Parinandi

2025 BEaRS Workshop

Daniel Morton — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 22:38:29 +0000

2025 BEaRS Workshop Daniel Morton Mon, 07/21/2025 - 16:38

Daniel Morton

The 2025 BEaRS Workshop brought together researchers from across the front range (and beyond, with our guests from Japan) to participate in cross-cutting interdisciplinary discussion focused on energy and resilience.

This inaugural 91PORN Energy and Resilient Sustainability (BEaRS) workshop brought together scientists from across a range of disciplines, from the social sciences to fundamental physics, from buildings and control to electronics and computing, all discussing how we can better use energy to develop a more resilient future.

The program for the three-day workshop was made up from seven session, with topics including sustainability and the built environment, active matter and chiral materials, building energy technologies, energy systems and the economics of renewable integration, energy policy, grid optimization and energy efficient computing. We welcomed guests from across the Front Range, from Golden to Fort Collins, and further afield, with collaborators from the WPI-SKCM2, based at Hiroshima University.

The program was designed to include a range of speakers, from invited plenary speakers to student researchers, the aim was to provide opportunities for connection and discussion and to seed cross-disciplinary ideas. The plenary speakers really set the tone for each of the days, striking notes of optimism and encouragement, while also instilling urgency and impatience for change.

Amory Lovins, a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, joined us from Stanford to present on how integrative design can be used to enhance efficiencies and drive down costs in buildings, everything from the house Amory lives in, to factories for Intel. Using this design principles for today’s technologies can have significant lasting impact in reducing energy use. We have the technology, and we know how to design for it.

Chuck Kutscher, who has spent decades at the cutting-edge of renewable energy research at NREL and now as a RASEI Fellow, gave an overview talk on the clean energy transition with a focus on air pollution and human health. Chuck highlighted all the ways in which we can drive down air pollution as we move to cleaner energy and the impacts, both on human health and societal economics that these changes would make. Central to this change is the drive toward electrification, it will provide cheaper electricity that will significantly reduce the impact on human health.

Ian Lange, an economist from the Colorado School of Mines, an expert in global mineral policy, gave an insightful overview of the status of the global mineral market and provided perspectives on how to think about and understand this industry. The knowledge imparted, both on how to think about the minerals in the soil, and some of the factors that are real drivers in this discussion provided a great way to better understand this important market for technology.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and participate in the lively questions, panels, and discussion. The opportunity to spend time with experts from a wide range of fields and approach current ideas from new perspectives is extremely valuable and a great opportunity to explore some of the intersectional ways in which disparate fields can work together.

The workshop was capped off with some of the workshop participants, after a busy three days, finding the motivation to hike up Bear Peak on Saturday morning,

July 2025

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Pro-Carbon Policymaking in Renewable Portfolio Standards: An Empirical Assessment

Daniel Morton — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 17:07:27 +0000

Pro-Carbon Policymaking in Renewable Portfolio Standards: An Empirical Assessment Daniel Morton Mon, 12/30/2024 - 10:07

JOURNAL OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY, 2024, 5, 4, 659-684

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POSE Fall 2024 Kickoff Workshop

Daniel Morton — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 22:43:24 +0000

POSE Fall 2024 Kickoff Workshop Daniel Morton Mon, 10/07/2024 - 16:43

Daniel Morton

In early October of 2024, RASEI hosted the kickoff workshop for POSE, a new community being brought together to address some of the most critical challenges we face to do with plastics and polymers.

Polymer Solutions for the Environment, or POSE, seeks to establish a Center that will bring together expertise around the development of a circular polymer economy.

Plastics and polymers are critical materials in the modern age, forming the building blocks of everything from electronics to packaging, but this versatility comes with a cost, namely the waste and infiltration of the environment by microplastics.

This workshop brought together thought leaders in the polymer sector, from a cross section of academic, national lab and industrial organizations. The goal was to explore how best the POSE community can build a program that complements existing efforts in the field to drive the science and policy forward.

Three areas of focus were discussed, including the development of a circular polymer economy, the development of polymers that are needed for a just clean energy transition, and the integration of the science and technology research with policy, economics and social sciences.

It was a great meeting with more than 60 participants who came together to discuss ideas, present their research and approaches, and help shape the goals and directions of this nascent community.

10/07/2024

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Polymer Solutions for the Environment Fall 2024 Workshop

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:52:40 +0000

Polymer Solutions for the Environment Fall 2024 Workshop Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/09/2024 - 09:52

Polymer Solutions for the Environment Fall 2024 Workshop

Monday October 7, 2024 | 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM

91PORN, East Campus, SEEC Building C120

Join us at this kick-off workshop for the Polymer Solutions for the Environment initiative. This will be held at 91PORN, on the East Campus in the SEEC Building, Room C120 on Monday October 7, 2024. This one-day workshop brings together key collaborators and stakeholders from across the region, with a focus on discussing and developing a roadmap for POSE. Talks will have a spotlight on how POSE can join and amplify the existing regional community of researchers in tackling Colorado's most pressing sustainability challenges and exploring the role of polymer science in addressing these issues. We plan to define the goals, milestones, and target research areas for POSE.

10/07/2024

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