"Renewable Energy: Save It or Lose It!"

Albert Migliori
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Thursday February 16, 2012
6 - 7:30 PM

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Education Annex
123 Grant Avenue, Santa Fe

Arial View of Annex Location

We want our electricity anytime night or day, and we want it from a clean source. But renewable energy sources such as wind and solar come and go with the weather and time of day, so their energy must be stored and recovered as needed. Energy storage is therefore crucial for renewable sources to provide a significant fraction of our nation's energy needs. Come and learn about the science behind these new technologies.

Admission is Free. Youth (ages 13-19) seating a priority. Light refreshments will be served.

Albert will also appear on the Santa Fe Radio Café with host Mary-Charlotte Domandi at 8 AM the day of the Café, on KSFR 101.1 FM and streaming on the web at www.ksfr.org.

Al received his PhD in physics from the University of Illinois before coming to Los Alamos in 1973. He is currently the director of the G. T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science at Los Alamos, and leads efforts to improve the efficiency of chemistry-based electrical energy storage.

The Cafés are sponsored by the Santa Fe Alliance for Science, the Santa Fe Public Schools, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, the Santa Fe Institute, and the New Mexico Public Education Department.

Please call 424-0806 if you'd like more information.

Fall 2011 Science Café Series

• Thursday, September 15. "Einstein's Relativity for Students of All Ages" (Bob Eisenstein, Santa Fe Alliance for Science).
  
  Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity will be explained in simple terms. What did Einstein mean when he said that "everything is relative"? What is "spacetime"? How does the warping of spacetime create the effects of gravity?


• Thursday, October 20. "Warming Up a Cool Planet" (Eileen Everett, NM Museum of Natural History and Science).
  
  Come learn how to penetrate the information blitz to get to the science behind climate change. Explore how rising temperatures will affect New Mexico's future landscape.


• Thursday, November 17. "What is Clean Coal and Why Do We Need It?" (Graydon Anderson, LANL)
  
  Coal will be a necessary component of America's energy future. Come learn about the economics and technology behind our attempts to turn coal into clean-burning hydrogen gas, and then to store the waste carbon dioxide in stable geological formations.

Spring 2012 Science Café Series

• Thursday, January 12. "Blindspot: The Hidden Biases of Good People" (Mahzarin Banaji, Harvard University).
  
  
Most of us believe that we are fair-minded, but studies in psychology show that our minds operate with unconscious biases, relying on social cues like gender, race, nationality and class. Come and enjoy a lively and informative workshop showing the blind spots we all have, and what we can do about them!


• Thursday, February 16. "Renewable Energy: Save It or Lose It!" (Albert Migliori, Los Alamos National Laboratory).
  
  
Energy storage is crucial for renewable sources to provide a significant fraction of our nation's energy needs. Come and learn about the science behind these new technologies.


• Thursday, April 19. "A Glimpse into the Weird World of Quantum Physics" (Bob Heffner, Santa Fe Alliance for Science)
  
  Come take a peek into the strange world of quantum mechanics - the incredible theory that makes possible much of today's world even though many of its fundamental aspects are still not understood.

• "Renewable Energy: Store It or Lose It!" (Albert Migliori, 2/16/12)    


• "Blind Spot: The Hidden Biases of Good People" (Mahzarin Banaji, 1/12/12)     Video is not available.    


• "What Is Clean Coal and Why Do We Need It?" (Graydon Anderson, 11/17/11)     Four 15-minute sections:     1    2    3    4   


• "Warming Up A Cool Planet" (Eileen Everett, 10/20/11)     Four 15-minute sections:     1    2    3    4   


• "Einstein's Relativity for Students of All Ages" (Bob Eisenstein, 9/15/11)     Four 15-minute sections:     1    2    3    4   


• "The Physics of Baseball" (Alan Nathan, 4/13/11)    
  Five 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5   


• "Food Security for Emerging Countries" (James Burleigh, 2/24/11)    
  Four 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4   


• "Ready, Set, Attack - How Your Body Fights Infection" (Lora Grainger, 1/26/11)     Four 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4   


• "Visualizing Flesh and Bone: Bringing Our Human Ancestors to Life" (Anne Weaver & Matt Celesky, 11/10/10)    
  Four 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4   


• "The Birth of Black Holes in the Universe" (Ed Fenimore, 10/13/10)     Five 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5   


• "Radiography: How to Look Inside Explosions, Detect Nuclear Contraband and See Through Opaque Objects" (Chris Morris, 9/15/10)     Eight 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8   


• "Climate Change: Can Knowledge of the Past Reflect on the Future?" (Eric Blinman, 4/14/10)     Six 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6   


• "Burritos to Biofuels" (Randy Grissom, James Bingham, Xander Pertusini 3/29/10)     Seven 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7   


• "Mysteries of the Great Pyramids Revealed" (Michel Barsoum, 1/27/10)     Seven 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7   


• "How to Show Your Parents That E=mc²" (Gerry Garvey, 12/16/09)     Six 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6   


• "High and Dry at the South Pole" (Karolyn Eisenstein, 11/12/09)     Nine 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   


• "H1N1 (Swine Flu) and YOU" (Karen Armitage, 10/19/09)     Five 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5   


• "Water, Our Precious Resource" (Laurie Trevizo, 9/23/09)     Five 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5   


• "Nature's Architectural Design of Materials" (Jennifer Martinez, 4/22/09)     Six 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6   


• "Adventures with Audubon" (Brian "Fox" Ellis, 4/6/09)
Video is not available.


• "Edible Food for a Sustainable Lifestyle" (Deborah Madison, 3/10/09)     Seven 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7   


• "Camouflage in Nature's Underwater Realm" (George Rubottom, 1/21/09) Video is not available.
  
  
• "A Day in the Life of a Veterinarian" (Murt Byrne, 12/10/08)     Ten 10-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10


• "Charles Darwin and His Revolutionary Idea" (Brian "Fox" Ellis, 11/18/08)
Video is not available.


• "We're Missing Most of the Universe!" (Tom Bowles, 10/20/08)     Four 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4


• "Autopsy/Investigation 1.01 and the CSI Effect" (Tim Stepetic, 9/10/08)     Five 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5


• "Using Computer Games to Simulate Complex Real-World Problems" (Stephen Guerin, 4/21/08)     Five 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5


• "Exploring Complex Systems Through Games and Computer Models" (Irene Lee, 3/17/08)     Seven 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7


• "Zooming to Infinity - A Fractal Adventure" (Jonathan Wolfe, 1/28/08)
Seven 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6    7


• "The Complexity, Simplicity, and Unity of Life: From Cells to Cities" (Geoffrey West, 11/12/07)     Five 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5


• "Trying To Make A Vaccine Against A Moving Target: HIV And Its Diversity" (Bette Korber, 10/16/07)     Four 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4


• "The Climate-Energy Challenge" (Dan Schrag, 9/10/07)
Five 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5


• "New Mexico's Solar Energy Future" (Ben Luce, 5/10/07)
Six 15-min sections:    1    2    3    4    5    6


• "Envisioning Science" (Felice Frankel, 2/8/07)
Video is not available.


• "Predicting Natural Disasters" (John Rundle, 11/16/06)
Video is not available.