Managing the Mid-Transition from Fossil to Clean Energy
Focus on Environment and Sustainability Seminar Series
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James West Alumni Center Founder's Room
Join us for the third event in the IoES 2024-2025 Focus on Environment and Sustainability Series, a three-part special seminar series exploring critical environmental challenges.
Featuring Emily Grubert
Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy Policy
Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
Emily Grubert, a civil engineer and environmental sociologist, will share insights on how to make better decisions about large infrastructure systems, particularly regarding the justice-centered decarbonization of the U.S. energy system.
Key Discussion Topics
- The industrial transformation needed to phase out fossil fuels
- How to restructure energy systems to deliver services without greenhouse gas emissions
- The “mid-transition” period — where neither old nor new systems fully sustain energy needs
- Challenges in safety, reliability, flexibility and planning
- The role of justice-centered decarbonization in reshaping the U.S. energy system
Program
2:00 — 2:30 pm | Refreshments
2:30 — 3:30 pm | Seminar
3:30 — 4:00 pm | Q&A
Abstract
Responding to climate change requires rapid and deep industrial transformation, particularly related to phasing out fossil fuels and restructuring energy systems to deliver services without greenhouse gas emissions. This transformation presents a critical opportunity not only to decarbonize, but to remake the way we provide energy services with emphasis on justice.
The period of remaking is a multi-decade effort that requires both phasing out the majority of the existing energy system and phasing in a new system — all while continuing to provide energy services effectively, despite the growing challenges of climate change and deep inequality.
The “mid-transition” period during which existing and new systems are each too small to provide all services on their own, but too large to avoid constraining the other, poses special challenges of safety, reliability, flexibility, measurement, and other considerations. A successful transition will require extensive coordination and planning, especially due to the dynamism imposed by both technology and climate changes.