Peter Kelly-Detwiler '83 on the Transformation of the Energy Market

Don Carlson with Peter Kelly-Detwiler

November 16th, 2018

Energy expert Peter Kelly-Detwiler’s (’83) Log Lunch talk centered on the rapid changes occurring in electricity and transportation sectors. As renewable electricity resources and energy storage become increasingly cost-effective, the electricity sector begins to become greener. At the same time, our transportation sector is shifting towards being powered by electricity. These changes are being driven by a number of critical underlying dynamics, including rapid increases in materials science brought about by increasingly fast supercomputers that help create new and better technologies, China’s drive to assert itself as a player in the multi-trillion dollar emerging energy economy, and investors and entrepreneurs attracted to the financial opportunities available in this evolving energy economy. In a landscape where everything is increasingly connected, there is clearly a role for STEM. But there is perhaps an even greater role for the liberal arts mind that can identify the connections and the opportunities to create value in this emerging sustainable economy.

 

 

—Sarah Gardner