Talk title: Hydrogen: Past, Present, and Future
Presenter: Nicola De Blasio from Harvard Unviersity's Belfer Center
Abstract: With climate change being the most urgent challenge of our generation, the global energy landscape has undergone dramatic changes, driven by the need to undertake a deep transition. Pledges to reach net-zero now cover almost 80% of the global economy. Clean hydrogen can play a significant role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, particularly for hard-to-abate sectors. It offers a path toward meeting national and international climate and pollution goals while avoiding reliance on imported fuels. It can help to address renewable energy intermittency and curtailment issues. And it can open new avenues for technology and manufactured goods, providing substantial economic benefits. Hydrogen comes in a range of colors – blue, green, yellow, or pink. But is there a pot of gold at the end of the hydrogen rainbow? Two key challenges currently hinder clean hydrogen adoption and use at scale: cost and limited infrastructure availability.
Presenter Biography: Dr. Nicola De Blasio is a Senior Fellow leading Harvard’s Belfer Center research on energy technology innovation and the transition to a low carbon economy. With more than 25 years of global experience in the energy sector, Dr. De Blasio is an expert in navigating the challenges of strategic development and technology innovation toward sustainable commercial success, at scale. This coupled with his insight on the impact of an institution’s development and innovation activities on other facets of business strategy, such as environmental, social, operational, geopolitical, and governmental factors.
Dr. De Blasio serves as an independent board member and adviser to various companies, startups and non-profit organizations. He has worked across business, academia, government, and civil society to develop and implement new business opportunities and establish connections that support research, educational and convening opportunities.
Dr. De Blasio spent 18 years at Eni, one of the world’s leading energy companies, most recently as Vice President and Head of R&D International Development, where he was also responsible for the start-up group. He engineered the strategic alliances between Eni and MIT - which also led to the creation of the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center in 2010 – Stanford, Tsinghua, and other word leading universities. He was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), as well as a member of the MITEI Advisory Board, its Executive Committee (2005-2015) and the Eni Award Committee. He began his career with Snamprogetti (Eni’s Group) as a process engineer before becoming an economic feasibility study specialist.
Prior to joining Harvard, Dr. De Blasio was Senior Research Scholar in the faculty of SIPA at Columbia University and Program Director Technology and Innovation at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where he was also Director of Strategic Partnerships.
Dr. De Blasio holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan University with a thesis in industrial catalysis. He specialized at St. Andrews University, Scotland and then at Eni Corporate University, where he focused on energy economics. He is co-author of the book Value of Innovation, and has extensively published and lectured on energy, innovation, project evaluation and catalysis.
TCC Restriction:This presentation should not contain any material related to US Embargoed Countries or US Sanctions to Russia or any other country, still if anyone is invertedly connected and is working with a project or people related to these groups we ask you to not participate in this event.
Both in-person and virtual attendance options available. A light lunch will be served after the talk. Click "Register Now" button below to register.