Month: October 2012 (Page 2 of 2)

Oct 19: MIT Energy Night

We would like to invite you to attend the MIT Energy Night. The event will be held from 5:00-8:30 pm on October 19, 2012 at the MIT Museum. The MIT Energy Night showcases energy research, initiatives, and entrepreneurship at MIT. It is a large scale poster session and is free and open to the public. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served. You do not need to RSVP.
Presenters are MIT graduate students, postdocs and MIT-affiliated start-ups. In past years, MIT faculty, energy professionals, technology investors, local and national press have attended the event. The event first started in 2006 with 30 poster presenters and 600 attendees. Last year, the event attracted 70 poster presenters and over 1,300 attendees! For more information, please visit our website: http://mitenergynight.org/

Oct 22: Public Perceptions of Wind Energy Projects in Massachusetts

The state of Massachusetts has plans for increasing its cumulative wind energy supply to 2,000 MW by 2020; currently it is at 61 MW (10/11/2012). To be able to achieve this goal, it is important to have a coherent understanding of the factors that make wind energy projects accepted at the local level.

Fletcher’s Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) is conducting a study of the factors that lead to community acceptance of wind energy projects. The leader of this study, CIERP postdoctoral research fellow Maria Petrova, recently conducted a survey  and will  present her  results.   From  April  to June, 2012, surveys were mailed to randomly selected residents from the towns of Hull, Kingston, and Falmouth in Massachusetts, where wind projects have been sited with various levels of success. The differences in responses will be analyzed, and the factors that influence public acceptance and lead to the adoption of wind projects at the local level will be discussed.

 

Dr. Petrova came to CIERP from Oregon State University, where she completed her PhD in Environmental Science in 2010. Her doctoral dissertation focused on public acceptability of wave energy technology in Oregon. Her main interests are in public opinion and acceptability of renewable energy technologies (RETs), as well as the policies that need to be in place to advance RET development and deployment. She is also interested in comparative RET policy studies, mainly between the U.S. and countries in the EU.

 

Event will be held on Monday, October 22, 2012 from 12:30-1:45
(a light lunch will be served – no RSVP, first-come first-served)
Cabot 702, The Fletcher School
160 Packard Avenue, Medford

Oct. 5: Presidential Campaigns Energy Debate

Date: Friday, October 5, 2012

Time: 7:30 pm [seating at 7:00 pm]

Viewing: MIT Kresge Auditorium, Televised by E&E TV

 

The MIT Energy Initiative and the MIT Energy Club are co-sponsoring a televised energy debate with representatives from the campaigns of President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney on Friday, October 5 at 7:30 pm in Kresge Auditorium at MIT. Event and registration information are included below:

Speaker for President Barack Obama: Joseph Aldy, Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University

Speaker for Governor Mitt Romney: Oren Cass, Domestic Policy Director; Romney for President

Moderator: Jason Pontin, Editor of Technology Review

Questioners: Steve Hargreaves, CNN Money; Bill Loveless, Senior Editor of Platts; Monica Trauzzi, Managing Editor and Host, E&E TV

Sponsors: MIT Energy Initiative and MIT Energy Club

Two students will be selected to present a question for debate. Interested students must submit one question for consideration in their registration. Winning students will be notified by the MIT Energy Club and MIT Energy Initiative.

REGISTER to attend and participate! This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. A lottery will be conducted if attendance exceeds venue capacity.

For tickets and more information, click here.

Eco-Rep Updates

APPS on APPS

Interested in being an Eco-Rep? You don’t have to wait until next year! We are accepting applications for the spring semester RIGHT NOW! Deadline is November 2nd but apps are accepted on a rolling basis, so apply! Now. 2013_Spring_Eco-Rep_App

 

Meet & Greet

Each Eco-Rep was responsible for having a “Meet and Greet” event the first few weeks of school. We are happy to report that these events were AWESOME!  I am one of two representatives for South Hall and we had 71 people come by and chat with us!  We had baked brownies and cookies and then had brief conversations about green things at Tufts as people passed by in the lobby. The best part of this   event was that people recognized us from the all hall meeting! I fielded really thoughtful questions on composting in the dorms, composting in the dining halls, recycling, my job description, and our Terracycle initiative. What a great start to the year!

Terra–what?

I just mentioned our Terracycle initiative, but I realize there is a good chance you don’t know what that is. Have you ever seen those purses made out of Lays chip bags? Or wallets out of Cheetos? Well, those are from Terracycle! The company upcycles materials and makes new products. Eco-Reps collect chip bags and granola bar wrappers, mail them in, and then get $$ to fund programs in the dorms.

Read more about Tufts Terracycling here: http://sustainability.tufts.edu/terracycle/

AND check out the Terracycle “About Us” page http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/about-us.html  and check out how it works! http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/how-terracycle-works.html 

Events

Eco-Reps are busy planning and putting on our first events of the year. I had the pleasure of attending a discussion on The Story of Stuff last week! I appreciated everyone’s comments on the book and reflections on sustainability here at Tufts. The cynic in me doubted that many people had actually read the book, but this event proved me wrong! Props to Lauren Deaderick and Hayley Welsh for hosting the  first official event of the semester!

Book discussion in Tilton with Eco-Reps, Resident Scholar, and ACE Fellows

Why do YOU go green?

I did a quick youtube search for “go green” and came up with this video: That’s Why I Go Green. The lyrics to the song were written by a kid and then the group sang it and made a music video. I know nothing about the organization but I like their vid! I go green because I believe we can make a difference! Why do you go green?

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