Webinar: Modeling the Energy Transition

Panelists will share preliminary findings from their research and policy work focusing on efforts to model various aspects of the energy transition. The discussion will address how models can help inform energy policy as well as the role of academic research in the policymaking process. Our hope is that the audience and panelists alike will benefit from participating in a dialogue that brings together cutting edge modeling researchers and the government officials charged with managing the energy transition in the United States.

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Speakers: 

• Dr. Oleg Lugovoy is Lead Senior Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund. He is an economic and energy modeling expert with more than 15 years of experience in reference energy system modeling, energy and climate policy analysis. He works closely with international research think tanks to develop open-source energy models and tools, and he participates in leading international model-based decarbonization studies. His recent research focuses on the development and application of high-resolution capacity expansion models for assessing potential of renewable energy, electricity, and energy transition options in different countries.
• Dr. Zane Selvans is a founding member of the Catalyst Cooperative. Since finishing his PhD at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in 2009 he has worked on climate and energy policy — first as Director of Research and Policy at Clean Energy Action, and then at Catalyst. In his current role he is focused on deploying modern data engineering infrastructure in support of the Public Utility Data Liberation Project. He helps add new open datasets, and uses machine learning tools to better clean, repair, and integrate Catalyst’s data for easy use by civil society.
• Dr. Wei Peng an assistant professor at Princeton University, with a joint appointment between the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Her research uses computational models to quantify difficult tradeoffs of climate policy across social, political, and environmental aspects. Her research has been published in Nature, Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, PNAS among others, and has been featured in national and local media such as PBS and NPR. She currently serves as a co-author of the Fifth National Climate Assessment.
• Jignasa Gadani is the Director of the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. She formerly held the position of Acting Director of that office. Prior to joining the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, Ms. Gadani served from 2010-2014 as the Director of the East Division in FERC's Office of Energy Market Regulation. Ms. Gadani has held several other positions at the Commission, including as an attorney advisor in the Office of the General Counsel’s Energy Markets Division from 2001-2006 and 2009-2010, and as a Legal Advisor to Commissioner Philip D. Moeller from 2006-2009. During law school, Ms. Gadani also worked at the Illinois Commerce Commission.
• Christoph Graf (moderator) is a Senior Economist at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. His research focuses on energy and climate policy supporting the energy transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future.

This webinar is part of a series highlighting environmental and energy research projects funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Stay tuned for upcoming events!