Amory Lovins to speak at Yale

February 13, 2012
 Reinventing Fire: A Conversation with Amory Lovins

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | 04:00 PM
Burke Auditorium, Kroon Hall | 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT

Amory Lovins, co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, will be at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies to discuss his book Reinventing Fire on Wednesday, February 15.

Reinventing Fire maps business-led pathways for the U.S. to phase out fossil fuels and win the global clean energy race. Building on Rocky Mountain Institute’s 30 years of research and fieldwork, Lovins contends that by 2050 the U.S. economy (2.6-fold bigger than it is currently) could exist without oil, coal, nuclear energy – or any new inventions. Further, this economy could cost $5 trillion less in net present value than business-as-usual, conservatively valuing all externalities at zero; it could emit 82 percent to 86 percent less fossil carbon than in 2000, and the transition could be led by business for profit with no Act of Congress.

The talk, co-hosted by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, begins at 4:00 PM in Kroon Hall’s Burke Auditorium at 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, Conn.; it is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in Kroon Hall’s Knobloch Environment Center.

Amory Lovins is co-founder, chairman, and chief scientist of Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent nonprofit think-and-do-tank. An advisor to major firms and governments in over 50 countries for the past four decades, he is the recipient of the Blue Planet, Volvo, Zayed, Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, MacArthur and Ashoka Fellowships, 11 honorary doctorates, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood, National Design, and World Technology Awards. In 2009, Time named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people, and Foreign Policy, one of the 100 top global thinkers.

The event will stream live at http://www.livestream.com/yale at 4:00 PM EST.

For more information on the event, contact Susanne Stahl at 203.432.5594 or Susanne.Stahl@yale.edu.