Innovations in sustainable energy (more)
Can environmental sustainability be supported by genetics? In this audio interview, Craig Venter, a pioneer in genetic research, discusses some of his key discoveries that are advancing the state of science in genomics and synthetic life. He shares how, in his current work on DNA programming and building synthetic organisms, he is using the building blocks of life to approach society's most pressing problems such as energy and food.
Vinod Khosla, Silicon Valley venture capitalist, says he used to be an environmentalist, but is now more of a "pragmentalist." In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored audio lecture, Khosla turns conventional wisdom about what passes for "green technology" on its head. He takes a hard look at how innovations such as hybrid cars and fuel cell buses may, in fact, be exacerbating our problems, and offers concrete, iconoclastic suggestions as to what science, business, and government should be focusing on instead.
Better design integration and materials innovation can lead to big energy and cost savings, and rapid return on investment, particularly in the automotive and housing industries. Amory Lovins, one of America's most influential energy speakers, offers some profitable business-led solutions to climate, oil, and nuclear proliferation problems in this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored audio lecture. Lovins offers strategies to reduce US oil dependence through a menu of renewable and fossil fuel types.
People in the developing world expend more than a quarter of their potential earnings on energy. Economic development, environmental health, and global stability all hinge on wise management of global energy resources. In this audio lecture, David Goldwyn and David Dollar paint a positive picture of what developing countries and governments in the West can do to improve energy use abroad and at home.
A popular Mexico City program for cutting air pollution from vehicles doesn’t work; in fact sales of new cars, used cars, and gasoline have climbed since the program's launch in 1989.
Now that global warming is recognized as a real and serious problem, discussion is turning to practical challenges of reducing emissions in the long term. Host of the Center for Social Innovation, Rick Duke, discusses a new report by McKinsey & Company that considers how to address the problem affordably. In this audio lecture, Duke outlines some of the emerging technologies and public policy changes that will be needed to support such a process.
In parts of Nicaragua, nearly 80 percent of the population goes without electricity, leaving them cut off from critical opportunities for betterment and development. In this audio interview, Kriss Deiglmeier, the Center for Social Innovation executive director, converses with Mathias Craig who created blueEnergy to bring electricity to marginalized communities in this region of the world.
With crude oil over $100 a barrel and continuing to rise, concerns about increased prices at the pump and at home—intensified by political unrest in other parts of the world—have put energy issues into heightened focus for the American public. In this audio interveiw, Jim Lehrer conducts "A Conversation About Oil" with Chevron's Peter J. Robertson.
With energy costs on the rise and the U.S. government expected to push for reduced carbon emissions, environmental sustainability has become a market imperative for Hewlett-Packard. Speaking at Stanford for the 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference, HP's senior VP of personal systems, Tony Prophet, shares how his company is working to reduce its environmental footprint throughout the product life cycle.
In this audio lecture, Amory Lovins argues for a sound energy policy that rewards innovation, and for a serious commitment to implementing energy-efficient technological improvements. These combined efforts could subsequently result in saving half of our oil, half of our gas, and three-fourths of our electricity. They would also decrease our dependence on foreign resources and would indirectly alleviate some of the world's biggest problems.
