BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//CiviCRM//NONSGML CiviEvent iCal//EN X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Chicago METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:CiviCRM_EventID_2579_d3319be4f90071e87b81b1178ed41494@www.hgs.org SUMMARY:HGS General Dinner Meeting April - Comparing Life- Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of Electrici ty Generation Systems DESCRIPTION:Join us for the HGS General Dinner Meeting in Apri l!\n \n Date: April 14\, 2025\n \n Place: Norris C onference Center\, Beltway 8 and I-10 Houston\n \n Time: 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm\n \n Price: $65.00 \ ;for members\; $75.00 \;for non-members\; $40. 00 for students\n \n  \;\n \n Comparing Life-C ycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of Electricit y Generation Systems\n \n Michael Young\, Jani Das \, Gurcan Gulen\, University of Texas at Austin\n \n  \;\n \n Significant public discussion and policy decisions surround the broad topics of how best to decarbonize the electricity sector\, espec ially given potential supply constraints of materi al needed to support these efforts. Research is ne eded to understand and quantify trade-offs among s ociety&rsquo\;s goals of providing reliable and af fordable energy\, mitigating climate change\, and improving local environments that can sustain the current population of eight billion people. The go als of this research are to better understand pote ntial environmental risks across global supply cha ins\; highlight where impacts can be mitigated\; a nd develop and test a more comprehensive approach for determining consumer costs of electricity. We achieve these goals by conducting a comparative li fe-cycle assessment (LCA) of different generation systems\, including natural gas-fired combined cyc le gas turbines\, and wind and solar power plants\ , with and without batteries to address intermitte ncies. We assess environmental impacts for 18 diff erent pathways\, including greenhouse gas and loca l (PM\, SOX\, NOX) emissions\; land and water use and pollution\, biodiversity and ecosystem service s\, and others. These LCA analyses consider extrac tion of natural resources (gas\, minerals\, etc.)\ , manufacturing of generation equipment\, power pl ant operations\, and end-of-life options (e.g.\, l andfilling or recycling of equipment). Our area of interest for electricity generation is the Permia n Basin\, the center of energy development. \n \n We show in our study how environmental impacts are manifested along global supply chains that suppor t energy development at different times during the 30-year lifespan of the facilities. For example\, CO2 emissions are elevated early in the construct ion phase of wind and solar (at locations mostly o verseas)\, but CO2 emissions from combustion at th e CCGT plant in west Texas eventually exceed those from wind and solar. Alternatively\, results indi cate that particulate matter formation and ecotoxi city are higher for wind/solar/batteries than CCGT throughout all life phases\, because of higher ma terial processing and refining needs. Finally\, we include these environmental impacts into the cost s of electricity for different grid mixes\, each t ested for reliability using an electricity dispatc h model. The results show the complicated nature o f impacts along the global supply chain of materia ls needed for energy development and while electri city is generated\, and they point to areas where impacts can be mitigated through innovation and ac tion.\n \n  \;\n \n Speaker: \;\n \n Micha el Young\, Ph.D.\, P.G.\, University of Texas at A ustin\, Jackson School of Geosciences\, Bureau of Economic Geology\n \n \n \n Dr. Michael Young is A ssociate Dean for Research in the Jackson School o f Geosciences at University of Texas at Austin\, a nd a Research Professor at the Bureau of Economic Geology. He received his Ph.D. focusing on soil ph ysics and hydrology from the University of Arizona in 1995\, an M.S. in Geological Sciences from Ohi o University in 1986 and a B.A. in Geology from Ha rtwick College in 1983. From 2010-2020\, Dr. Young was Associate Director for Environmental Research at BEG\, where he coordinated research programs f or a group of ~60 scientists involved in research spanning energy/water issues\, geological sequestr ation of CO2\, groundwater recharge processes\, wa ter quality and resources\, and other areas. Previ ously\, he has held leadership and academic positi ons at Desert Research Institute in Nevada\, and G eorgia Institute of Technology.\n \n Dr. Young&rsq uo\;s personal research interests and experiences include life cycle assessment\; water/energy nexus \; water and land impacts from energy development\ ; groundwater recharge\; and the connection betwee n water resources\, landscape development\, and hu man interactions. He has authored or co-authored o ver 100 peer-reviewed journal articles\, several b ook chapters and many reports\, and has given more than 200 presentations at scholarly meetings. He is the former Editor of the Vadose Zone Journal an d is Fellow of the Geological Society of America\, Soil Science Society of America\, and the America n Society of Agronomy. Dr. Young mentors several g raduate students and sits on numerous other commit tees in scholarly organizations. \n \n  \;\n \ n  \;\n \n  \;\n \n  \;\n \n  \;\n \n  \;\n \n  \; CATEGORIES:Meeting CALSCALE:GREGORIAN DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20250414T173000 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20250414T173000 DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20250414T200000 LOCATION:Norris Conference Center\n 816 Town & Country Blvd .\, Suite 210\n Houston\, TX 77024\n United States \n URL:https://www.hgs.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=2579 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR