News from Sustainability at Caltech

Caltech Earns a B on Sustainability Report Card

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

For the second year in a row, Caltech received a B on the Sustainability Report Card. Caltech was awarded an A in the categories of Climate Change and Energy, Food and Recycling, and Investment Priorities. Click here to view the complete report card.

Caltech Alum Named to Top UK Post

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Caltech alum David MacKay, PhD '92, has been appointed chief scientific advisor for the United Kingdom's Department of Energy and Climate Change. MacKay is currently a professor of natural philosophy in the physics department at Cambridge University and is author of the influential book Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air.

He is internationally known for his research in machine learning, information theory, and communication systems, including the invention of Dasher, a software application for communication that is especially popular with disabled people. He has taught physics in Cambridge since 1995. Over the years MacKay has devoted an increasing amount of time to public teaching about energy.

John Bryson: Energy and Climate Policy: The Decade Ahead

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In a talk called "Energy and Climate Policy: The Decade Ahead," John Bryson discussed how California's distinctive approach to clean energy systems may help guide the United States and other countries in their efforts to lower carbon emissions. Bryson is a commissioner of the National Commission on Energy Policy and the former chairman, CEO, and president of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison.

Earnest C. Watson Lecture: "Exploring the Deep Sea for Corals and Clues to Our Climatic Past"

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The next Earnest C. Watson Lecture will take place at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, in Beckman Auditorium. In a talk called "Exploring the Deep Sea for Corals and Clues to Our Climatic Past," Caltech's Jess Adkins, associate professor of geochemistry and global environmental science, will explain how submarines, robots, lowered cameras, and dredges are used to find deep sea corals. These archives of past climate are related to their surface cousins and can structure huge thriving communities hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface.

Climate Fingerprints: How Do We Know that Human Activities Have Influenced Global Climate?

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Santer, an atmospheric scientist with the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, presented a talk on human-caused climate change. His research focuses on identification of natural and anthropogenic "fingerprints" in observed climate records, the use of statistical methods in climate science, and climate model evaluation.

Harry Gray: Powering the Planet with Solar Fuel

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Harry Gray, Caltech's Beckman Professor of Chemistry, explained how researchers are trying to find efficient and economical ways of storing solar energy in chemical bonds through the development of a technique for splitting water into its elemental components—hydrogen and oxygen—using solar-driven molecular machines that are designed to be even more efficient than natural photosynthesis.

Jörg Imberger: Life in a Changing Climate

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

As part of the Victor Wouk Lectureship series, Jörg Imberger presented a talk called "Life in a Changing Climate." Imberger, the director of the Centre for Water Research and professor of environmental engineering at the University of Western Australia, says, "Humans, by expanding our reach to global scales through technology, have set up a 50-year global experiment where we are both the observers and the subjects and for which we have neither an hypothesis nor an objective; we have put the earth and ourselves into the hands of fate."

Amory Lovins: Profitable Solutions to Climate Change

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Climate solutions are not costly but instead profitable, since saving fuel costs less than buying fuel. That's what energy expert Amory Lovins explained in a Chen-Huang Sustainable Energy Lecture. Lovins, an internationally recognized expert on energy independence, cofounded the Rocky Mountain Institute and now serves as chairman and chief scientist. His nearly four decades of advocacy for resource efficiency, energy innovation, and holistic design have garnered attention because of today's interrelated energy and climate issues.

Caltech Makes the Grade on Sustainability

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The 2009 College Sustainability Report Card was just released, and Caltech earned a B for overall campus sustainability. This represents a significant improvement over last year's grade (C). Caltech ranks in the top quartile of schools in the U.S. and Canada. Highlights on this year's report card include top marks in the categories of Food & Recycling, Green Building, and Investment Priorities. The complete report card can be viewed here.

Caltech Solar Project Receives City Rebate

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Caltech and EI solutions, a leader in solar solutions, announced today that the City of Pasadena has granted a rebate to the city's largest-ever solar-energy facility as part of the Pasadena Water & Power Pasadena Solar Initiative (PSI) program. The facility is located on top of Caltech's Holliston parking structure and will begin operation in the next few months. The project is the city's first large-scale power purchase agreement in the area. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place November 4.