Energy & Climate
September 26 – Erb Colloquium / John Sterman
September 14, 2011
”Communicating Climate Change Risks in a Skeptical World.”
12 – 1:30PM Ross E0550
Pizza and salad provided, please bring your own beverage.
John D. Sterman is the Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Director of MIT’s System Dynamics Group. His research includes systems thinking and organizational learning, computer simulation of corporate strategy and public policy issues, and environmental sustainability. He is the author of many scholarly and popular articles on the challenges and opportunities facing organizations today, including the book Modeling for Organizational Learning, and the award-winning textbook Business Dynamics.
Communicating climate change risks in a skeptical world (pdf)
Does formal system dynamics training improve people’s understanding of accumulation? (pdf)
Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory.(pdf)
October 10 – Erb Colloquium / Magali Delmas Abstract
September 7, 2011
“Saving Power to Conserve Your Reputation? The effectiveness of private verse public information.” 12 – 1:30 PM, Ross E0550 /Open to the University community
Pizza and Salad are provided, please bring your own beverage.
Abtract:
Real-time feedback over energy usage has the power to better inform consumers about the consequences of their energy usage behaviors and thus empower them to make better decisions, saving money and reducing energy consumption. However consumers will only expend the effort to gather, understand and utilize this information if they are sufficiently motivated to do so. Pecuniary motivations are effective but politically unpalatable. We investigate a unique behavioral motivator, or “nudge”, in the form of reputational concerns. Energy usage is invisible to both energy users and those around them. If energy usage is made visible to the public, consumers will be motivated to conserve energy to gather the benefits of a “green” reputation. In a year-long experiment in the residence halls at the University of California – Los Angeles, we provide students with real-time feedback and reputational motivation. Reputational concerns effectively motivated electricity users to reduce consumption by 20 percent.
Nov 7 – Erb Colloquium Brown Bag / Wes Sine
August 26, 2011
“The Evolving Influence of Social Movement Organizations on the U.S. Wind Power Industry.”
12 – 1:30 PM, Ross E0550
Open to the University community
The Erb Colloquium is an informal gathering, please feel free to bring your lunch.
Professor Sine’s research focuses on the emergence of new economic sectors and entrepreneurship. His research context includes the United States, Latin America, and the Middle East. He explores issues related to institutional change, industry and technology evolution, technology entrepreneurship, and new venture structure and strategy. He has examined a diverse set of economic sectors ranging from the electric power industry to the emergence of the Internet. Teaching interests include entrepreneurship, commercializing university technology, new venture growth, the management of technology and innovation, and organizational change. He has consulted and taught executives in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East.
Read more about Wes
Read Wes’ CV
September 19 – Erb Colloquium / Andy Hoffman
August 26, 2011
“Talking past each other? Cultural framing of skeptical and convinced logics in the climate change debate.”
12 – 1:30PM Ross E0550
Pizza and salad provided, please bring your own beverage.
Andrew (Andy) Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, a position that holds joint appointments at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources & Environment. Within this role, Andy also serves as Associate Director of the Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Andy is a leader in using organizational, network and strategic analyses to assess the implications of environmental issues for business, and has published nine books and over ninety articles and book chapters on the topic. Prior to academics, Andy worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency (Region 1), Metcalf & Eddy Environmental Consultants, T&T Construction & Design, and the Amoco Corporation.
Read the working paper
Read more about Andy Hoffman
View the slides
Erb alum Jackie Pitera discusses corporate sustainability
August 25, 2011
Erb alum, Jackie Pitera, discusses corporate sustainability in employee engagement in Environmental Leader
“Aligned Incentives and Engaged Employees Improve Triple Bottom Line Performance.” (html)
Jackie is a Senior Analyst at AltaTerra Research and an Erb ’09 Institute alum.
She has recented hosted 2 in a series of 3 AltaTerra webinars on July 28 and August 18: ” Leading Employee Practices for Sustainability Series – AltaTerra Research .”
Reframing the energy debate: a call for resilience
August 25, 2011
Erb Managing Director, Rick Bunch, draws on recent research by Professor Andy Hoffman to rethink energy infrastructure: “Oil Spills and Meltdowns Highlight the Need for Energy Resilience” (pdf ) / or read the story online
Professor Andy Hoffman discusses politics, culture, & consensus on NPR
August 24, 2011
Political candidates continue to question scientists when it comes to issues with powerful policy implications — like climate change. It’s got some scientists believing they shouldn’t stand on the political sidelines. But do scientists make good politicians? And once they’re elected, can they really make a difference on the issues they care about?
Guests
- Andrew Hoffman: Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at The University of Michigan.
- Rep. Rush Holt, D-New Jersey: Congressman representing New Jersey’s 12th District.
- Brian Athey:Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at The University of Michigan and co-founder of Scientists and Engineers for America.
“When Science meets politics” (audio)
Bringing energy efficiency to the flavor and fragrance industry
August 23, 2011
Rich Grousset, Erb ’13 describes his EDF Climate Corps Internship experience with the Swiss based Firmenich.
Read his post on the Erb Perspective Blog.
Erb student start up story featured in Envrionmental Leader
August 23, 2011
Adam Carver is a 2011 Dow Sustainability Innovation Challenge winner and in the Erb MBA/MS class of 2012.
Read the story about Adam’s Impact venture (pdf)
Or read the story on the Erb Perspective Blog.
2 SNRE Faculty recive NSF Grant for study of bioenergy supply change and environmental consequence
August 12, 2011
Professors Ming Xu and Shelie Miller are Erb Institute Faculty Affiliates
Two School of Natural Resources and Environment professors have received a National Science Foundation grant from its Environmental Sustainability program to create models that can better predict the life-cycle environmental impacts of bioenergy systems.
The goal of the three-year $310,000 project is to develop the next generation life-cycle analysis (LCA) framework for the bioenergy industry by integrating with agent-based modeling. So-called LCA frameworks exist for many industries, including food and automobiles, but work best on established systems with available data. The emerging bioenergy industry generally lacks both.
Ming Xu and Shelie A. Miller, two assistant professors at SNRE, plan to develop a model that advances the field of environmental sustainability analysis. They will start with standard LCA frameworks and modify them to accommodate emerging technologies as well as dynamic and evolving supply chains.
