ENERGY AND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY POLICY IN OHIO

 

headshotDavid Matthiesen, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University

 

 

 

Friday April 11, 2008
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall – Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

 

Al Gore was Right. Scientific innovations like the Internet don’t become public policy just because some scientists have a good idea. They have to be sold to and implemented through the political system.

Professor Matthiesen is leading the university’s effort for the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Demonstration Project and Research Center. That requires not just scientific invention, but funding support and especially policy to create a market for energy generated by wind power. He has been working with the Cuyahoga County Commissioners and the Energy Development Task Force to win support for creating that market in the energy bill being considered by the state legislature and Governor Strickland.

That has given him a platform to observe the broader battle over Ohio’s energy future. Please join us for a conversation that will begin with wind energy and go – well, we’ll see!

The Friday Lunch is a brown-bag event open to all.  Cookies and some beverages are provided

The remainder of this e-mail reports what we know about the schedule for the rest of the semester. We will be sending out announcements each week. If you would prefer not to receive the announcements, please inform Dr. Andrew Lucker, Associate Director of the Center for Policy Studies, by e-mail (andrew.lucker@case.edu).

About Our Guest

 

David H. Matthiesen, is an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Case Western Reserve University. Professor Matthiesen testified in support of a sweeping energy bill that would require new standards including re-regulating electricity rates. In addition, this bill would require the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to adopt rules that require 25 percent of electricity sold in the state to be generated from advanced energy sources. Matthiesen, is also chair of the university’s Faculty Senate, and has testified before the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee.

Matthiesen, is leading the university’s effort for the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Demonstration Project and Research Center. The project and research center is a collaboration of the School of Engineering and the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners and its Energy Development Task Force.

The Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Demonstration Project and Research Center is under the umbrella of the School of Engineering’s Great Lakes Institute for Energy Innovation. The institute is being designed to implement near-term solutions today to sustain tomorrow’s industries and to provide Ohio with a competitive advantage in terms of cost, reliability and the ability to access, generate, transport and store its sustainable energy resources, Matthiesen said. The goals of the institute are to:

  • Help Ohio become a national and international focal point for energy innovation and a world leader in technologies that provide sustainable, reliable and affordable energy;
  • Transform Ohio’s existing industry and attract new industry on the basis of access to more reliable and lower-cost energy;
  • Realize the full potential of integrated fossil fuel and alternative energy systems to provide efficient generation, transportation, utilization and storage; and
  • Leverage Ohio’s affordable energy and clean environment toward making Ohio a “destination” state.

In reference to the university’s wind energy-harnessing efforts, Matthiesen said its efforts, in partnership with the county commissioners and the Energy Development Task Force, are working diligently to develop the Great Lakes Wind Energy Demonstration Project and Research Center.

“This will create a facility, unique in the world, which will provide solutions to reduce risk to commercial investments in offshore wind farm development in the Great Lakes,” he said. “This effort combined with the enactment of the Renewable Portfolio Standard contained in S.B. 221, will help provide a foundation to establish a new offshore wind industry and support its growth into a national model for the renewable energy industry,” he said.

“The university appreciates Governor (Ted) Strickland’s and the (Senate Energy and Public Utilities) committee’s leadership in creating policy and legislation that recognizes the importance of a Renewable Portfolio Standard to help anchor and grow the offshore wind industry in Ohio.”

Friday Lunch and Other Public Affairs Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

 

April 18: Megan Whalen Turner fiction writer for young adults and author of, Instead Of Three Wishes, The Thief, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia; Anne Ursu is the author of the novels Spilling Clarence and The Disapparation of James, Joe White Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Chair, Department if Political Science, Case Western Reserve University, will discuss, “Moral Dilemmas in Politics and Fiction.”

April 25: TBA

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall.  Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made.  On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building.  The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch.  On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.