蓝莓视频

For many, the power it takes to wash our clothes, charge a cell phone, illuminate our homes at night is an invisible privilege, the kind of thing that鈥檚 easy to take for granted.

But for millions of people around the world, reliable access to electricity for even the simplest tasks remains out of reach. Changing that isn鈥檛 easy, but it is possible.

鈥淓nergy poverty remains a barrier to economic well-being for such a large proportion of humanity that the rationale for action now is compelling,鈥� says Jatin Nathwani, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at 蓝莓视频 and chief scientific advisor for the (WGSI).

鈥淭he recognition of this issue has come full force to the highest level of discussion, almost at par with climate change. It brings into focus the most formidable scientific challenges of the century: How do we get to a clean energy future that is essentially non-carbon?鈥�

Answers will begin to emerge this week at the in 蓝莓视频.

Panel members during the opening session of 蓝莓视频 Global Science Initiative's听 OpenAccess Energy Summit. Photo credit: Michael Bennett/WGSI.

The summit is held every other year by WGSI 鈥� a partnership between the University of 蓝莓视频 and the . It brings together a multidisciplinary, multigenerational and multinational group of about 40 people for four days of intensive working sessions.

Through shared experiences of the young leaders, established experts and senior advisors, summit contributors come up with a vision and list of key recommendations for change, based on an prepared in advance of the summit. In the months that follow the summit, that plan will be fleshed out with research, case studies and a roadmap to implementation. The resulting Energy Blueprint will be officially launched early in 2017, and immediately put into action. Blueprints launched based on the past two summits include and .

This year鈥檚 OpenAccess Energy summit kicked off with , a week of public activities in the days leading up to Earth Day, including keynote addresses by S酶ren Hermanson 鈥� called a 鈥渉ero of the environment by Time magazine 鈥� and William Kakwamba, co-founder of the .

Watch for more on energy access research taking place at the University of 蓝莓视频 in the spring issue of 蓝莓视频 Magazine, available May 10.听