
"I have no doubt that
we will be successful in harnessing the sun's
energy ... if sunbeams
were weapons of war,
we would have had solar energy centuries ago."
- SIR GEORGE PORTER,
1967 Nobel Prize for Chemistry |
Symposium | Films | Guests | Special Events | Schedule | Jury | Awards
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON THE 2008 MOVING MOUNTAINS SYMPOSIUM ON WATER
Friday, May 23, 2008 • 8:30am-3pm
2007 MOVING MOUNTAINS SYMPOSIUM
Watch Plum TV's clip from the 2007 Symposium on Energy!
Friday, May 25, 2007 • 8:30am-3pm - SCHEDULE
Telluride Conference Center (AKA “High Camp” in the Mountain Village)
The Symposium is an all-day topical immersion that includes short presentations, panel discussions and audience Q&A. Includes a sumptuous outdoor lunch.
Click here for the online Symposium Schedule. Descriptions of the Symposium presentations are provided below.
Topics covered
• Traditional and Alternative Energy Sources
• Conservation
• Climate Change
• The Geopolitics of Energy Security
• Sustainable Solutions
• What are our odds?
SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS
SYMPOSIUM TALKS
Dennis Dimick’s Symposium Talk
Global Climate Change: Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gasses
With demand for cheap, available energy expected to double by the middle of this century, the potential for disastrous Global Climate Change will continue to grow beyond our control. The need for renewable, clean sources of energy has never been greater. Through brilliant imagery from national Geographic Magazine, Dennis Dimick will illustrate the realities of Global Climate Change and will draw the connection between renewable energy, a healthy environment and a growing economy.
Jeff Goodell’s Symposium Talk
Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future
America is at an energy crossroads – the dream of clean, cheap energy remains elusive, while gas and oil wells are running dry and prices are rising. What will fuel our future? Increasingly, the answer is coal. In his talk, Goodell will explore the costs and consequences of America’s addiction to coal, including a broad legacy of environmental destruction. Is “clean coal” an oxymoron? And most important, can America continue its romance with coal without sending the planet into a global meltdown?
James Howard Kunstler
“The Long Emergency”
Dr. Kutscher’s Symposium Talk
Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.
Meeting our energy requirements while decreasing our carbon output will require a multitude of technologies. Chuck will describe the energy efficiencies and renewable energy technologies that can provide the large reductions in carbon emissions required in the U.S. to help avoid the worst consequences of global warming.
Dr. Daniel Nocera’s Symposium Talk
The Global Energy Future
Within our lifetimes, energy consumption will increase two-fold, from our current burn rate of 12.8 TW to 28 – 35 TW by 2050 (TW = trillion watts). This additional energy is simply not attainable from nuclear, biomass, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric technologies. The global appetite for energy is simply too much and the environmental degredation from traditional energy sources is unacceptable. Dr. Nocera will explore the preeminent sustainable and renewable carbon-neutral energy source - sunlight.
Trey Taylor III – Symposium Talk
Power From Flowing Waters... Helping Build Sustainable Communities
Trey Taylor’s company, Verdant Power, has developed a new hydro technology called Kinetic Hydropower, which does not require the traditional damming of rivers. With the potential of producing up to 250,000MW of electricity globally, kinetic hydro could provide a new renewable source of electricity without disrupting the environment. Traditionally, roadblocks to renewable energy sources have been local, state and federal regulatory constraints, but by starting his first US hydro project in New York City, conceivably the toughest US regulatory environment, Trey Taylor has proven the value of kinetic hydro and has become the industry's trail-blazer in changing the regulatory process.
Randy Udall
Mountaineering with the Oil Tribe (Keynote Speech)
Global oil production has increased 800% since World War II, powering an enormous expansion of human activities, including adventure travel. Cheap energy brought the world's distant mountains near to hand; it was no accident that Everest was first climbed in 1953, or that so many have since trod its summit. As global oil production peaks and begins to decline, the natural world will become bigger again and the fabled summits (and their glaciers) will recede to more distant horizons.
Neville Williams’ Symposium Talk
Making Solar Standard
Solar energy is now real; business is booming; and solar power offers Americans a way to reduce their use of fossil fuels, guard against rising utility rates, and provide a secure source of power for homes and businesses. Williams has helped 65,000 families in the developing world to light up their lives with solar electricity, and now his new company is making it easy and convenient for American homeowners to save the planet one solar roof at a time. Williams is the author of CHASING THE SUN: Solar Adventures Around The World (2005, New Society).
ADVISORY PARTNERS
American Himalayan Foundation • Conservation International
International Campaign for Tibet • International League of Conservation Photographers
National Geographic • National Resource Defense Council • Telluride Ecology Commission • Telluride Sustainability • The Nature Conservancy • Verdant Power |