Stanford Energy Seminar | From molecules to macroeconomics

Описание: Macro-energy systems modelers are regularly asked to capture greater detail in technology and behavior, often without a sense of how these additions to models could affect projected outcomes. In this talk, Valerie will discuss which attributes of technology and behavior can most affect modeled outcomes and policy prescriptions, using examples from industrial and power sector decarbonization. The talk will consider the tradeoffs associated with building detail into models compared to drawing insights from parallel, complementary studies. Conclusions will focus on ways that interdisciplinary collaboration can advance both approaches and ultimately inform the design of effective policy for the energy transition as deployment scales.

Speaker Bio: Valerie Karplus is a professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and associate director at the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.

Karplus studies resource and environmental management in organizations operating in diverse national and industry contexts, with a focus on the role of institutions and management practices in explaining performance. Areas of expertise include innovation in global corporate and industrial supply chains, regional approaches to workforce and economic revitalization, and the integrated design and evaluation of public policies. Karplus has taught courses on public policy analysis, global business strategy and organization, entrepreneurship, and the political economy of energy transitions. At CMU, she runs the Laboratory for Energy and Organizations. Karplus is also a faculty affiliate of the MIT Energy Initiative, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, and the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy.

She has previously worked in the development policy section of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany, as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow, and in the biotechnology industry in Beijing, China, as a Luce Scholar. From 2011 to 2016, she co-founded and directed the MIT-Tsinghua China Energy and Climate Project a five-year research effort focused on analyzing the design of energy and climate change policy in China, and its domestic and global impacts. Karplus previously served on the faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Karplus holds a BS in biochemistry and political science from Yale University and a Ph.D. in engineering systems from MIT.