more

Lance Simmens

Global Warming

Tuesday, September 11
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.
091107Simmens

The scientific evidence on global warming is as disturbing as it is definitive. Increasing carbon emissions challenge our planet and all who inhabit it, a challenge that is here and now and that we must both acknowledge and address. Taking off from the documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, the presentation by Simmens, special assistant to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, speaks to the average citizen.

Issue in Context
Global warming refers to the rise of the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans and has become a prominent global issue over the last fifty years. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been found by scientists to contribute in large part to the continued increase of the earth’s temperature. While some greenhouse gases are necessary to maintain a temperature suitable for life on earth, an excess of these gases can create serious problems. In the past decade, the earth has experienced some of the warmest years ever recorded. While changes in the sun’s orbit and some volcanic eruptions have contributed to global warming, scientists and environmentalists have found that the recent elevated temperatures of the planet can be attributed Read more

Energy Politics and Policy

Monday, April 16, 2007Lopatto Poster
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room
Metzger-Conway Fellow
Jeanne Lopatto, director of Government and International Affairs at Westinghouse Electric Company

Ms. Lopatto advises the chairman on international policy issues and programs related to regulatory assistance to foreign countries for nuclear safety and radiation protection, non-proliferation activities, and export licensing. She also acts as liaison for the chairman’s office and other federal agencies including the Departments of Energy, State, Homeland Security, and others. She will provide an energy perspective from inside “The Beltway.” Read more

Local Air Quality: Past, Present & Future?

Air Quality Poster
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
7:00 p.m. – Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium

“Continuing the Conversation”
All are welcome to stay for The Clarke Forum’s student led follow-up discussion immediately following the presentation.

Philip Carey, M.D., pulmonary specialist
Thomas Au, environmental attorney
Colonel (Ret.) Paul J. Cunningham, Clean Air Board
Omar Shute, executive director, Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation
Jesse Keen, vice president, Keen Transport, Inc.
R. Russell Shunk, executive vice president of College/Community Development at Dickinson College, Moderator

Issue in Context
Since human occupation, the Cumberland Valley has been a crossroads of commerce, trade, and travel. American Indians traversed trails through the region, along waterways and over mountains. People crossing these waterways and mountains now rely on the area’s heavy network of interstate highways. A vast logistics industry provides jobs in an economy that continues to lose manufacturing and farming. The trucks that drive through campus on Route 11 are just a slice of this network, and local air quality has diminished because of the diesel fuel emissions. A recent study by the American Lung Association indicated that the Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon area has the 24th most polluted air in the nation, a factor that affects health Read more

Getting to Green?: Pennsylvania's Commitment to Renewable Energy

Thursday, March 29, 2007RushPoster07
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room

Mike Ewall, director, ActionPA
Tom Tuffey, director, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s
Future Center for Energy, Enterprise and the Environment
Michael Heiman, facilitator, geographer and professor of environmental studies, Dickinson College

A discussion of Pennsylvania’s electricity provision, reform and contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Panelists will discuss the alternatives state laws allow, and the advances that have been made in wind and solar energy. An open discussion will follow.

Issue in Context
As both a major industrial state and a large producer of coal, Pennsylvania leaves a significant environmental footprint. Ranked third highest in the nation for production of greenhouse gasses (behind California and Texas), Pennsylvania contributes 1 PERCENT of all human-generated global carbon dioxide. Yet recently, this hotbed of energy generation and use has also given a lot of attention to alternative energy sources and environmental protection.
Although most agree that renewable energy sources are necessary to reduce our dependence on foreign sources and the carbon footprint accompanying fossil fuels, funding and support for alternative energy sources, some of which are less than “renewable,” is controversial in the Pennsylvania legislature and across the country. In Pennsylvania, Read more

Addressing Climate Change: A Least-Cost Strategy

Thursday, March 22, 2007
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room
Benjamin Rush Award
Roger W. Sant

Roger W. Sant is co-founder and chairman emeritus of The AES Corporation, one of the world’s largest global power companies operating in 27 countries. Mr. Sant was assistant administrator for energy conservation and the environment at the Federal Energy Administration as well as director of the energy productivity center, affiliated with the Carnegie Mellon University.

