November 2023

From the Institute Directors

With the fall term behind us and the quiet of winter in Northern New England settling in, the Irving Institute team is gearing up to host two intensive "winterim" programs for Dartmouth undergraduate students: TuckLAB:Energy and an Energy Immersion Trip to Houston, Texas. 

TuckLAB:Energy, now in its second year, is a collaboration with Tuck's Undergraduate Programs Office and Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability, and Innovation, and the Institute. Aimed at undergrads from all majors, this year's program will feature a combination of learning modules led by Dartmouth faculty and staff as well as a project component that will have the students putting what they are learning into practice. 

Our Energy Immersion Trip to Houston gives students an on-the-ground view of the past, present, and future of energy in one of the United States' most energy-rich regions. The students will engage with energy from a variety of angles, visiting energy production sites — both fossil-based and renewable —  as well as community organizations, start-ups, and the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, deepening their understanding of the dynamism and complexity of the energy landscape in Houston, Texas, and the nation. 

While very different programs, these intensive learning opportunities provide Dartmouth undergraduate students with the chance to dig deep into energy and climate and better understand the socio-technical challenges and opportunities that the renewable energy transition creates. If you're on Instagram be sure to follow us to see what our students in these two winterim programs are up to, and as always, we hope to see you in the building or at an upcoming event soon.

Geoffrey Parker, Interim Faculty Director
April Salas, Executive Director
 

Taking a LEAP into Baltic Language, Energy, and Politics: Irving Institute and Campus Partners Join Forces to Launch First Foreign Study Program to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia

8 meters underground, students learn about the history and technological evolution of oil shale mining in Narva, a community in northeast Estonia just west of the border with Russia.

Over the course of the ten-week Baltic LEAP (Language, Energy, and Politics) foreign study program (FSP) in summer 2023, 16 Dartmouth students spent time in Vilnius, Lithuania; Riga, Latvia; and Tartu, Estonia, studying the culture, history, languages, politics, and energy systems of these former Soviet states. 

Read more about the trip.

Interim Faculty Director Geoff Parker Named to Top 50 Management Thinkers List

Irving Institute Interim Faculty Director Geoff Parker was, along with his coauthor Marshall Van Alstyne, named (for the third time) to the top 50 management thinkers from across the globe. Parker and Van Alstyne were recognized by Thinkers50 for their work on developing the theory of two-sided markets and applying the theory to analyzing the strategy and structure of firms with network effects. 
 

Read more.

Amory Lovins, Co-Founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, Talks Efficiency, Integrative Design, and "Applied Hope" at Dartmouth 

Amory Lovins speaks in Cook Auditorium on October 28, 2023.

Amory Lovins, co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, has made a global mark by transforming how energy is used – and how energy use is avoided – in industries, businesses, facilities, and communities across the planet. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, efficiency can deliver 40 to 70% of future decarbonization. In Lovins' view, this drastically underestimates the full potential of energy efficiency to reduce energy use and its social, environmental, and financial costs because it focuses primarily on "upstream" efficiencies:  those gained by making electricity more efficiently or substituting more efficient renewable energy generation for fossil fuels. Lovins' focus was on "downstream" efficiencies: those gained via "higher efficiency in the equipment being powered, or the building being heated, or the vehicle being moved."

Learn more about the talk. 

Dartmouth Climate and Energy News

EPA Funded Research Examines Renewable Energy Choices in Light of Community Values: Richard Howarth, Richard and Jane Pearl Professor of Environmental Studies, is a project lead on this EPA-funded project.

Two Grim Reports on Global Climate Efforts Highlight Increased Fossil Fuel 
Subsidies, Ill Health: Associate Professor of Geography Justin Mankin is quoted in this AP piece.

America’s First Hydrogen-powered Ferry is Set to Sail: Canary Media previews the new "Sea Change," hydrogen-powered passenger ferry set to launch in San Francisco in early 2024 and talks with Switch Maritime CEO Pace Ralli TU’09 about the project.

Rose Mutiso ’08, TH’08 on Dartmouth Podcast: Energy for Growth Hub Research Director and Irving Institute Advisory Board Member Rose Mutiso talks to the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact on the first episode of their new podcast, All the Difference.

Why Rural Americans Are (and Aren't) Adopting Renewable Energy: CNET highlights a study co-authored by Hodgson Family Assistant Professor of Engineering Erin Mayfield.

New Maps Show Where Snowfall is Disappearing: Justin Mankin is quoted in this recent CNN story about the impacts of climate change.