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X-WR-CALNAME:ESE Fall 2026 Seminar Series: "The Changing Energy Landscape"
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20261012T145507Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_53435506041417
DTSTART:20260824T160000Z
DTEND:20260824T173000Z
DESCRIPTION:Register today for the first seminar of the ESE Fall 2026 Semin
 ar Series: The Janak Raj Lectures. This seminar is available online only v
 ia Zoom. \n\nPresented by: Dr. Rudy Shankar\, Director & Professor\, Energ
 y Systems Engineering\, Lehigh University\n\nREGISTER HERE\n\nTIME: 12:00 
 PM - 1:30 PM Eastern Time \nLOCATION - ZOOM MEETING link to be sent prior 
 to the seminar date\nCONTACT US: inesei@lehigh.edu  \n\nABSTRACT:  The ene
 rgy landscape over the past year has overwhelmingly focused on one scenari
 o: satisfying the large energy appetite of AI-driven data centers. The ini
 tial joy of utilities expecting a sharp uptick in demand and the enormous 
 investments made by the “Big 7” was replaced with dire warnings of aff
 ordability\, reduced reliability\, and vast mismatch on expectations. Geop
 olitical events did not help matters. There were significant steps taken: 
 FERC mandated drastic reductions in time to approve interconnection times\
 , almost unanimous for data center vendors to BYOG– bring your own gener
 ation—much larger funding for nuclear and geothermal and almost zero fun
 ding for traditional renewables. For the first time\, solar output exceede
 d coal plants output. However\, CCGT was found to be an invaluable asset t
 o meet peak demands quite frequently even while the name-plate capacity of
  renewables showed a steady increase. Long duration energy storage (LDES) 
 was one very bright spot. Installation of Vanadium flow batteries have pro
 ven to be bankable. Nuclear power was rightly considered the one green ene
 rgy source that could provide at scale what was sought from renewables but
  never realized because of intermittency. While this change was generally 
 viewed as negating the advances of renewable energy\, the focus on advance
 d nuclear generation as well as carbon capture and storage(CCS) for coal p
 lants gives hope that perhaps the net zero goals by 2050 may yet be achiev
 ed. This talk will examine how far we have come\, how far we need to go\, 
 to meet a low-carbon or\n\nno-carbon economy.  Come join us for this semin
 ar! \n\nBIO:   Ramesh ("Rudy") Shankar is the Director of the Energy Syste
 ms Engineering program at Lehigh University\, Bethlehem\, PA\,. The progra
 m supports the 10-month\, 30-credit Master of Engineering (M. Eng.) in Ene
 rgy. In this capacity\, his responsibilities include development of course
  curriculum and industry projects. \nHe was previously the Vice President 
 and Chief Technology Advisor for the Tennessee Valley Authority which mana
 ged more than 11 million customers in seven States. His duties included ma
 naging renewable energy technology\, developing electric transportation & 
 infrastructure\, consumer innovation\, technologies for power generation a
 nd power delivery. His previous appointments included: President/CEO of Si
 gnatech Systems and led the efforts to develop requirements for asset mana
 gement and fleet-wide monitoring for a large Asian utility (30 GW capacity
 )\; consulted with the U.N. IAEA on nuclear power requirements for develop
 ing countries. He was a Program Manager for fossil- and nuclear-generation
  sectors for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)\, \n\nDr. Shanka
 r completed his undergraduate work at the Indian Institute of Technology D
 elhi\; Ph.D. in Applied Sciences from the University of Delaware\, and an 
 MBA at Queens University in an Executive-sponsored Program. Dr Shankar has
  attended Leadership Development course at Eckerd College and project mana
 gement training. He has conducted power industry-related training courses 
 & workshops around the globe in Europe\, Asia and the Americas.
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:ESE Fall 2026 Seminar Series: "The Changing Energy Landscape"
URL;VALUE=URI:https://eventscalendar.lehigh.edu/event/ese-fall-2026-seminar
 -series-the-changing-energy-landscape
CATEGORIES:Seminars & Workshops
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