Issue in Context
Over the past two centuries, “greenhouse gases” which trap heat in our atmosphere have caused global temperatures to increase. The concentration of “greenhouse gases” is formed from deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. “Greenhouse gases” are critical to life for they allow the planet to remain warm. In recent years these temperatures have risen above traditional levels, providing cause for concern. Eleven out of the past 12 years have been some of the warmest years ever recorded. Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are 30 percent higher than they were during the Industrial Revolution. Polar ice caps are melting rapidly, at an average of 9 percent per decade; artic thickness has decreased 40 percent in the past 40 years. Furthermore, the number of Read more

The Interaction of Regulation, Markets, and Technology: Consumer Empowerment in the Electric Power Industry

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Kiesling Poster
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room
Lynne Kiesling, senior lecturer of economics at Northwestern University and research scholar, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science at George Mason University

Widespread electric power was one of the most dramatic achievements of the 20th century, and throughout its life there has been great tension among regulation, markets, and technological change. This talk will explore those tensions, with specific applications to regulatory, economic, and technological change in the early 21st century. Digital technology has transformed how we live our lives in many ways, but it has not affected how customers consume power or control their energy choices. We will explore the important implications of these questions for economic efficiency and equity, and for environmental quality.

Issue in Context
One of the most striking characteristics of the 20th century were advancements in the physical sciences. One such defining accomplishment was the spread of electrical power throughout the United States. Since then constant tension between consumers, electrical companies, regulation, and technological change has existed. Electrical companies continually strain to generate the amount of power consumers demand. Due to environmental issues, the U.S. government begins to regulate the electrical companies, which, some Read more

Oil, War, and Geopolitics: The Global Struggle Over Disappearing Petroleum

Thursday, February 22, 2007
Klare Poster
7:00 p.m. – Stern Center, Great Room
Michael Klare, Five Colleges professor of peace and world security studies

As we move deeper into the 21st century, the global demand for energy in all its forms is rising at breakneck speed, but the global supply is failing to keep pace, producing intensified competition between the major consuming nations — especially the United States, China, Japan, and the European powers — for access to the available supply. On top of this, the center of gravity of world energy output is moving inexorably from the Global North to the Global South, producing increased anxiety and uncertainty over the reliability and safety of international energy shipments. Both of these trends are contributing to the increased militarization of energy policy. Unless more is done to reduce our reliance on hydrocarbons, we can expect a global epidemic of “resource wars” over oil and other sources of energy.
Co-sponsored by Environmental Science, International Studies, International Business & Management, and Political Science.

Issue in Context

The actions of the U.S. in the Middle East during the past twenty years have been the subject of considerable debate. In his 2001 article “Geopolitics of War” Read more

The Neoliberal City

Thursday, February 1, 2007Neoliberal City
7:00 p.m. – Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium
David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Geography, Department of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

The global economic transformations that have occurred since 1970 or so are increasingly being referred to in terms of the rise of a “neoliberal” form of political economy (privatization, the withdrawal of the state from social provision, the inculcation of an ethic of personal responsibility). The urban consequences of this transformation have been the focus of considerable attention, but the New York “fiscal crisis” of the mid 1970s and its aftermath turns out to have been an originary moment in the rise of neoliberal practices. Tracing the history of neoliberalization through the recent history of urbanization reveals much about the power structures lying behind these transformations.

