Sustainability & The Environment

L.A.’s Fossil Fuel-Free Future

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Description

USC researchers, working with the federal government and the city of Los Angeles, have identified pathways to a zero-emissions future for the megalopolis in 25 years, a new report shows. But how do you get there from here? What are the challenges and benefits? And can a fossil fuel-free Los Angeles become a clean-energy model for other cities?

Join USC professors, a Los Angeles Times reporter and the city’s sustainability chief for this discussion about Southern California’s sustainable future. Moderated by Sammy Roth, who covers energy for the L.A. Times. Featuring Lauren Faber O’Connor, chief sustainability officer for the City of Los Angeles; Kelly Sanders, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering; and Adam Rose, research professor of public policy at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Who Will Benefit

– Those who want to understand what challenges researches are facing in creating a fossil fuel-free Los Angeles
– Los Angeles residents who are concerned about the cost of clean energy
– Those hoping to find out what Los Angeles can learn from other cities that have integrated clean energy

About Our Featured Faculty

Kelly T. Sanders is an assistant professor USC’s Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research aims to ease tensions between human and natural systems through technical, regulatory and market intervention, with particular emphasis on reducing the environmental impacts of providing energy and water services. She has authored more than two dozen publications and has given dozens of invited talks on topics at the intersection of engineering, science, and policy. Sanders has been recognized in Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Energy and MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 for her contributions to the energy field. Her research and commentary have been featured in media outlets such as Forbes, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Scientific American. Sanders received her BS in Bioengineering from the Pennsylvania State University, as well MSE and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, respectively. She teaches classes related to energy and the environment.

Adam Rose is a research professor at USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, and director and senior research fellow of USC’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). Previously, he held faculty and department chair positions in applied economics departments at The Pennsylvania State University and West Virginia University, as well as a faculty position at the University of California, Riverside. He received his PhD in economics from Cornell University, but has worked on interdisciplinary topics throughout most of his career.

Professor Rose’s primary research interest is the economics of disasters. He has spearheaded the development of CREATE’s comprehensive economic consequence analysis framework and has done pioneering research on resilience at the level of the individual business/household, market/industry and regional/national economy. He has also completed dozens of case studies of disaster consequences, resilience and recovery, including the September 11 terrorist attacks. Professor Rose is the author of several books and 250 professional papers, including most recently Defining and Measuring Economic Resilience from a Societal, Environmental and Security Perspective (Springer), Economic Consequence Analysis Tool (Springer), and The Economics of Climate Change Policy (Elgar). He has been appointed to the editorial boards of Economics of Natural Disasters and Climate Change, Environmental Hazards, Journal of Integrated Disaster Risk Management, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, The Energy Journal, Resource and Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Pacific and Asian Journal of Energy, Journal of Sustainable Energy Engineering, Resource Policy, and Journal of Regional Science.