Speaker: Dr. Alan Meier, Adjunct Professor, UC Davis
Host: Energy Graduate Group
Time: 10:30am to 11:50am
Location: 1605 Tilia Street, West Village, UC Davis
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Abstract: Earthquakes, wildfires, downed transmission lines, and nuclear meltdowns can quickly create situations where the supply of electricity is inadequate. Are blackouts the only solution? Perhaps not. A collection of strategies, “saving electricity in a hurry,” have been employed to quickly reduce electricity demand until a crisis is resolved. These strategies typically rely on non-economic and non-technical solutions so they don’t easily conform to conventional demand models, yet they do work. Examples from Brazil, Japan, Alaska, Norway, New Zealand, and California show how consumers can cut demand as much as 25% in a few weeks. One of these stories even began with a UC Davis student.
Bio: Dr. Alan Meier is a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Adjunct Professor at UC Davis in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and a faculty researcher at the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute. His research focuses on understanding how people and equipment use energy and opportunities to reduce consumption. Meier’s research on “standby power use” in appliances—equal to 1% of global CO2 emissions—led him to propose an international plan to reduce standby power loss in all devices to less than 1 watt, which was endorsed by the G8 countries. He is Executive Editor (and founder) of the journal Home Energy and is the author of many articles and two books, Supplying Energy through Greater Efficiency and Saving Electricity in a Hurry. Meier holds a Ph.D. in energy and resources from University of California, Berkeley.