Books authored by David Harvey are available at the Waidner-Spahr Library. Read more

Humans First Altered Climate Thousands (Not Hundreds) of Years Ago

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Humans First Altered Climate Thousands (Not Hundreds) of Years Ago
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Ruddiman

Issue in Context
The earth’s climate naturally goes through periods of warming and cooling. Currently, the average temperature of the planet is increasing at an alarming rate. The most common conjecture of environmental scientists is that human actions are accelerating the natural warming of the planet. The amount of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), present in the atmosphere has increased, due in part to human consumption of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. Most scientists attribute this increase to the population growth and the industrialization of the past few hundred years in human history. However, William F. Ruddiman, a professor emeritus from the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia suggests that significant human intervention in the natural operation in the climate system actually began 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. Even while the world population was relatively small, heavy deforestation and rice irrigation in Eurasia , compounded by additional emissions from an unusually warm ocean caused a shift in global climate. Ruddiman suggests that by the start Read more

Venezuela’s PetroPolitics: Democracy over a Barrel

Monday, October 30, 2006
Venezuela’s PetroPolitics: Democracy over a Barrel
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 P.M.

Venezuela's Petropolitics

Issue in Context
Home of the fifth largest oil industry in the world, Venezuela has gained increasing economic and political clout in the midst of a global scarcity of oil. Venezuela’s oil policy has polarized the country’s domestic politics, culminating in the 2002 coup that nearly removed its populist president, Hugo Chavez, from office. In addition to triggering intense public debate on the home front, Venezuela’s oil politics and its effects on the country’s domestic and foreign relations have alarmed governments around the world. Despite criticism from the U.S. administration and oil CEOs, Chavez has utilized his country’s oil revenues to promote his idea of democratic socialism by creating a vast array of social programs that have boosted his popularity among Venezuelans. Chavez has also allocated oil revenues to fund an aggressive diplomatic agenda. In light of an upsurge in global terrorism, oil policy in Venezuela has dramatically transformed the country’s position in the sphere of global politics, as world leaders have linked Chavez’s actions to broader questions of national security. Pat Robertson’s controversial request that the U.S. administration “take out” Chavez demonstrates the Read more

Ethanol and Biodiesel Biofuels: Energetic and Environmental Issues

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Ethanol and Biodiesel Biofuels: Energetic and Environmental Issues
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

Ethanol and Biodiesel Biofuels
Issue in Context
Though the U.S. has less than 4% of the world’s population, it is responsible for 22% of the carbon dioxide released worldwide from the burning of fossil fuels. The release of carbon dioxide is the greatest contributor to global warming. The high energy usage of the United States makes alternative energy sources essential in reserving the pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. Ethanol, an energy source derived from corn, soybeans, and switch grass, has been touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuel. However, the production of ethanol requires a lot of energy – through farming and harvesting to deriving ethanol. The fuel used to produce it may be more than the energy it provides.

About the Speaker
David Pimentel is a professor of Ecology and Agricultural Science at Cornell University . His research includes population ecology, biological control, biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, land and water conservation, and environmental policy. Pimentel has served on many national and government committees including the National Academy of Sciences, the President’s Science Advisory Council, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. State Department. Read more

It's a Gas! Petroleum and Energy Transitions in American Life

February 13, 2006
It’s a Gas! Petroleum and Energy Transitions in American Life
Stern Center, Great Room

It's a Gas
Issue in Context
The global petroleum industry was born in the Appalachian Basin in Titusville, Pennsylvania when the first well was drilled in the summer of 1859. At the time, nobody could have predicted that the discovery of this resource would result in an era of unparalleled growth and development. Since then, the use of petroleum as a source of energy has become a defining characteristic of the 20th century.

However, with the dawn of the 21st century some concern has begun to surface about surging oil prices. It is said that inexpensive energy fueled the “American century” of growth and development. With the end of the era of inexpensive energy, we face either a future of high cost energy or transition to more affordable energy sources.

Dr. Black examines where petroleum-based living has carried us during the 20th century and takes a glance towards the future to come to terms with our current petroleum conundrum.

About the Speaker
Brian Black teaches history and environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona. His research emphasis is on the landscape and environmental history of North Read more