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This year’s Energy Transition Institute (ETI) Symposium, held on April 25, brought together a cross-disciplinary collection of thinkers to examine the multifaceted topic of intentionally designing a just energy future.

“The transition to a sustainable energy future is not just a technical challenge, it is a societal one,” said Marsha McGriff, vice chancellor for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer in her opening remarks. “Who benefits from new energy systems? Who bears the burdens? Who has a voice in shaping the policies and innovations that will define our future?”

To answer these critical questions, she applauded ETI’s collaborative spirit. “Progress is never made in isolation,” she said. “It is forged in the exchange of ideas, in the willingness to listen and to learn from one another, and then the commitment to ensuring that no one – no one – is left behind. This symposium is a testament to that philosophy.”

Hendrik Van Den Berg, adjunct professor of economics, and Kerry Bowie, co-founder, president, and executive director of Browning the Green Space, then held a debate on whether a just energy transition is best achieved through conservation or through technology-driven abundance.

While both experts saw the value in both policy and technology, Van Den Berg took the conservation and policy perspective, and Bowie argued for technology.

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“The way we run our society, the way we run our economy, is probably a more important innovation than all of these gadgets and gizmos that can do one thing or the other,” said Van Den Berg. “We have the technologies to achieve much lower carbon dioxide emissions, probably to levels that would prevent global warming. Where are the institutions, where is the structure, where is the politics, where are the incentives to get us to use that? We're not using the technologies that we have because the incentives aren't there. Those are the innovations we need.”

Bowie, similarly, agreed that humans, when left to their own devices, don’t always pick the right ones because they are driven to make the convenient choice. He argued that green technology that can meet this need can effectively move the needle. “If we get the market forces and you get the capital, I think if people have a solution that works, people gravitate towards it,” he said. “People use the things that work for them.”

The evening concluded with research posters from ELEVATE graduate students, which covered a wide range of topics, including wind energy, environmental justice, policy impacts, various types of computational modeling for optimizing different systems, and local projects that could be implemented at UMass Amherst.

“The Energy Transition Symposium is a moment to recognize and showcase the hard work of students who are dedicated to pushing for a more equitable and more sustainable future despite fierce opposition,” says Zoe Getman-Pickering, ELEVATE program coordinator. “I think it was important for folks across very disparate and often siloed disciplines to see what others are working on and that none of us is alone in the fight for a better future.”

“Climate denial and defunding of science are not viable solutions to the climate crisis,” adds Jared Starr, sustainability scientist and associate director of ETI. “Events like ours shine a light on the ideas and research needed to make actual progress on addressing climate change while creating a clean and equitable energy system.”

The event was sponsored by ELEVATE and the Energy Transition Institute (ETI), in partnership with the iCons Program, Clean Energy Extension, Campus Sustainability, and the Wind Energy Fellows Program.