Partner Profile: Dr. Jennifer Wilcox | |
|
"The path will be a delicate balance of trade offs, but understanding the building blocks to minimize environmental impacts will be critical to ensuring we are not simply transferring this burden to future generations."
In celebration of COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference happening in Glasgow next week, this week's feature is Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, one of the most important figures in carbon dioxide removal.
Dr. Jennifer Wilcox, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy. Dr. Wilcox is on leave as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. As a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, she previously led WRI’s Carbon Removal Program. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and a MA in Chemistry from the University of Arizona and BA in Mathematics from Wellesley College.
| |
How did you become interested in the field of carbon capture management?
My background is in chemical engineering and my PhD focused on minimizing the environmental impacts associated with our dependence on coal for electricity generation. Throughout my career I became increasingly focused on efforts associated with minimizing environmental impacts from all fossil fuels and not just carbon dioxide emissions, but other negative impacts as well.
| |
Many people have referred to the book you co-edited, “Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Primer,” as "the bible of CO2 removal" and an essential read for anyone in this field. How did this book come into being?
That’s great to hear! The effort evolved over several years, starting with a workshop on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and CDR back in 2017, where a group of thought leaders in the field gathered and we recognized how diverse our backgrounds and areas of expertise were—and that having a single go-to document for our community would be beneficial. With this primer we aimed to create a common language so that we could accelerate the depth of our conversations, actions, and ultimately, our impacts in this field.
| |
You once explained that your high school did not offer advanced math, so you stayed up all night teaching yourself calculus and prepping for AP exams. Clearly you are not a stranger to handling obstacles. What are some of the other obstacles that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome them?
Too many obstacles to mention, but it’s not the obstacles themselves that are important, but rather the way in which we learn how to move through them. It’s hard to do, but I try to approach obstacles as opportunities to grow—and to get stronger. I also choose to surround myself with kind people, which helps tremendously.
| |
You were quoted as saying "nature led to my interest in science, and it was my love of nature that inspired my career in engineering.” Could you please clarify?
I suppose it's more my trying to understand nature—being intrigued by the patterns and underlying organization presented in nature. Our natural world is fascinating, and leads me to think there’s a broader organization too. Our planet has limited resources—land, energy, water—and how we choose to spend these is critical to future generations being able to live as we are able to do today. The underlying material and energy balances you learn in a first or second-year undergraduate chemical engineering course teaches these basic principles—and I have been hooked by the power of these fundamental concepts ever since.
| |
What are some of the things that you would like to accomplish as PDAS at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management?
I want to broadly and effectively teach topics, from technologies and their applications to tools and approaches that will be essential to meeting our net-zero goals, while emphasizing that there are no easy fixes. Solutions will be regional and never perfect for everyone. The path will be a delicate balance of trade offs, but understanding the building blocks to minimize environmental impacts will be critical to ensuring we are not simply transferring this burden to future generations.
| |
What advice do you have for people who find the carbon capture space confusing or intimidating?
I would encourage them to read the CDR primer, multiple times if necessary. I would recommend that they be open to various approaches and not get locked into one single concept or mindset. Be flexible to change your mind as you continually learn more—and keep asking questions!
| |
VERGE 21
October 25-28
Join more than 10,000 leaders online — from the private and public sectors, utilities, solution providers, investors and startups — advancing systemic solutions to address the climate crisis through five key markets: clean energy, sustainable mobility, carbon removal, regenerative food systems and — new this year — resilient infrastructure.
GCI's director, Dr. Volker Sick, will be moderating the October 18 session "Hubs for Capturing, Storing and Using Carbon." For more information or to register, click here.
| |
|
How can market development impact the future of carbon capture?
October 28
Katie Sullivan will provide an overview of the carbon market and how market development can impact the future of carbon capture, utilization, and storage. The keynote presentation will be followed by a panel discussion of how carbon financing will work and how carbon can be monetized. For more information or to register, click here.
| |
|
Ross Energy Week Panel 2: Decarbonization Beyond The Grid
November 2
Scaling solutions for difficult-to-abate, carbon intensive sectors, with
Parth Vaishnav: (Moderator) Assistant Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Christina Reynolds: Cofounder & Chief Science Officer, Remora; Jessie Lund: Senior Associate for Carbon-Free Mobility program, RMI; Tadeu Carneiro: Chairman & CEO, Boston Metal; Volker Sick: Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Mechanical Engineering, DTE Energy Professor of Advanced Energy Research, Director, Global CO2 Initiative, University Michigan; and Julia Reichelstein: Investor, Piva Capital. For more information or to register, click here.
| |
CCU, The Scientific Basis Webinar
November 4
What are Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technologies and what are their impacts on our climate, on our energy systems and industrial business models? Where do we stand in terms of these technologies and what are the perspectives and challenges to deploying them at a large scale?
CO2 Value Europe, CO2 Value Australia and the Global CO2 Initiative are co-organizing a webinar to give the word to scientific experts on all aspects of CCU from our three continents. For more information or to register, click here.
| |
|
Keep in touch
We want to hear from you! Is there something or someone that you would like to see featured in a future issue? Let us know!
| | | | |
