Speaker Series
When: 5:00 p.m. dinner/5:30 presentations
Where: 1st floor entrance, Chesebrough Auditorium, Chrysler Center, North Campus
David Konkle, Energy Coordinator, City of Ann Arbor
 David Konkle |
Ann Arbor's Green Energy Challenge
Dave Konkle has been the Energy Coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor for 19 years. His duties include implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs related to the Ann Arbor Energy Plan, purchasing energy, recommending energy policy, managing grants, and serving as the City’s liaison with the local utility companies and the Ann Arbor Energy Commission. He is also the local liaison for the Cities for Climate Protection Program. In the 19 years he has been Energy Coordinator he has saved the City over $8 million in Energy costs and has been awarded over $ million in grant funds for the City. Now he is leading the effort to meet Ann Arbor’s “Green Energy Challenge” to move all municipal operations to 30% green energy by 2010 and the entire Ann Arbor community to 20% green energy by 2015.
Dave graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Atmospheric Sciences in 1974, during the first US oil crisis. He began his energy career working for a local architecture company called Sunstructures, where he designed and installed solar water heaters, built solar houses, and performed energy studies. He became the Ann Arbor Energy Coordinator in 1988. He has made a lifelong commitment to educating people on energy issues and the importance of preparing for the end of the fossil fuel age. A nationally known speaker, Dave has been an invited to speak at national meetings of the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the American Planning Association and numerous others. On Earth Day in 2003 Dave was awarded the EPA’s “Climate Protection Award” for individual achievement in Washington DC by EPA Administrator Christy Todd-Whitman.
Thomas O'Donnell, The New School University, Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA)
How Exactly is U.S. Strategy for Iraq and Iran "All About Oil?"
 Tom O'Donnell |
Dr. Tom O'Donnell studies the global political economy of oil as the basis of U.S. policy towards, especially, the Middle East, Latin America and the E.U. This involves understanding science and technology as constraints on the economics and politics of energy. Dr. O'Donnell worked for over a decade in the, auto-manufacturing, railway and energy sectors before earning his PhD in nuclear physics (UM 2000) producing new neutron-heavy isotopes. He formerly taught both social and natural science courses at UM's Residential College (RC) and the Center for Middle East and North African Studies (CMENAS). He has taught in Graduate Economics at The New School for Social Research in NYC, and, presently, in its Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA). In 2008 Dr. O'Donnell will be a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Venezuela, researching the sustainability of the Venezuelan government's policy of basing its ambitious Bolivarian social programs on proceeds from the oil sector, and the impact of this policy on its relationship with the U.S. Recent writings are at: http://TomOD.com.
Bruce Rasher, Manager of Renewable Energy, Consumers Energy
 Bruce Rasher |
An Overview of Renewable Energy at Consumers Energy
Bruce Rasher was named Consumers Energy’s first Manager of Renewable Energy on April 1, 2007, to lead the utility’s efforts to expand its renewable energy portfolio. He is responsible for coordinating the utility’s dealings with renewable energy developers, exploring opportunities for Consumers Energy to build its own renewable energy projects, and pursuing other business opportunities in the rapidly evolving renewable energy marketplace.
Bruce previously headed up Consumers Energy’s Economic Development Department, and before that he headed up Consumers Energy’s Real Estate Department. Prior to that, he was responsible for managing a variety of Consumers Energy’s environmental programs, including: brownfield redevelopment, environmental cleanup, and air quality programs.
Bruce served two terms as the Mayor of the City of Marshall, and prior to that served three terms on Marshall's City Council. He also served on Marshall’s Board of Public Utilities, Planning Commission, Economic Development Advisory Committee, and the Marshall Area Development Alliance. He is currently serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Oaklawn Hospital.
Bruce is a 1976 graduate of Michigan State University, and received an MBA in Finance from Western Michigan University in 2002. He was a 1999 Fellow in Michigan State University’s Michigan Political Leadership Program at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research.
