As society struggles to find clean, affordable, and reliable energy alternatives to meet the energy challenge and mitigate global climate change, it is important that scientists and policy-makers around the world work together to explore solutions.

To present the Swiss perspective on sustainable energy alternatives for the future, professor Konstantinos Boulouchos of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) shared the complex interaction between the energy and climate change challenges and provide insight into the ongoing debate surrounding long-term strategic targets like the 2,000-watt versus the one-ton CO2 society.

Joining Professor Boulouchos is internationally recognized US climate scientist, Stephen Schneider of Stanford University. Professor Schneider is actively involved with the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and specializes in projecting global climate change and related impacts for the future. He is also dedicated to communicating science to the public.

This event is produced by swissnex San Francisco and part of the U.S.-wide program ThinkSwiss-Brainstorm the Future. As a leading country in science, research, and technology, Switzerland is working with its American counterparts to address key global topics such as sustainability to better understand trends and arrive at solutions.

Bios
Konstantinos Boulouchos
Konstantinos Boulouchos is a professor of aerothermochemistry and combustion systems at the Institute of Energy Technology at ETH Zürich (ETHZ) and Chair of the Board of the Energy Science Center. He trained as a mechanical engineer at the National Technical University of Athens and holds a Ph.D. in thermodynamics and combustion from ETHZ. Following post-doctoral work at ETHZ and a Visiting Scientist position at Princeton University, he served as Senior Scientist and head of the Combustion Research Laboratory at the Swiss National Laboratory, the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI).
 
In recent years, Konstantinos Boulouchos has been increasingly interested in research issues related to the modeling, assessment, and optimization of the global energy system from a rigorous thermodynamic point of view. Together with his team, he works on strategy development efforts for corporate and national institutions in the field of energy.
 
Stephen Schneider
Stephen H. Schneider is the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at Stanford University, a professor of biological sciences, and professor (by courtesy) of civil and environmental engineering. He’s also a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford.
 
Schneider received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and plasma physics from Columbia University and studied the role of greenhouse gases and suspended particulate material on climate as a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and was a member of the scientific staff of NCAR, where he co-founded the Climate Project.
 
Internationally recognized for research, policy analysis, and outreach in climate change, he focuses on climate change science, integrated assessment of ecological and economic impacts of human-induced climate change, and identifying viable climate policies and technological solutions. He has consulted with federal agencies and White House staff in several administrations.
 
Currently, Schneider is counseling policy makers about the importance of using risk management strategies in climate-policy decision making, given the uncertainties in future projections of global climate change and related impacts. In addition to continuing to serve as advisor to decision-makers, he consults with corporate executives and other stakeholders in industry and the nonprofit sectors regarding possible climate-related events and is actively engaged in improving public understanding of science and the environment through extensive media communication and public outreach.