How fast can the U.S. energy infrastructure decarbonize to 50% and then to 0%, and will planned infrastructure changes help to achieve a carbon-negative energy system?
Past Events: Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar Archive
You're viewing an archived collection of past energy and environment events from around Penn State and beyond. Please visit our Event Calendar to view current and upcoming events.
In March 2020, SAFES launched the “Impacts of COVID-19 on Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Systems” Seed Grant. PIs and team members from these innovative projects will provide brief updates on the outcomes and further research directions.
● Twitter/Google Trends Analysis of Food Security Under COVID-19 (Stephan Goetz, PI)
● Rapid Reduction of Farm Milk Production in Response to Crisis (Chad Dechow, PI)
The majority of research literature on chemical separations focuses on a relatively small collection of chemicals. In many ways this is appropriate because of the dramatic economic and environmental impacts of these species. The space of possible chemicals, however is vast; Carl Sagan's famous "billions and billions" is many orders of magnitude too small for chemical space. I will discuss steps towards methods that may eventually allow rapid development of adsorbent-based separations for a diverse range of molecules drawn from a broad chemical space.
Join us for the second film in the 2021-22 Driving It Home film series, part of the Sustainability Institute’s Intersections film series. Penn State Anthropologist Kirk French’s Land and Water Revisited returns to footage taken in México’s Teotihuacán Valley 50 years ago by renowned archaeologist William T. Sanders.
Atmospheric composition is affected by emissions from multiple sources at different spatial and temporal scales. Traditional methods for quantifying these emissions rely on surface-based survey or observation data, and the results are often called “bottom-up” estimates. In contrast, in part driven by the routine measurements of atmospheric states and surface properties from space, satellite data is now increasingly used to constrain emissions; these so-called “top-down” estimates have several advantages when it comes to spatial coverage and timely updates.
Professor Aydin Alptekinoglu will present his work,"Is Adopting Mass Customization a Path to Environmentally Sustainable Fashion?" as part of the Center for the Business of Sustainability Research Seminar Series. Registration is required. To attend, please contact Tracey Mariner for registration information: tcd119@psu.edu.
Building envelopes have always had the challenging task to support a fairly static indoor thermal and visual environment while dealing with a wide range of dynamic outdoor conditions. In this talk, we’ll look at advances in materials, design, and construction of opaque and transparent envelopes and their impact on humans, energy consumption, and stability of the electrical grid.
Join us for Water Webinar Series: Groundwater Basics for Private Well and Spring Owners, which will provide a look into the groundwater resources that sustain private wells and springs, and land management practices that reduce contamination risks.
About the Series
12:00 – 3:00pm
Full details
Planning and managing the green infrastructure of street trees, parks, and open spaces will help any municipality safely take advantage of the many benefits these assets provide. With proper planning and management, these assets appreciate and pay us back with time.
Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy Seminar
Manual and Self-Organizing Maps Classifications of Synoptic Pressure Patterns for the U.S. Corn Belt
Mikael Hiestand, Geography, Penn State, presents as part of the Fall 2021 ESSC Brown Bag Series.
As a friendly reminder, this year's 2021 CHWA CESU Annual Partners Meeting will be held virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, October 13, from 10am-12pm. Thank you to all who have registered. If you have registered but not yet received a calendar invitation with Zoom access information, please contact Rhonda Schwinabart (rschwinabart@umces.edu).
Materials Day is designed to share Penn State’s vast materials research knowledge and infrastructure with our industrial and government research and service partners. You or a representative from your organization should attend if you want to keep abreast of all that happens around materials at Penn State or if you are looking to identify graduating students for future positions.
Lisa Emili, associate professor of physical geography and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona abstract: While plastic pollution in the marine environment is widely reported, significant plastic pollution in freshwater environments has only more recently been recognized. Despite the potential for wetlands to act as temporary and long-term reservoirs of microplastics (MP), MP cycling in wetlands, particularly as it relates to wetland soil remains largely understudied.
Interest in natural carbon storage is growing. Join our panelists to learn how carbon storage aligns with forest management goals.
Topics:
Understanding how recent environmental changes such as climate change, pollution and land use changes have impacted natural ecosystems can be challenging.
Materials Day is designed to share Penn State’s vast materials research knowledge and infrastructure with our industrial and government research and service partners. You or a representative from your organization should attend if you want to keep abreast of all that happens around materials at Penn State or if you are looking to identify graduating students for future positions.
Fires burn in all terrestrial ecosystems on the globe, and wildfires are getting larger, more destructive and deadly. Both humans and climate are contributing to this trend. The Fall 2021 EESI EarthTalks series, “Fire in the Earth System,” will address humanity’s long relationship with fire, how humans and climate create conditions conducive to megafires, and how policy makers and land managers can address the fire problem.
The seminars, which are free and open to the public, take place from 4 – 5 p.m. on Mondays via Zoom.
Geography Coffee Hour: Junjun Yin, Assistant Research Professor, Social Science Research Institute
While radiocarbon (14C) measurement is usually associated with archaeological or paleontological chronology building, the technique has creative applications in astrophysics, oceanic and atmospheric circulation, hydrology, forensics, art history, aerosol and hydrocarbon research, biofuels, soils science, drug enforcement, wildlife conservation, and more. Penn State’s Accelerator Mass Spectrometer 14C laboratory gives researchers access to high-precision 14C measurements and interdisciplinary collaboration.