Abstract
Amory Lovins is widely considered among the world's leading authorities on energy, especially its efficient use and sustainable supply. As Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Lovins pioneered the concept of "soft energy paths" involving efficient energy use, diverse and renewable energy sources, with special reliance on "soft energy technologies" such as solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, etc., matched in scale and quality to their task, and widely accessible across society.
Lovins' most recent work, "Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era" offers market-based, actionable solutions integrating transportation, buildings, industry, and electricity. Built on Rocky Mountain Institute's 30 years of research and collaboration in all four sectors, Reinventing Fire maps pathways for running a 158%-bigger U.S. economy in 2050 but needing no oil, no coal, no nuclear energy, one-third less natural gas, and no new inventions. This would cost $5 trillion less than business-as-usual-in addition to the value of avoiding fossil fuels' huge but uncounted external costs.
In his lecture, Amory Lovins will demonstrate how business can become more competitive, profitable, and resilient by leading the transformation from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. This transition will build a stronger economy, a more secure nation, and a healthier environment.
Biography
Amory Lovins, a consultant physicist, is among the world’s leading innovators in energy and its links with resources, security, development, and environment. He has advised the energy and other industries for four decades as well as the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense. His work in 50+ countries has been recognized by the “Alternative Nobel,” Blue Planet, Volvo, Zayed Future Energy (Runner-Up), Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, Goff Smith, and Mitchell Prizes, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, MacArthur and Ashoka Fellowships, 11 honorary doctorates, honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects, Foreign Membership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, honorary Senior Fellowship of the Design Futures Council, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Jean Meyer, Time Hero for the Planet, Time International Hero of the Environment, Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership, National Design, and World Technology Awards. A Harvard and Oxford dropout and former Oxford don, he has briefed 20 heads of state and advises major firms and governments worldwide, recently including the leadership of Coca-Cola, Deutsche Bank, Ford, Holcim, Interface, and Wal-Mart.
He cofounded in 1982 and serves as Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org), an independent, market-oriented, entrepreneurial, nonprofit, nonpartisan think-and-do tank that creates abundance by design. His most recent visiting academic chair was in spring 2007 as MAP/Ming Professor in Stanford’s School of Engineering, offering the University’s first course on advanced energy efficiency (www.rmi.org/stanford). The latest of his 29 books are Small Is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size (2002, www.smallisprofitable.org), an Economist book of the year blending financial economics with electrical engineering, and the Pentagon-cosponsored Winning the Oil Endgame (2004, www.oilendgame.com), a roadmap for eliminating U.S. oil use by the 2040s, led by business for profit. An anthology from his 1968–2010 work, The Essential Amory Lovins, is in press (2011, Earthscan, London). His 31st book with a large RMI team, Reinventing Fire, to be published in autumn 2011, is a detailed roadmap for eliminating U.S. oil and coal use by 2050, led by business for profit. In 2009, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and Foreign Policy, one of the 100 top global thinkers.