International Summer School
GEOPOLITICS of NATURAL RESOURCES – 2019
Energy Transitions: From What to What, and How?
Since 2013, the Institute for Advanced International Studies, Hautes Études Internationales (HEI) at Université Laval and The School of Public Policy (SPP) have established an annual global summer school focused on the geopolitics of natural resources. Bringing together leading experts, this joint effort results in an intensive week of discussions of global issues – political, economic, environmental and social. Participants analyze the challenges and obstacles related to the management of natural resources against a backdrop of profound geopolitical changes. Each year, a new theme is selected and the 2019 issues will focus on the theme “Energy transitions: From what to what, and how?”
Governments across the world and certainly Canada’s federal and provincial governments must tackle the pressing problem of climate change, which often entails developing policies designed to reduce the amount of carbon emitted in the atmosphere. While many proponents of clean technology and renewable power call for a rapid transition from carbon-based energy to something else, existing technologies and infrastructures may not be as easily switched to ‘greener’ forms of energy without exorbitant costs or significant economic disruptions. What are the appropriate ways to transition from hydrocarbons to renewables? Which renewables are most appropriate for given uses? What existing technologies are ‘scalable’ for regional or national transitions? What are the costs of transitioning, and are the benefits ultimately worth it? What about the challenges of transitioning remote communities that currently are powered by diesel generators–what other forms of energy can they reliably use? These are among the topics we will cover.
When: May 13 – 17, 2019 (8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.)
Where: The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary Downtown Campus (map)
Register: CLICK HERE
