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 29th semester in fall 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
November 7, 2023
The Energy Blindness of Economics From Adam Smith to William Nordhaus
Steve Keen, Distinguished Research Fellow, University College London
November 3, 2023
Creating Global Markets for Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Natural Gas
Dr. David Allen and Dr. Arvind Ravikumar, Co-Directors of Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab (EEMDL) and Professors at The University of Texas at Austin
October 31, 2023
Fossil Phaseout and the Just Energy Transition
Emily Grubert, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame
October 23, 2023
Exploring the Role of Hydrogen & Low-Carbon Fuels in the Energy Sector
Neil Kern, Program Manager of the Low-Carbon Research Initiative at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
October 17, 2023
Steelman Discussion: Should ERCOT Interconnect (Synchronize) with the Eastern or Western Interconnect?
Carey King and Michael Webber
October 10, 2023
Carbon Trade War and the Energy Transition
Kevin Book, Managing Director of Research, ClearView Energy Partners, LLC
October 3, 2023
Climate Investing x Diversity
Vida Asiegbu, Principal, Investor, Energy Impact Partners
September 26, 2023
When Situational Awareness, Mental Models, and Adaptive Capacity Meet Control Room Surprises
Mike Legatt, CEO and Founder, ResilientGrid, Inc.
September 19, 2023
Living Well Within Limits: Is It Possible? And What Will It Take?
Julia Steinberger, Professor, Institute of Geography & Sustainability, University of Lausanne
September 12, 2023
Substituting Renewable Energy for Fossil Fuels is a Doomsday Stratagem
Arthur E. Berman, Director, Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.
September 5, 2023
Is Decarbonization the Next Industrial Revolution?
Shaun Boardman, Chief Sustainable Technologies Officer, GreenStarBCS
August 29, 2023
April 18, 2023
Job Creation Dynamics of Electric Vehicle Adoption
JR DeShazo, Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
April 11, 2023
Extreme Climate Risks and Financial Tipping Points
Gaël Giraud, Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy, Director of the Environmental Justice Program, Georgetown University
April 4, 2023
Energy and Evolution of Human Economic Order
Lisi Krall, Professor of Economics, State University of New York, Cortland
March 28, 2023
Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Transitions: the Geospatial Context of Global Change
Sarah Marie Jordaan, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED), McGill University
March 21, 2023
PyPSA Meets Earth: A Vibrant Open Energy System Model Initiative
Stuart Daniel James, Research Associate for Energy System Modeling at Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT)
March 7, 2023
Storing Hydrogen in the Subsurface: Challenges and Opportunities for Low-carbon Energy
Peter Eichhubl, Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin
February 28, 2023
CCS: The Swiss Army Knife of Climate Change Mitigation and a Key to the Energy Transition
Alex Bump, Research Geologist, Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
February 21, 2023
Science and Engineering of Negative Emissions Technologies
Roger Aines, Chief Scientist, Energy and Homeland Security Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
February 14, 2023
Probing Electrochemical Phenomena in Electrochemical Hydrogen Technologies with Self-assembled Block Copolymer Templates
Christopher Arges, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Penn State
February 7, 2023
Energy and the Impact of Incipient Shortages on Cities and Urbanization
William Rees, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Applied Science, School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia
January 31, 2023
General Motors' Path to Zero Emissions: A Wholistic View
Rob Threlkeld, Director of Global Energy Strategy for General Motors
January 24, 2023
Journalist Perspectives on Reporting on the Energy Industry
Andy Uhler, Energy Journalism Fellow, UT’s Energy Institute and Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy
Mose Buchele, Senior Correspondent, Energy & Environment, KUT (Austin's NPR Station)
January 17, 2023
Are Small-scale LNG Export Facilities Under-regulated in the US?
Jeremy Weber, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh