Susan Spencer sees potential for the Rochester region to lead on technology that could prevent the acceleration of climate change.
In particular, she says she sees promise in the solar cell research and development work happening across the area, especially at Eastman Business Park. And that makes sense: Spencer is a Ph.D. candidate at Rochester Institute of Technology who studies solar cell technology. Her dissertation, which she defends at the end of August, deals with ways to optimize solar cells at the molecular level.
In a sense, Spencer is trying to fight climate change from inside a lab. But she says she also wants to talk to the public about climate change, and solutions including renewable energy. And to that end, she’ll give a free presentation — “The Climate Crisis and Renewable Energy Solutions” — at 6 p.m. tomorrow at RIT, in the Xerox auditorium in Gleason Hall. It’ll last 45 minutes to an hour, and a question-and-answer session will follow.
Earlier this summer, Spencer spent a week at a Climate Reality Leader training session in Australia. That’s the program developed and led by former Vice President Al Gore, with the idea of getting regular people from across the world to serve as climate ambassadors. The broader idea, Spencer says, is to build a groundswell of support for meaningful governmental actions on greenhouse gas emissions and other climate issues. The presentation is designed to inform people of the problem, but also to stress that there is hope for addressing it.
“I think it’s a winnable battle,” Spencer says. “I really do.”
As part of the training, she had to commit to 10 leadership acts. The presentations are one of them. And Spencer has a 13-year-old daughter who is active in Girl Scouts, and she’s working with the regional organization to incorporate a climate change component into its science, technology, engineering, and math program.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2014.
Al Gore is a non-scientist multimillionaire who has made tens of millions of dollars investing in green technology. Most of us are just getting by because people like Al Gore have all the money. I want to protect the environment, but buying solar cells and other things with money I don’t have doesn’t seem like the answer.
Al Gore’s money has nothing to do with doing something good for the environment. For the price of an average new car today, you can fit your home with solar panels that will provide all the power you need. There are so many people buying new cars these days…money does not seem to be that big of a problem for many people.
Al Gore has gotten rich by promoting this theory, living in a 10,000 sq ft house, driving large SUV and flying massive jets all over the world. Why isn’t all of his riches going to the “cause”?
I have always liked solar and wind power, but until they become sustainable let’s stop with the subsidies. Why not rebuild our carbon based economy, and from the tax revenue, invest in R&D?
It seems foolish to subsidize the manufacturer, and then subsidize the purchaser too. And currently, even subsidized, solar doesn’t come close to the 20 year payback lifetime.
And yes, people are still buying cars to get to work, so they can support others with the already high taxes. For most people, once you buy a car, you can’t afford much else, no less solar collecters, but a very typical comment from the ” highly intelligent” left.
Why these infantile attacks on Al Gore?