Upcoming Forum: Peak Oil and the Environment

Sustainable Energy Forum 2006 Peak Oil and the Environment
May 7-9, 2006
Marvin Center, Washington, D.C.
Sponsor: The University of Maryland’s Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology Program

Sustainable Energy Forum 2006 will bring together scientists, policymakers and advocates from government, environmental NGO's and civil society groups to identify the challenges and opportunities for a sustainable energy future.

Our recently diagnosed "addiction to oil" has reignited interest in energy independence:

Global warming, geopolitical instability, and high oil prices have focused awareness on our need for energy alternatives. However, resource constraints may pose more proximate threats to human well-being on a global scale.

The Department of Energy, US Army, major oil companies, and the NY Times have recognized the widespread implications of reaching the maximum rate of global oil production: Peak oil will present unprecedented challenges to ecological sustainability and economic resilience, regardless of the peak’s timing.

These are a few of the key issues regarding peak oil and its implications that will be addressed during SEF 2006:

• What are the geologic and production constraints implicit in peak oil?
• What are the geopolitical implications of reaching the peak?
• What are some options for transportation fuel alternatives and their viability?
• What are the environmental implications of the energy alternatives being pursued?
• How much time do we have to implement alternatives?
• What does net energy have to do with how we respond?
• How much energy is needed for human well-being?
• What options do we have for reducing demand?
• What policy approaches are critical to moving forward?

Our current energy trajectory is unsustainable: How the world responds to peak oil will determine how much energy is available to meet human well-being in the future.

Addiional background information:

SPEAKERS & PANELISTS:

Roscoe Bartlett    U.S. Congressman, 6th District Maryland

Roger Bezdek   President, Management Information Systems, Inc

David Blittersdorf   President, NRG Wind Systems

Lester Brown President, Earth Policy Institute

William Catton   Professor emeritus, WSU; Author, Overshoot

Cutler Cleveland   Director, Energy and Environmental Studies, Boston U

Robert Costanza   Director, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics

Herman Daly   Professor, Public Policy, University of Maryland

Julian Darley   Founder, Post Carbon Institute; High Noon For Nat. Gas

Kenneth Deffeyes   Professor, Geology, Princeton University

Claudio Filippone   Director, Center for Advanced Energy Concepts, UMD

Charles Hall   Professor, Environmental Science, SUNY Syracuse

James Hansen   Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Richard Heinberg   Author, The Party's Over, Powerdown

Michael Klare   Professor, Peace & World Security, Hampshire College

Daniel Lashof   Deputy Director, NRDC Climate Center

John Marano Adj. Professor, Energy Systems, University of Pittsburgh

Bill McKibben   Author, The End of Nature, Enough

Pat Murphy   Executive Director, The Community Solution

David Pimentel   Professor, Agricultural Sciences, Cornell University

Megan Quinn   Outreach Coordinator, The Community Solution

Mona Sahlin   Minister for Sustainable Development, Sweden

Jack Santa Barbara   Director, Sustainable Scale Project

Brian Schweitzer   Governor, State of Montana

Art Smith   CEO, John S. Herold, Inc

Joseph Tainter   Author, The Collapse of Complex Societies