Institute for Energy and the Environment

01/01/2024

According to the Boston Globe “The Clean Energy Transition” is the 4th best good thing of 2023. Hard to argue with their ranking.

#4 The International Energy Agency reported that fossil fuel use will peak in the next couple of years and that the world is on track for “a phenomenal rise’’ in clean energy use. The widespread adoption of electrical vehicles and increased investment in solar and wind power are driving the trend, the agency said. The challenge, the agency said, is that more must be done to ensure that the average global temperature does not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius before the end of the century. But the trend line is improving. Join us at www.vermontlaw.edu/energy to learn more.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/31/opinion/year-in-review-2023-good-things/

Here are 10 actually good things (according to us) that happened in 2023.

11/23/2023

Happy Thanksgiving from Cuba!

05/20/2023

Celebrating our Energizer Swans, Class of 2023 today! Thank you for all that you have contributed to VLGS, the IEE, the Energy Clinic, our clients and mission! We are so excited to see where life takes you and look forward to sharing that journey with you!

04/11/2023

So happy and honored to welcome Maggie Curran JD/MERL ‘20 back to the energy clinic! Maggie made the most of her time at VLGS, participating in our energy clinic as an advanced clinician, and taking our Global Sustainability Field Studies course to Cuba in 2019. We welcome her back as our clinic speaker today, where she spoke about her career so far and current position at Morgan Lewis, where she works on issues in the energy sector

04/04/2023

IEE alumni guest speaker at clinic today! Chris Casey graduated in 2013 and hit the ground running in the realm of energy. He’s now a Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council where he works on their Eastern Energy and Sustainable FERC Project teams. So excited he took some time to chat with us about his career and how he got to where he is

03/04/2023

Our team’s adventure at the West Virginia University College of Law’s Energy and Sustainability Moot Court Competition has come to a close. They are heading back north, exhausted yet thrilled to have made it farther than any IEE team has before and to have demonstrated their expansive knowledge of the energy landscape to a wide array of peers. HUGE congratulations to our outstanding team, Lauren Kobayashi JD/MELP ‘24, Dawson Vandervort JD/MERL ‘24 and Ashlynn Bean JD/MERL ‘24 on their incredible performance. We are beyond proud of them 💛

03/03/2023

Moot court competition day 2! We are ready and excited to argue off brief today in the two final preliminary rounds.

03/02/2023

It’s go time for our 2023 Energy and Sustainability Moot Court team! We are at the West Virginia University's College of Law Energy and Sustainability Moot Court Competition in Morgantown, West Virginia and getting ready for Round 1. Students Ashlynn Bean JD/MERL ‘24, Dawson Vandervort JD/MERL ‘24 and Lauren Kobayashi JD/MELP ‘24 have spent the last two months writing their brief and practicing their oral arguments. We are so very proud of them and wish them the very best of luck!!

02/22/2023

You know what’s better than tacos? Eating them with a whole group of lovely energy folks!

11/30/2022

Unión Eléctrica de Cuba's clean transportation pilot program is electrifying these three-wheeler taxis and offering opportunities for women to become taxi drivers. The general manager of the program in Havana (on right) demonstrated their 10 charging stalls and the taxis. UNE is also adding some solar PV at the site to offset the electric use. Over Thanksgiving break, Vermont Law and Graduate School's Global Sustainability Field Studies course took 15 students and faculty to experience these innovations firsthand. Imagine what the Cuban people could do for the planet and their economy if only the U.S. would end its senseless embargo and sanctions?

11/28/2022

Exciting to take 15 students and faculty from Vermont Law and Graduate School to Cuba to study energy and agricultural sustainability on this unique island nation. Fernando Fuenes of Finca Marta explains to students about his vision to grow sustainable farms in Cuba. Since our last visit Fernando had added this solar generator and an EV car charger to farms solar thermal and PV systems as well as a biodigester.

11/18/2022

Work hard, eat well!

The IEE Energy Clinic’s Vermont Decarbonization team spent the evening presenting on the matrix they created to help the Hartford Energy Commission evaluate RFP’s for renewable energy projects that most align with their goals and values. And of course, no trip to Hartford is complete without a trip to Tuckerbox in White River Junction afterwards!