CHEST Workshop: Electricity, History and our Energy Future

We are surrounded by evidence that our energy future will look very different than our past.  Factors suggesting fundamental changes ahead include rising oil and gas prices, threats of “peak oil,” challenges to nuclear power, concerns about global climate change, and the continuing effects of smoke-stack pollutants on the environment.  We are told that solar- and wind-generated electricity and electric cars could address these concerns, but our energy future is constrained by history.  

This panel of distinguished experts will discuss the historic conditions and regulatory contexts that shaped the generation and transmission of electricity in the U.S. – contexts that exert a continuing role today.  CHRISTOPHER JONES holds a doctorate in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (University of Pennsylvania).  A former Miller Center Fellow, Jones is currently a Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.  DAVID GEE earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering (UVA) and a MA in Finance (MIT).  He serves as a Trustee to UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and is a partner with the Boston Consulting Group, leading its Energy and Utilities Practice for North and South America.

This panel is sponsored by the Committee on the History of the Environment, Science, and Technology (CHEST), a collaboration among faculty members and graduate students from UVa’s Departments of History and Science, Technology, and Society.  With generous support from the Page Barbour Fund for Interdisciplinary Initiatives and the Miller Center of Public Affairs, CHEST brings together speakers from around the country to explore topics that cut across traditional academic and policy boundaries separating studies of the environment, science, and technology.

For more information, please contact James Allison, PhD Candidate and CHEST Coordinator, UVA’s Corcoran Department of History (jra5x@virginia.edu or 804-651-0566).