image: Mark D. Levine view more
Credit: Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
SAN FRANCISCO – The Federation of American Scientists has chosen Mark D. Levine, director of the China Energy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as the recipient of the 2008 FAS Public Service Award for "his extraordinary contributions to energy efficiency research and for his work in China to build a strong energy program."
Levine is a pioneer on energy efficiency research. He was part of a major study, "A Time to Choose," funded by the Ford Foundation in 1972 that, along with the 1973 American Physical Society study, created the mandate and agenda for energy efficiency in the United States. He has been a leader in energy efficiency since that time, having played significant roles in key studies of the American Physical Society, the World Energy Council, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Energy Foundation, and other organizations.
He was also a part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team of scientists that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded jointly to former Vice President Al Gore, Jr., "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."
For the last 20 years, Levine led the China Energy Group (http://china.lbl.gov/) at LBNL. The group formed as a result of a U.S. Department of Energy sponsored conference on China's energy markets held in Nanjing, China in 1988 and has worked collaboratively with Chinese organizations to further energy efficiency policy in China.
"Through my work with the China Energy Group, we've introduced techniques for analyzing appliance efficiency standards in China, created voluntary energy efficiency agreements between China's government and industry, and developed state-of-the-art tools and data collection to permit analysis of China's energy future," said Levine, listing some of the many contributions made that enhance the collaboration between experts in the U.S. and China. "It is extremely important to promote clean technology policies here and abroad that result in buildings, industry, and motor vehicles that are safe, affordable and energy efficient."
In testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on August 13, 2008, Levine stated that there are misunderstandings in both China and the U.S. that cause both countries to miss opportunities for fruitful cooperation. Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding is the failure to recognize that China has in the past (1980-2000) and is again putting tremendous effort into reducing growth of energy-related CO2 emissions through the design and implementation of aggressive and innovative energy efficiency policies.
"Together China and the United States account for nearly 40 percent of current global energy-related CO2 emissions and have the largest potential to reduce emissions growth," said Henry Kelly, president of the Federation of American Scientists. "Solutions depend critically on both China and the U.S., and it is essential that the two countries work cooperatively – particularly in energy efficiency. Mark Levine has been instrumental in helping both countries understand that efficiency technologies are essential for meeting energy and climate change goals at the lowest possible price."
"As long as China appears to do little to reduce growth of greenhouse gas emissions it will be politically difficult for the U.S. to sign an international treaty that commits to a serious cap on emissions. And as long as the U.S. appears to do little, China won't commit to any limits on its own emissions," said Arthur Rosenfeld, commissioner of the California Energy Commission and Chairman of the FAS Board of Directors. "It's a vicious circle that Mark and the China Energy Group are trying to break."
In addition to his continuing role in leading the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Levine served as director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division from 1996-2006. The division is at the forefront of research on indoor air quality, buildings energy efficiency, and a variety of clean energy technologies, and Levine expanded its mission to include taking on a leadership roll in analyzing energy efficiency issues.
The FAS Public Service Award is presented annually to an outstanding statesman or public interest advocate who has made a distinctive contribution to public policy at the intersection of science and national security. The award was established in 1971 and past recipients include Edward M. Kennedy, Richard Garwin, Carl Sagan, Phillip Morrison, and George Soros, among other exemplary individuals.
The 2008 FAS Public Service Award will be presented on Thursday, 25 September 2008, at 10:00 am PDT before the FAS Symposium "What policies should the next U.S. president adopt to help China reduce greenhouse gas emissions?" in the Sibley Auditorium on the 2nd floor of the Bechtel Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley. (http://www.fas.org/press/events/2008sept_energysym.html)
Join FAS for this free, public event. Seating is first come, first served.
Award Presenters include:
- Beth Burnside, Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley
- Art Rosenfeld, Chair of FAS Board of Directors and Commissioner of the California Energy Commission
- Henry Kelly, Federation of American Scientists
- Mark Levine, Leader of the China Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Symposium Speakers include:
- Mark Levine, Leader of the China Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Jiang Lin, Energy Foundation, Senior Vice President & Directory of China Sustainable Energy Program
- David Fridley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Tom Gold, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and former Leader of the Berkeley China Initiative
- Professor He Jiankun, Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University, and Director of the Low Carbon Energy Laboratory in Tsinghua, China
- Robert Collier, Visiting scholar at the Center for Environmental Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley
WHEN: Thursday, 25 September 2008 from 10:00am - 12:30pm
WHERE: University of California, Berkeley Bechtel Engineering Center Sibley Auditorium
For more information on this event or to RSVP, please contact jaron@fas.org.
The Federation of American Scientists (www.fas.org) works to improve the natural environment with its Building Technology Project. FAS is a non-partisan, policy institute that provides decision-makers and the public with analyses and research in international security, learning and housing technologies. Seventy Nobel Laureates serve on the Board of Sponsors. The Building Technologies Program works to advance innovation in building design and construction that can improve quality, affordability, energy efficiency and hazard protection while lowering construction and operating costs.