{"id":383,"date":"2019-09-30T08:51:45","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T12:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/?p=383"},"modified":"2021-03-15T16:17:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T20:17:39","slug":"saving-the-planet-growing-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/2019\/09\/30\/saving-the-planet-growing-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Planet, Growing Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaders in government, technology, education and business met at the second annual Clean and Sustainable Energy Summit, presented by the\u00a0Clean Energy and Sustainable Analytics Center<\/a>\u00a0(CESAC) at Montclair State University on September 26 to share information and discuss the initiatives that are putting New Jersey at the forefront of clean and sustainable energy in the U.S. and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Jersey is ground zero in the battle to protect our planet,\u201d said Bob Gordon, commissioner,\u00a0New Jersey Board of Public Utilities<\/a>, in his keynote speech. He added that \u201cthe timing of this conference is significant,\u201d as it followed on the heels of the worldwide student-led Climate Strike on September 20 and the U.N. Climate Action Summit on September 23 in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 1895, New Jersey\u2019s average temperatures have risen about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, double the average for the lower 48 states,\u201d said Gordon. But while New Jersey is facing climate impacts more intensively that other states \u2013 due largely to its highly developed nature and its large coastal area \u2013 its vulnerabilities are also its strengths: For example, the state is seeking to harness its coastal winds and provide accessible and affordable renewable energy in densely populated areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Jersey is truly doing things that are historic,\u201d said Gordon.<\/p>\n

Following on the release of the draft,\u00a0New Jersey Energy Master Plan<\/a>\u00a0in June \u2013 which includes Gov. Phil Murphy\u2019s stated goal of 100 percent clean energy for New Jersey by 2050 \u2013 the Clean and Sustainable Energy Summit addressed several aspects of this \u201croad map to help usher the state into our clean energy future\u201d with sessions on offshore wind, accessible and affordable solar energy, an improved and efficient power grid, data analysis and more.<\/p>\n

One case in point: The 130 miles of New Jersey coastline are the nexus of plans to bring offshore wind to the state and build a supply chain of industries around it.<\/p>\n

Kris Ohleth of\u00a0\u00d8rsted<\/a>, a Danish firm that is leading the development of an 1,100-megawatt wind farm 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City, noted that a supply chain as well as reliable transmissions are important for companies like hers. She said that the Atlantic City wind farm project, which should be operational by 2024, is the largest offshore wind project ever in the U.S. and \u00d8rsted\u2019s third largest in the world. \u201cThat\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0a statement,\u201d said Ohleth, \u201cI\u2019m from New Jersey. We like to make statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding workforce development, Brian Sabina, senior vice president of economic transformation for the\u00a0New Jersey Economic Development Authority<\/a>, said that New Jersey is \u201cstarting from a position of strength\u201d with 90,000 \u201cwind adjacent\u201d employees. Sabina said that that state is working to create training programs with partners such as Montclair State University. \u201cWe\u2019re creating a suite of solutions arming industries with the right people needed to fuel these industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

With undergraduate and graduate degrees in\u00a0Earth and Environmental Sciences<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 including a PhD program in Environmental Science and Management \u2013 Montclair State is well-positioned as a partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontclair State University leads the way in engaging our community to find innovative solutions to our clean energy and sustainability challenges,\u201d said Lora Billings, dean of the\u00a0College of Science and Mathematics<\/a>. \u201cWe are committed to workforce development in the areas of sustainability, technology, environmental science and management, and more. Our faculty, students and partners are ready to take the transformative action needed to tackle society\u2019s most complex and pressing environmental problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montclair State is, of course, further positioned to aid in New Jersey\u2019s energy transformation with CESAC. Its director, Pankaj Lal, explained the value of the summit: \u201cIt\u2019s not just presentations. We want discussion. We want collaboration. We want government and community partnerships. We can foster that. We provide that forum where different stakeholders come in and they talk honestly. You saw that in the sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

CESAC also serves a unique role: \u201cWith sustainability you need modeling,\u201d said Lal. \u201cThe state needs that kind of information to make informed decisions. We see ourselves as an energy and environmental modeler. And we pride ourselves on that. When you put numbers to it, when it\u2019s science based, when it\u2019s evidence based, then people pay attention.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summit at Montclair State explores clean and sustainable energy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-past-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/clean-energy-sustainability-analytics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}