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Engineering Physics Department Colloquium Dr. F. A. Garner, Radiation Effects Consulting (retired from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Hosted by the Engineering Physics Department Room 106, Engineering Research Building (map) For more information, contact Dianne Francis at dfrancis@engr.wisc.edu
PSERC Public Webinar William Schulze, Robinson Professor of Applied Economics and Public Policy Hosted by Power Systems Engineering Research Center Participation by webcast or phone. When Wisconsin’s Partnership for a Stronger Economy held its first meeting on November 18 at the State Capitol, the very first speaker was Tim Donohue, Director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Center and Professor of Bacteriology. Continue reading at College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Growing the Bioeconomy Sponsored by the UW-Cooperative Extension Bioenergy and Bioeconomy Team Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St (map) The UW-Cooperative Extension Bioenergy and Bioeconomy Team is sponsoring a view (& listen)-only site at the Pyle Center for this conference. If you are planning on attending please email David Liebl at liebl@epd.engr.wisc.edu “Sustainability starts with people and their needs, not technology,” said Steve Steinhoff while speaking at a Student Bus Advocates meeting on Thursday in the Memorial Union. Addressing an audience largely populated by Urban and Regional Planning graduate students, Steinhoff used his expertise as the Executive Director of the Neighborhood Design Center to lead an informed discussion of what is sustainable neighborhood design and how it can be applied to communities, including Madison. Rather than focusing on cutting-edge, energy-saving technologies, Steinhoff emphasized that human needs for access, physical activity, housing, and social connections are the driving forces behind decisions that affect community sustainability. For example, the need for physical activity and recreation may motivate a person to relocate his or her home to the countryside or a suburb if they perceive a city as unable to meet their needs. However, that’s not to say transportation, building materials or the state of the environment aren’t important to neighborhood design, Steinhoff said. One method that Steinhoff discussed and that the city of Madison has already adopted is The Natural Step (TNS), a science-based, comprehensive model for planning in complex systems. To help communities move toward a sustainable future, the requirements of TNS focus on increasing the capacity of residents to meet their needs and decreasing the concentrations of harmful substances like greenhouse gases. For example, TNS advocates for neighborhood development that is:
Steinhoff recommended that Madison learn from its sister city, Freiberg, Germany. A global leader in sustainable design, Freiberg has successfully integrated cutting edge energy-saving technologies with a human needs-focused community design to create a highly efficient and highly livable city. To learn more about the steps Madison is taking to develop a shared vision of sustainability for the region, or to get ideas for your own neighborhood, please visit: http://www.neighborhooddesigncenter.org/. Two students from the UW-Madison chapter of Engineers without Borders won a $22,400 award for their work in rural Haiti. Kyle Ankenbauer, a civil engineering student, and Eyleen Chou, mechanical engineering, are working to construct a mini-hydroelectric power generator to provide electricity to a school, library and church in Bayonnais, Haiti.
ECE 600 Guest Speaker Yicheng Lu, Professor, Rutgers University Hosted by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Room 1227, Engineering Hall (map) For more information, contact Douglas R. Pollard at dpollard@engr.wisc.edu
Kevin Tomsovic, Professor, University of Tennessee Hosted by Power Systems Engineering Research Center Room 1721, Engineering Hall (map) For more information, contact Dennis J. Ray at 608-265-3808 or djray@engr.wisc.edu
ECE 600 Guest Speaker Nelson Tansu, Associate Professor, Lehigh University Hosted by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Room 1227, Engineering Hall (map) For more information, contact Douglas R. Pollard at dpollard@engr.wisc.edu
Jeremy Rifkin, Futurist author of The Hydrogen Economy and 15 other books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the work force, society, and the environment. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Wiscosin Union Theater, Memorial Union (map) For more information, contact 262-2216 or lectureseries@union.wisc.edu
The Lindbergh Lecture Series Dr. James R. Maddocks, Senior Engineer, Atlas Scientific San Jose California Sponsored by the Department of Mechanical Engineering Room 1106, Mechanical Engineering (map) For more information, contact Marsha E. Landretti at 262-3543 or landretti@engr.wisc.edu
Celebrating Oil’s 150th Birthday Alex Epstein, Ayn Rand Institute Hosted by Students of Objectivism Room 2650, Mosse Humanities Building (map) For more information, contact jeallard@mac.com
