Penn’s sixth annual Energy Week is set to take place from Monday, Feb. 23 to Friday, Feb. 27.
Since 2019, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology have co-hosted a week of workshops, tours, panels, and discussions centered around climate and energy solutions. This year, the week’s key focus is on how the rising use of artificial intelligence and growing demand for data centers affect the energy landscape.
According to Executive Director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Cornelia Colijn, this year’s programming aims at “building on momentum from past years,” by highlighting topics relevant to current events.
“We have more faculty research on energy transition than ever before, and steadily increasing student interest,” Colijn wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
This renewed focus, she explained, reflects the “urgent” nature of the energy transition. She added that this year’s Energy Week will feature partnerships with engineering, law, chemistry, anthropology, business, and arts organizations.
Nadine Gruhn — who serves as the Managing Director of the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology — explained that Energy Week is catered towards a broad audience, from students highly involved in energy research to those “who want to learn something.”
“We all understand that energy is very tied to climate and sustainability,” Gruhn said. “So it gives us an opportunity to take a broader view of everything that the Penn community is doing related to the energy transition and how that connects to climate and sustainability, not only in our research and our scholarly activities, but also just our day-to-day actions on campus.”
Colijn emphasized the addition of film studies to this year’s programming, which includes a screening of “King Coal” on Tuesday.
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Also on Tuesday evening will be a “Science Café” on critical minerals and their role in the energy transition, featuring Vagelos Professor of Energy Research Karen Goldberg and Hirschmann-Mikineni Professor of Chemistry Eric Schelter.
On Wednesday, Kleinman Center professor and Former Chief Economist to President Joe Biden’s Investing in America Cabinet Heather Boushey will lead a seminar discussing the economics of climate change and the decision-making factors that shape the future of energy in the United States.
Gruhn expressed excitement about the Thursday tour of the new Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology — a platinum LEED-certified facility — which will showcase “the energy-efficient systems” being incorporated into new Penn buildings.
To wrap up the week, Friday’s events will include a tour of energy and climate collections at Penn Museum, a panel discussion on Pennsylvania’s worker-centered clean energy transition, and an open studio session at Fisher Fine Arts Library.
Events scheduled for Monday were either canceled or postponed after the University announced it would suspend operations on Feb. 23 due to winter weather.
Gruhn said she hopes students will walk away with the understanding that energy solutions help make the world more sustainable and lessen climate impacts.
“If you look at the news, so much of what’s going on in geopolitics has some connection to energy – whether that’s rare earth elements, petroleum reserves, or policy changes around the world,” Gruhn said. “I think it will help people see that Penn is trying to contribute to solutions.”
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Staff reporter Danna Cai covers climate and sustainability and can be reached at cai@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies biology. Follow her on X @dannaacai.
