UT Energy Symposium
A weekly guest lecture series that is both free and open to the public and available for course credit.
In an effort to provide a multidisciplinary platform for UT faculty and students to interact on the most pressing energy issues facing our world, the Energy Institute sponsors the UT Energy Symposium (UTES), which entered its 28th semester in spring 2025.
The UTES serves as a “convener” for the campus community, uniting students interested in energy issues with faculty and others working on sustainable energy security. Students who register for the symposium receive one credit hour for the 15-week seminar course, which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. The course is taught in both the fall and spring semesters.
Ongoing themes for UTES include climate change policy, innovation and diffusion of energy technologies, low-carbon technology options and status, and behavioral aspects of energy consumption.
Each UTES talk is recorded and posted on this page and on the Energy Institute YouTube channel.
Instructor: Carey King
Unique Number (Fall 2025): 65605 (graduate students) / 65310 (undergraduates)
Day & Time: Tuesday, 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
If you need an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Christa Hopkins, who can be reached at 512-475-8447 or christa@energy.utexas.edu, no later than five (5) business days prior to the event.
UT Energy Symposium Talks
May 2, 2019
Thoughtful Pathways on Emissions Reductions and the Implications of Policy-Driven Electrification
Managing Director, Energy Analysis, American Gas Association
April 25, 2019
Powerless: The impact of Hurricane Maria and The Transformation of Puerto Rico’s Energy Sector
Eliván Martínez Mercado, UT Energy Journalism Fellow
April 18, 2019
Human Right to Energy
Monika Ehrman, Faculty Director, Oil & Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Center (ONE C), The University of Oklahoma College of Law
April 11, 2019
Scientific Oversight of Climate Policy: Lessons from California
Mason Inman, lead analyst, Near Zero
April 4, 2019
Global Warming arrested and Catastrophic Climate Change averted with one action by 12 people – The BigDO (REMOTE TALK)
Susan Krumdieck, Professor, Mech. Eng., University of Canterbury New Zealand
March 28, 2019
Brazil Oil & Gas Sector: 20 yr look-back at Policy vs Impact on Investments
Carla Lacerda, President, ExxonMobil Brazil
March 14, 2019
Economic models need biophysical principles: Otherwise we can’t explain our energy past or future
Carey King, Assistant Director and Research Scientist, UT Austin Energy Institute
March 7, 2019
Hawaii, a Postcard from the Future
Adam Warren, Director, Integrated Applications Center, NREL
February 28, 2019
Revisiting business-as-usual: why our worst-case climate scenarios aren’t as bad as we thought and 2˚ is more readily achievable
Justin Ritchie, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia
February 21, 2019
Getting to zero: what will it take to decarbonize electricity and will the Green New Deal help?
Jesse Jenkins, Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School | Harvard University Center for the Environment
February 14, 2019
How and why people disagree on future energy issues, and broader social/economic outcomes related to energy systems: a discussion
David Spence, Carey King and Fred Beach, UT Austin
February 7, 2019
California Energy Policy in Crisis
Michael Wara, Director, Climate and Energy Policy Program, Senior Research Scholar, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
January 31, 2019
Non-Renewable Resources, Extraction Technology, and Economic Growth
Martin Stuermer, Sr. Research Economist, Research Dept., Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
May 3, 2012
Americans’ Vehicle and Travel Choices: Opportunities for Plug- In Vehicles in the Nation’s Fleet Evolution
Dr. Kara Kockelman, Professor & William J. Murray Jr. Fellow, Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
April 26, 2012
The Future of Water in Texas, and What It Means for Energy
Thomas Mason, Former General Manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and currently with the law firm Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody
April 12, 2012
Taking Green Technologies from Innovation to the Market: A VC’s Perspective
Ashmeet Sidana, General Partner, Foundation Capital
April 5, 2012
California’s March Towards Sustainable Energy: Assessing the Record and Lessons for Future
Andrew McAllister, Managing Director, California Center for Sustainable Energy
March 29, 2012
Simulating Complex Systems: Applications to Energy
Dr. Charles Macal, Senior Systems Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory
March 22, 2012
The Energy Industry’s Media Triumphs and Disasters
Mark Fischetti, Energy and Environment Editor, Scientific American
March 8, 2012
National Oil Companies: Fueling Anxiety
Mark Thurber, Associate Director for Research, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford
March 1, 2012
What the Characteristics of Wind and Solar Electric Power Production Mean for Their Future
Jay Apt, Professor of Technology, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
February 23, 2012
From Here to Eternity (and Beyond): Transforming to a Clean Energy Economy
David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy
February 16, 2012
Student Research Showcase
- Sudamsh Bai-Reddy, McCombs School of Business See PDF slides in a new window
- Benjamin Sigrin, Energy and Earth Resources and LBJ School of Public Affairs See PDF slides in a new window
- Dave Tuttle, Electrical and Computer Engineering See PDF slides in a new window
- Dan Weisberg, Pecan Street Inc. See PDF slides in a new window
February 8, 2012
Geopolitical Implications of Shale Gas
Amy Jaffe, Fellow in Energy Studies and Director of the Energy Forum, Baker Institute, Rice University
January 19, 2012
Utility of the Future
Roger Duncan, Research Analyst, Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy