Climate change has altered the rules of the game for the energy industry. Gone are the days where power needed only be inexpensive, safe and reliable. Carbon emissions dominate discussions about the future of the energy industry and traditional fossil fuel based generation has been all but ruled out for future capital development. At the same time however, projections for base load demand over the mid to long term show that new generation capacity will have to be added to meet rising demand.

Given the seeming inevitability of federal or state carbon reduction policies, what options exist for meeting future base load requirements in a way that satisfies these constraints? What are the financial, technological, supply chain, and rate-payer implications of different generation options? What policy issues face the region and the nation? This seminar series aims to answer these questions and will look at nuclear energy, renewables, and decarbonizing fossil fuel based generation and the role each might play in a future carbon constrained baseload portfolio.
Part 1: Renewables and Base Load in the Midwest – June 5, 2009 (Tong Auditorum, Engineering Centers)
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In an effort to replace greenhouse gas emitting fuels as well as enhance energy supply diversity, attention has increasingly turned to adding renewable portfolio standards and a price on carbon. What Midwest renewable strategies (biofuel, solar, wind, demand response) can utilities adopt to meet base load while satisfying constraints on carbon emissions.

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Part 2: Carbon in the Midwest – June 26, 2009 (1610 Engineering Hall )
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Fossil fuel use is the single largest contributor to anthropogenic carbon emissions with 41% of U.S. carbon emissions coming from power and heat generation. Much of the public debate about our energy future has been focused on non-emitting and carbon-neutral renewable sources while “clean coal” and other fossil based strategies are often rejected out of hand.

To most, restrictions on carbon emission and the increasing role that renewables and demand reduction strategies will play in the future are seemingly inevitable. Equally as unavoidable however is the reality that fossil fuel based generation will play an important role in energy production for the foreseeable future. Given our assumptions about the road that lies ahead, what strategies exist for utilizing fossil fuels in a responsible way?

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Part 3: Nuclear – Status in the Midwest – July 31, 2009
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After a hiatus of three decades, more than twenty new nuclear reactors are undergoing licensing in the U.S. Meanwhile, over thirty are currently being built worldwide and countries that have previously rejected nuclear, most notably Sweden, have again begun to consider the nuclear option.

The development of new nuclear plants raises a number of questions. With large capital requirements, supply chain constraints, and concerns such as spent fuel, safety and non-proliferation, the addition of new nuclear capacity is far from certain.

Click Here for the current agenda (PDF)