Schatz Energy Research Center
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Thursday, September 23 @ 5:30 pm: Grace Wu — Building a net zero energy system that protects biodiversity

Grace Wu

Achieving net zero economy-wide carbon emissions will require the large-scale expansion of low-carbon energy infrastructure at unprecedented rates. Yet we lack an understanding of where that infrastructure may be sited, the scale of the land and ocean area requirements, and its possible conservation impacts. This talk will present results from studies that use highly detailed energy and land use modeling to examine the effect of various levels of environmental protections on the energy infrastructure required for the Western US to achieve ambitious climate targets.

Grace Wu is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of California Santa Barbara. She is broadly interested in the dynamics and drivers of land use change, climate change mitigation, and advancing our ability to plan for sustainable, multi-use landscapes that protect biodiversity and advance climate goals. She uses spatial science approaches to identify and understand the co-benefits and trade-offs between climate solutions and habitat conservation.

Before joining UCSB, Grace was a Smith Conservation Fellow at The Nature Conservancy and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. She was also a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis. She holds a BA from Pomona College, MPhil from University of Cambridge, and an MS and PhD in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley.

How to attend

We’re holding the fall 2021 series online via Zoom. All events are free and open to the public.

Accessibility

Live captioning is provided for all talks. To request additional support, please contact info@schatzcenter.org or call 707-826-4345.

About the series

The Sustainable Futures speaker series stimulates interdisciplinary collaboration around issues related to energy, the environment, and society. These lectures are sponsored by the Schatz Center, the Environment & Community graduate program, and the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences at Humboldt State.

Questions? Email info@schatzcenter.org or call 707-826-4345.

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