Talk

How Clean Energy and High Capacity Batteries Are Changing Our World…For the Better!

Several interrelated technologies are quickly transforming the energy and transportation sectors. The changes are coming faster than anyone expected and will profoundly alter how we produce and consume electricity and how we move people and products around.

The old reliable fossil fuel based electric system is being fundamentally transformed by rapidly falling costs for solar panels, wind turbines, and high-efficiency batteries. The electric car and truck revolution is accelerating this trend. Paul Hirt explains the characteristics, causes, and likely consequences of this exciting energy transition that is sweeping the world.

Paul Hirt is a Professor of History and Senior Sustainability Scholar at Arizona State University specializing in water, energy, and environmental sustainability. Hirt’s publications include a 2012 monograph on the history of electric power in the US Northwest and British Columbia titled The Wired Northwest, a 1994 monograph on the history of national forest management since WWII titled A Conspiracy of Optimism (1994), and more than two dozen articles and book chapters on various topics in environmental history. Dr. Hirt is also an elected member of the Board of Directors of Salt River Project.