Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability’s Post

This week on #SustainabilitySpotlight, we’re so happy to introduce Hannah Bates, who graduated from UVA in 2020 with a double major in Global Sustainability and Urban and Environmental Planning! Hannah’s been interested in sustainability for as long as she can remember. In middle school, she did a science fair project that explored the emissions created by growing and processing all of her favorite foods. Since then, Hannah has always sought out opportunities to learn more about the environmental impacts of different societal systems. Her time at UVA inspired her to follow a career path related to sustainable urban development, which ultimately led her to the energy industry. Hannah found her first role at The AES corporation on a UVA Alumni job board. She applied to AES’ Energy4Talent program, a two-year rotational development program that exposed her to many different job functions and opportunities at her company. After completing the program, Hannah was promoted to her current role on the Government Affairs team, where she works to promote clean energy policy at the federal level. She is currently still in her role as Senior Analyst in Government Affairs at AES. As part of Hannah’s job, she meets with members of Congress and their staff to educate them on key issues facing the energy industry in order to accelerate the development of energy projects. In 2023, AES completed the construction of 3.5 GW of new renewable projects, which is a huge milestone for the company as they nearly double the capacity that they constructed in 2022. It is a really important and exciting time to be working in the energy sector! To people seeking a job in sustainability, Hannah recommends that you keep an open mind and try to speak with as many sustainability professionals as possible. So many organizations have teams and goals connected to sustainability, and you never know what opportunities may lie around the next corner. #sustainability #urbanplanning #policy #publicservice #alumnispotlight

The second issue of The Environmentalist covers PFAS, the cannabis industry, and more. I had the please of writing a profile on Caleb Boyd, an inspiring UC Berkeley alumni. Be sure to give it a read!

Excited to share that a paper I co-authored during my time at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has just been published! Our research dives into the complexities of equitable decarbonization from the national to community-scale perspective. We show that the U.S. top-down approach to an energy equity framework for decarbonization, while necessary for large-scale policymaking, does not identify all disadvantaged communities nor the diversity and complexity of their concerns and is insufficient alone to ensure equitable decarbonization. https://lnkd.in/guY2Bs3Z

Meet Jiwon Kim, who is a PhD student at DTU Management. Jiwon is working on the PhD project, “Breaking Barriers to Carbon Capture and Storage”. Her project is a part of the Bifrost project that develops a concept for storing CO2 underground in the Danish North Sea. In her PhD project, Jiwon works on estimating willingness to pay (WTP) for Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) of the Danish public. CCS is a vital technology for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and WTP is an important aspect of implementing it. Her project focuses on how 1) CCS information, 2) CCS development magnitude (scope), and 3) the influence of the public's prior familiarity with CSS on their WTP. Jiwon’s PhD project sheds light on a substantial research gap by investigating intricate interplays between these three factors. Based on an online survey with 3,390 effective samples, she discovered valuable implications about information, scope, and familiarity impacts on CCS WTP using stated preference methods. Jiwon’s project offers new insights and novel contributions for policymakers and stakeholders to design effective strategies, garner public support, and ultimately, implement CCS technology successfully as a global climate change mitigation effort. Contact Jiwon Kim for more information on the project. 

I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish as climate leaders! #cleantech #cleanenergy #renewables #renewableenergy #SharingThePower #EnvironmentalJustice #HBCUs

One of Antonia Mattos' main criteria for any job is that it contributes positively to society and makes a difference, “in my case through climate change”. Having left The Maynard in 2010 to study Physical Natural Sciences (specialising in Chemistry) at the University of Cambridge, she initially took a year out after university to “travel and catch up with friends” before interning at BP and then moving to Mars Chocolate. “I wanted to be able to explore different roles and meet people to try and find the right fit for me. Mars was interesting, but I realised that I had spent two years making minor modifications to chocolate bars and wanted my work to have a more meaningful impact.” Fast forward and for the past two years Antonia has been working in the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. “My wider team funds and leads research and innovation into new low carbon technologies that will help the UK meet our net zero goals. “I have been leading the £26m Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator innovation programme, which aims to develop clean hydrogen systems for industrial applications. My role entailed designing the fund to be most impactful, selecting the most promising technologies, managing the delivery of the innovation projects by the successful private companies, and then translating the findings to share the new evidence with government policy teams. “I am now moving to Head of Energy Research, which is a team aiming to fill key information gaps around low carbon energy solutions to ensure we have the required evidence to develop robust policy around net zero. “This role will identify which technologies are the most promising and need government support to reach a stage where they can be deployed commercially to contribute to reducing emissions. Hence our team helps to build a lower carbon and more environmentally friendly energy system, reducing reliance on fossil fuels.” #GoingPlaces #EnergyResearch #Sustainability

Was great to get back to my alma mater Saïd Business School, University of Oxford to chat about the future of work in the Energy Transition last week. Super interesting to hear from representatives from finance, tech, consulting, and oil & gas. In summary: 1) There's a definite gap in the talent in this growing market ($2.3 trillion in 2021, and projected to reach $5.6 trillion by 2031, with a CAGR of 9.3% from 2022 to 2031) 2) There are lots of ways to be part of the energy transition 3) Find the one you're most interested in and become an expert Was wonderful to see you again Abby Chan, Maria Rodriguez Arteaga, Madeleine Paler, Marc J Ventresca and to meet you Juergen Heeg.

“Each of us is an experiment of one...” Dr George Sheehan's advice, first read in the 1970s, became the way I advanced through my life to date. This month, my academic experiment added a milestone when I completed an MS in Environmental and Energy Management at UConn—looking back? It seems like every decade provided an opportunity to gain some new education other than what I was receiving in my various occupational positions. Thanks to those who inspired and supported my pursuit of this degree. Some passed on during the time it took to complete the degree. Tom Hickman. Bill Munzert. John Goselin. Bob Fricchione. I thought of them often as I made my way through the program. Mostly imaging questions, they would ask of me as new knowledge was shared. And the good-natured ridicule about returning to school at this stage in life! I share this degree as a tribute to their lives. Thanks also to my family and friends, who gave me the necessary breathing room to sometimes disappear into books or papers. I’ve been asked, sometimes as a joke, what’s next? Continuing to decarbonize aspects of energy and buildings will continue my engagement with the environment hatched so many years ago at Syracuse University. Decarbonizing our environment may be defined by big projects or massive megawatts of clean energy. Apex Plaza, in Charlottesville, VA, is an example of what can be done to eliminate, reduce, and sequester fugitive carbon. These projects are home runs; we also need the success of hitting singles! Each of us has something we can do to help address climate change. Small steps strung together do result in a marathon finish! And? A Master’s degree!

Our Project Partners from University College Cork, Breffní Lennon and Niall Dunphy have published a scientific article, based on our work and efforts in Accept_H2020: "Sustaining energetic communities: energy citizenship and participation in an age of upheaval and transition" . The article presents recent research into the forming of citizen energy communities in Europe and the governance structures designed to facilitate their development. It also highlights the key drivers and barriers to citizen engagement with emergent, novel energetic communities. https://lnkd.in/dijs5iVH