Dr. Steven Gabriel from the University of Maryland and adjunct professor at NTNU paid us a visit this week. He had a busy schedule teaching, advising students, and collaborating on projects regarding gas optimization. Somehow he found time for a short interview and even recorded a podcast episode with Julius Wesche, that'll be released later.
“They haven’t met each other and wouldn’t meet each other, until this.”
Gabriel recently returned from Finland, where he was the organizer for the Trans-Atlantic Infraday (TAI) Conference. This is an annual event joining researchers and policy colleagues in infrastructure modeling areas such as: energy, transportation, water, and disaster management. It is now in its 13th year.
Looking back at the event, he says “I like these events across different organizations and countries. These insights you get you wouldn’t ordinarily see. So I learned some stuff too.”
Click here for more information about The Trans-Atlantic Infraday.
The event had to account for the current COVID-situation. With students from all over Europe attending, digital lecture capabilities were put to the test. Gabriel even held a lecture on the boat from Sweden to Finland, while broadcasting to students elsewhere. “It has changed the way we think about life”, he reflects positively about COVID's effect on society.
Reviewing COP26 and the resulting Glasgow Pact, Gabriel is more hesitant:
“These are all great agreements, but what actually happens … these are unfunded mandates with no money behind them.”
Gabriel says resources need to be allocated to realize anything, and that the biggest emitters have to do it. One idea is risk mitigation, where governments put forth resources that lets forward-thinking companies get the ball rolling.
For 2022, he hopes to attend the NTNU Energy Transition Conference, and regarding the "Urgent Change" theme would like to discuss how we can simplify subsidizing programs for homeowners. He points to the first edition of the Green Deal in England, and how it failed because it was too complicated. He also thinks people, in general, want to know how measures affect their life, and quotes former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Tip O'Neill:
"All politics is local"
