Moving Toward a Sustainable Energy Future in China: Opportunities & Challenges
Join Rosa Ovshinsky, Ph.D., for a discussion on energy and environmental opportunities in China.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014 | 6-8 pm No registration is necessary IIT Stuart Downtown Campus | Room 485 565 W. Adams St., Chicago, IL 60661
Refreshments will be served. During the past three decades, China has transformed itself from antiquated to modern. The speed of transformation is truly amazing; however, it has resulted in a nation with choked air and polluted water. In many ways, China’s pathway toward industrialization is no different from other developed countries - industrialize first and clean up later. Nonetheless, the differences between China's pathway and that of developed nations create unique issues: the sheer speed and process size of industrialization. Further, China’s rapid development is occurring at a time of near depletion of easily extracted oil/gas and daunting climate change challenges. Severe weather patterns and the rising sea level from polar melt in recent years validate climate science predictions and strongly enhance global awareness. Moving toward a carbon-free, sustainable energy future is no longer merely an option but a necessity. In this talk, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges. Dr. Rosa Ovshinsky was born in China, grew up in Taiwan, and received her Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. She spent most of her career in renewable energy fields - ranging from photovoltaics, battery, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, and alternative vehicles. During her tenure at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1971 to 1984, she received numerous awards, including the DOE Outstanding Sustained Research Award, Significant Implication for Energy Technology Award, Industrial Research 100 Award, etc. She joined Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) in 1984, working with her late husband, Stanford R Ovshinsky (an inventor, innovator, and entrepreneur) on both information and energy technologies. She has published more than 80 scientific papers and has received about 50 patents. She served as the NATO lecturer on Hydrogen & Sustainable Energies from 2000 to 2005. After retiring from ECD in 2007, she and Stan founded the Ovshinsky Foundation with a mission of living in a better and cleaner world and protecting our planet Earth.
