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.
Upcoming UT Energy Symposium Talks
| Date | Speaker | Talk Title |
| 3/3/2026 | Kelly Sims Gallagher | Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University | Shifting Priorities in U.S. Energy Innovation Policy |
| 3/10/2026 | Joe DeCarolis | Head and Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University | Leading the U.S. Energy Information Administration in a Time of Rapid Change |
| 3/24/2026 | Sara Eftekharnejad | Associate Professor, SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellow, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University | TBD |
| 3/31/2026 | Kyle Chan | Fellow – Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution | China’s Clean Tech Industrial Strategy |
| 4/7/2026 | Michael Baldea | Professor, Chemical Engineering, UT Austin | Electrification of Industry for lower-carbon emissions, the EPIX project |
| 4/14/2026 | Sindhu Nathan | U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology | TBD |
| 4/21/2026 | Erica Belmont | Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming | TBD |
UT Energy Symposium Talks
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
November 29, 2018
Geopolitical and energy trade affected by China’s rise
David Firestein, Executive Director, China Public Policy Center; Clinical Professor of Public Affairs, LBJ School, UT Austin
November 15, 2018
Book talk: Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks and the Making of an Oil Frontier
Maya Rao, Washington correspondent for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer and author of Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks and the Making of an Oil Frontier
November 8, 2018
Innovating for a Clean Energy Future
Kate Zerrenner, Senior Manager, Energy-Water Initiatives, Environmental Defense Fund
October 25, 2018
Addressing Energy Poverty in Texas
Dana Harmon, Director, Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute
October 18, 2018
Shale: The Revolution That Wasn’t
Richard Chuchla, Director, Energy and Earth Resources program, Jackson School of Geosciences
October 11, 2018
Renewables and electricity market design
Peter Cramton, Professor of Economics, University of Cologne and University of Maryland
October 4, 2018
Transitioning to electricity as a fuel: challenges and opportunities for remaking our refueling infrastructure
Mike Nicholas, Senior Researcher, The International Council on Clean Transportation
September 27, 2018
What We Measure Matters – US Electricity in the Future
Robert Hebner, Director, Center for Electromechanics, The University of Texas at Austin
September 20, 2018
Creative Destruction and the Electric Utility of the Future
David Hurlbut, Senior Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
September 13, 2018
Fuel Taxation, Emissions Policy, and Competitive Advantage in the Diffusion of European Diesel Automobiles
Eugenio J. Miravete, Professor, Department of Economics, The University of Texas at Austin
September 6, 2018
How Energy Fits into the History of the World in Seven Cheap Things
Raj Patel, Research Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs
April 26, 2018
Planet Texas 2050: A UT Austin Grand Challenge
Jay Banner, ESI | Richard Corsi, CAEE | Michael Young, BEG | Heather Houser, English
April 19, 2018
Adapting from grid to cloud
Bill Cannon, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Environment & Infrastructure Group Sumitomo Corporation of Americas
April 12, 2018
Will the internet of things change the electric business?
Robert J. King, President, Good Company Associates
April 5, 2018
Global Energy Impact of a Developing China; and India?
Fred Beach, Assistant Director for Policy Studies, Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin
March 29, 2018
To Uber or Not to Uber: Economic and Energetic Tradeoffs
Todd Davidson, Research Associate, Energy Institute and Webber Energy Group, The University of Texas at Austin
March 22, 2018
A Proposed Framework for Rebooting the Study of Economics
Garvin Boyle, principal designer and programmer, Orrery Software
March 8, 2018
Personal Reflections on California’s Leadership in Environmental Policy
Alan Lloyd, Research Fellow, Energy Institute, UT Austin; Former Secretary, California EPA; Former Chair, California Air Resources Board