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Energy Policy

What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough
power plant  emitting carbon dioxide into atmosphere on a sunny day, surrounded by trees and roadways..

What to do when cutting emissions alone is no longer enough

Four factors to consider in the race to solve the climate crisis, including how to scale up a tool called negative emissions and why the oceans can only help so much.

Michele W. Berger

The many lives of charcoal
Penn alumna Catherine Nabukalu examines a bag of charcoal as two people work in a field in the background

Environmental Studies master’s student Catherine Nabukalu worked with Professor Reto Gieré to study the charcoal supply chain. She visited and interviewed workers involved with its production and trade in a number of sites in Uganda. 

The many lives of charcoal

Catherine Nabukalu, an alumna of the Master in Environmental Studies program, worked with School of Arts and Sciences Professor Reto Gieré to track the charcoal supply chain through research in Nabukalu’s native Uganda.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons
Fire crews tend to a using controlled burns at night to prevent further uncontrolled fires

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons

In a Q&A, doctoral student Clare Super describes her research into wildland firefighting, the impact on firefighters, U.S. policy around wildfires, and parallels to what’s happening in Australia.

Michele W. Berger

Penn sends largest ever delegation to UN climate conference
Group of people sitting in a circle, with an easel and paper next to the group.

At COP 25, the United Nations climate conference that runs from Dec. 2 through Dec. 13, 2019, Penn sent its largest delegation ever, including philosophy professor Michael Weisberg (center, in blue). He and others from around the University participated in the inaugural Resilience Lab and led discussions on topics like adaptation and climate-resilient urban infrastructure. (Image: Jocelyn Perry)

Penn sends largest ever delegation to UN climate conference

At COP 25, representatives from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, Perry World House, Penn IUR, and elsewhere discuss global climate challenges.

Michele W. Berger

The data at the heart of Green New Deal public housing legislation
Two people installing solar panels on a chilly day, wearing gloves and snow hats.

Funding in the recently proposed Green New Deal for Public Housing legislation would go toward energy-retrofitting interventions such as installing solar panels. 

The data at the heart of Green New Deal public housing legislation

Beyond improving living conditions, greening these spaces would reduce emissions and create 250,000 jobs annually, according to research from Penn and Data for Progress.

Michele W. Berger

A focus on environmental inequities
Philadelphia city street, abandoned factory in background, housing behind sidewalk fence.

A focus on environmental inequities

A Penn symposium will confront issues of inequitable access to a clean and safe environment and the unequal burden borne by vulnerable communities, particularly low-income and underrepresented minority populations, when it comes to environmental threats.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Leading the way in the field of energy policy
Mark Alan Hughes at his desk standing and talking with associates by windows in the sunlight.

Hughes (second from left) with the Kleinman Center team, including from left to right, Angela Pachon, Bill Cohen, Mollie Simon, Cornelia Colijn, and Kimberle Szczurowski.

Leading the way in the field of energy policy

During two decades at Penn, Mark Alan Hughes has made the University a leader in the field of energy policy—and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Michele W. Berger, Lindsey Samahon

Weighing the environmental impacts of a byproduct of biofuel combustion: plant skeletons
Pile of shredded straw from Miscanthus sinensis, Chinese silver grass

Chinese silver grass, Miscanthus sinensis, is a common source of biomass, burned to produce electricity or heat in power plants. Each piece is roughly 2-3 centimeters in length. (Image: Reto Gieré)

Weighing the environmental impacts of a byproduct of biofuel combustion: plant skeletons

The School of Arts and Sciences’ Reto Gieré and Ruggero Vigliaturo and colleagues found that phytoliths—small, silica-containing deposits present in many plant species—are emitted during biofuel combustion.

Katherine Unger Baillie

‘Climate Risk Solutions,’ a 30-part report on climate change proposals
Spring field flooded by high water of a small river.

‘Climate Risk Solutions,’ a 30-part report on climate change proposals

Wharton’s Steven Kimbrough and Carolyn Kousky and Penn Law's Cary Coglianese discuss the solutions offered by a new report by a number of Penn experts on climate change, “Climate Risk Solutions.”

Penn Today Staff

Talking climate change with Rafe Pomerance
A person sitting in a red chair gesturing with hands.

Environmental activist, Rafe Pomerance, founder of Arctic 21 and a senior fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, spoke at the Penn’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy last week. 

Talking climate change with Rafe Pomerance

In a Q&A, the longtime environmental activist, who came to campus to speak at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, discusses where we are today and how we can avoid the worst effects of a warming planet.

Michele W. Berger