Oct. 7, 2008
National energy expert to discuss oil
addiction
A special guest lecture by Nate Hagens, an energy analyst with a
unique view on America's addiction to oil, will be held at the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Hosted by the Students for Sustainable Communities, Hagens will
speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 9, at the Dreyfus University
Center Theater. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Hagens is a former investment broker who left Wall Street to join
the research program at the University of Vermont Gund Institute
for Ecological Economics. He is completing his doctorate at the
University of Vermont by studying the impacts that a decline in
liquid fuels will have on planetary ecosystems and society. On the
supply side, he is exploring net-energy comparisons of the primary
alternate fuel sources to oil: coal, wind, nuclear and biomass. On
the demand level, Hagens is studying the evolutionary mechanisms
that
cause humans to seek novelty, act impulsively, and value the present
over the future.
Prior to joining the Gund Institute, Hagens was president of
Sanctuary
Asset Management, managing director of Pension Research Institute,
and vice president at the investment firms Salomon Brothers and
Lehman Brothers. He received his bachelor's degree from the
University
of Wisconsin and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago.
Hagen is preparing for the low energy future at his own home outside
Amherst, where he is honing his skills in using a solar oven. He
regularly posts his analysis and commentary on theoildrum.com, a
popular energy blog.
The Students for Sustainable Communities is an affiliation of UWSP
students who are working to make the campus and the Stevens Point
area less dependent on fossil fuels and better prepared for a
low-energy
future. Ben Vondra, the group’s president, can be reached at
bvond464@uwsp.edu.
