Sponsored by the URI Partnership for Energy, the lecture begins at 4 p.m. in Corliss Auditorium on the URI Narragansett Bay Campus. The lecture series is free and open to the public.
According to Payne, his lecture will explore the relationship between individual and community choices and energy use. It will examine issues of context and values and will conclude with observations about public policy design. For example, he will examine from an energy perspective such questions as “what does it mean to live a good life in healthy communities in Rhode Island” and “how can we engage in constructive action to get to where we want to be.”
Payne is the senior policy advisory for the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences and an adjunct professor of marine affairs. He began work on energy issues as a graduate student in community planning at URI, and the relationship of energy issues to the environment and community development in Rhode Island have been an on-going concern for him. Payne recently retired as director of the Senate Policy Office, and in that capacity he wrote major legislation regarding energy policy in Rhode Island. He served on the staff of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell, with specific attention to Rhode Island’s energy infrastructure, and he was executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns.
“The URI Energy Lecture Series is a wonderful opportunity to raise the awareness of the complex scientific, economic and social challenges inherent in developing a clean, reliable and affordable energy system,” said Marion Gold, co-director of the URI Partnership for Energy and co-organizer of the lecture series. “We’re looking forward to lively discussion and debate among our speakers, students, faculty and the community.”
Other lectures in the energy series are:
– April 2 – “Efficient Energy Use in the Production Sector” by John Farley, executive director of The Energy Council of Rhode Island.
– April 16 – “The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in Rhode Island” by Michael Sullivan, director of the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, and Steven Majkut, chief of air resources at DEM.
– April 23 – “Opportunities for Energy Conservation in Transportation” by Mark Therrien, assistant general manager of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.
For additional information about the lecture series, contact Marion Gold at 401-874-5705 or visit www.uri.edu/cels/ceoc/.