Scott Olsen, Senior Engineer, MG&E Sponsored by Engineers Without Borders Room 1800, Engineering Hall (map) For more information, contact Scott Olsen at 608 252-5689 or solsen@mge.com by Michelle Hu Carbon restrictions are inevitable and will require significant changes to the state’s energy mix—that’s the message from Commissioner Lauren Azar of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Azar spoke Tuesday night with Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance Sean Dilweg about making critical decisions in preparing for the uncertainties of climate change. The lecture was a part of the Nelson Institute’s Community Environmental Forum. With the looming UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen and the EPA’s own studies on the impacts of carbon emissions, carbon restrictions are a reality for both utilities and their regulators. Wisconsin’s heavy fossil fuel reliance—70 percent of electricity generation comes from fossil fuels—means a drastic transformation will take place over the next few decades, says Azar. The state’s renewable energy resources, specifically wind power and geothermal energy, are marginal at best, while solar power is not a viable solution in the state with current technology, claims Azar. She says nuclear power will be essential in meeting future carbon emission standards, but many legal challenges remain, including the moratorium on new nuclear power plant construction in Wisconsin. Commissioner Dilweg is responsible for regulating insurance companies for the 6th largest insurance state in the United States. Like Azar, climate change is posing many new challenges for Dilweg in predicting and planning for the future. He is currently at work on legislation that will encourage insurance companies to plan for the effects of climate change, including extreme weather events. Both speakers say realistic planning is critical in adapting to the effects of climate change. For Wisconsin, transforming our generation portfolio to mitigate climate change will include key infrastructure decisions in the face of uncertainty. For the people who have to make decisions like those, risk is a fact of life, but with cooperation and accurate information they can make more informed decisions. More information:
Sponsored by WISPIRG For more information, contact Niels Ole Holck at nholck@wisc.edu
Sponsored by the Center for Business, Environment and Social Responsibility and the WI Sustainable Business Council Discovery World, 550 North Harbor Drive, Milwaukee, WI (map) For more information, contact Professor Tom Eggert at sustain@bus.wisc.edu Please register at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/88951
Shirley Johnson , International Atomic Energy Agency Hosted by American Nuclear Society Tong Auditorium (Room 1003), Engineering Centers Building (map) For more information, contact Casey Alan Anderson at caanderson5@wisc.edu
Shmuel Oren, Professor, University of California at Berkeley Hosted by Power Systems Engineering Research Center Room 1721, Engineering Hall (map) For more information, contact Dennis J. Ray at (608) 265-3808 or djray@engr.wisc.edu by Michelle Hu Nuclear energy and political science modelers gathered together last Tuesday at the UW campus to discuss models that predict how likely a nation is to pursue nuclear weapons. Dr. Clifford Singer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Andrew Kydd of University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Dr. Man-Sung Yim of North Carolina State University each presented in the public panel discussion titled, “Who Will be the Next to Pursue the Nuclear Bomb?” Each speaker presented his own views on which models were the most useful and accurate. Using Iran and North Korea as examples, Dr. Singer asserted that the “historical narrative” is critical in determining if the quantitative models are accurate. Simply put, a country is more likely to pursue nuclear weapons technology if it has experienced recent conflict resulting in massive casualties. According to Dr. Kydd, statistical models are highly variable and require complex inputs that are themselves quite variable. Meanwhile, Dr. Yim claims that technology, financial capability and political motivation are the integral components that determine whether a country can and will attempt to develop nuclear technology. If one or more components are not sufficiently met, he says, pursuing and acquiring nuclear technology will not be possible. All the presenters agreed that nuclear technology is essential as an alternative energy source in the future. International security in the form of recessed deterrence (acquiring the capability to build nuclear weapons without actually building them) and cheap, independent energy sources are strong motivations for nations to explore nuclear technology. As climate change is addressed more fully and the world realizes that there is a limited pool of resources, they say interest in and pursuit of nuclear technology will significantly increase.
Development of Plasma Facing Components for a Steady-State Fusion Reactor Sergei Mirnov, TRINITI Laboratory, Troitsk, Russia Hosted by Plasma Physics Seminar Room 2301 Sterling HallSterling Hall (map) For more information, contact Jane Schwantz at 262-3595 or at schwantz@wisc.edu |
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