Spending the next decade arguing because half the populace doesn’t believe that climate change is a problem could be devastating. That was the assertion of a panel who spoke during the UNC Kenan-Flagler Innovations in Energy Conference this month. They agreed that environmental damage from carbon must stop now and the effects reversed as soon as possible. Debating the options for managing carbon were Jay Carlis (MBA ’07), vice president of Community Energy and president of the Renewable Energy Markets Association; Ben Henneke, founder of TIST (a sustainable development and community reforestation program) and president of Clean Air Action Corp.; Ramesh Srinivasan, CEO of VitalChain, which helps companies decide how much to spend on carbon credits; and Kristel Dorion ’08 Read More
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Sustainable energy innovation at the base of the pyramid
On Ben Henneke’s second visit to a small village in Tanzania, he was struck that there was no future tense in the Swahili language; circumstances were so dire there literally was no way to compose the words speak about the future. “You could not ask, ‘What will you do next year or when do you expect the rains to come?’” he noted. “I am trying to help you get into the reality of what you are working in. The women wanted to have trees again, and they want to have water that ran year-round instead of flash floods because of the deforestation.” In response to what he saw in Tanzania, Henneke started TIST, The International Small Group and Tree Planting Read More
Jim Rogers Speaks at Kenan-Flagler
Tonight, we had the pleasure of welcoming Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, to our school. He gave a pragmatic yet charismatic speech regarding our country’s energy future. A few takeaways: The story of the 20th century was providing affordable power to the entire country. The story of the 21st century is making that energy clean Climate change is real. Science is our most powerful tool and we must continue to have faith in it The best method for moving the hearts and minds of people to address our energy/climate crisis is NOT to highlight the challenge of climate change. Rather, we should make a rallying cry for America to “get its Mojo back!” We have five sources of electricity, Read More