[E&E seminars] [MITEI Seminar Series] Thomas Casten, Recycled Energy Development (Sept. 9)

[Karen Gibson]

We are pleased to announce the first speaker for the fall 2008 MIT  
Energy Initiative Seminar Series. The seminars will take place each  
month in room 66-110 from 4:15 -5:45 pm and will be followed by a  
reception. For more information, please visit the MITEI website at http://mit.edu/mitei/news/seminars 
  or contact Karen Gibson at kgibson at mit.edu.

We hope you will join us September 9 to hear Thomas Casten, founder  
and CEO of Recycled Energy Development.

*****

Profitably Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Thomas R. Casten, founder and CEO of Recycled Energy Development

	Date:		Tuesday, September 9
	Time: 		4:15 pm – 5:45 PM [Reception follows]
	Location: 	66-110 (Landau Building, 25 Ames Street, MIT Campus)


Abstract
Climate change and energy concerns call forth energy policies, but  
there is a failure to understand societal costs of each alternative  
action. Furthermore, economists and policy advisors assume the present  
energy conversion system is economically optimal, given current  
technology.  Drawing on 30 years of developing $2.0 billion of local  
generation projects that recycle waste energy, Casten analyzes the  
societal costs and savings of twelve alternate approaches to  
generating electricity. The presentation will show how the U.S. could  
achieve two billion tons of CO2 reduction per year while saving over  
$100 billion per year. The presentation ends with suggested policy  
changes to induce profitable GHG reductions and start an energy  
efficiency revolution.


About the Speaker
Thomas R. Casten has spent 30 years developing decentralized energy  
recycling projects. He was founding president and CEO of Trigen Energy  
Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange corporation and its  
predecessors from 1977 through 2000; and he served until 2006 as  
founding chair and CEO of Primary Energy Ventures LLC. Tom also has  
served as president of the International District Energy Association,  
received the Normal R. Taylor Award for distinguished achievement and  
contributions to the industry, and has been named a “CHP Champion” by  
the U.S. Combined Heat and Power Association. He is co-founder and  
former chairman of the World Alliance for Distributed Energy (WADE),  
an umbrella organization of national CHP and distributed energy  
associations, equipment vendors, government agencies, and foundations  
that promote distributed generation to optimize the world's power  
system. In 2006, the WADE board inducted Tom as the first member of  
the WADE Hall of Fame. Tom’s book, Turning off the Heat, published by  
Prometheus Press in 1998, explains how the world can save money and  
pollution. He recently co-authored a chapter in Energy Myth and  
American Society, Thirteen Myths (Sovacool & Brown), challenging the  
assumption that the U.S. electric system is optimal.


*****

MIT Energy Initiative Seminar Series [Fall 2008 - Spring 2009]
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) is an Institute-wide initiative  
designed to help transform global energy systems to meet the needs of  
the future. Led by Ernie Moniz, Director, and Bob Armstrong, Deputy  
Director, MITEI is building community around energy events and a  
collaborative research agenda. The energy seminar series continues  
this fall and will feature speakers on a variety of energy-related  
issues.




Karen  L. Gibson
Assistant to the Director
MIT Energy Initiative
77 Massachusetts Avenue, E40-467
Cambridge, MA 02139  USA
(1 Amherst St., E40-467, Cambridge MA 02142 - for DHL and FedEx)
Tel:  +1 617 258 6368; Fax:  +1 617 253 8013


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