Forests to Farmlands: Navigating Tradeoffs in Land Use for Renewable Energy

As the U.S. accelerates its clean energy transition, land use conflicts between renewable energy infrastructure and agricultural or forested landscapes have become increasingly important. States are grappling with this challenge in various ways. In Massachusetts the installation of ground-mount solar systems has led to notable losses in forest carbon, biodiversity, and agricultural land productivity since 2010. This discussion will examine the tradeoffs involved in siting renewable energy projects in the Northeast and beyond. Join us to explore strategies for scaling solar energy responsibly, ensuring that we preserve the environmental and cultural values of natural and working lands.

Speaker

Jonathan Thompson is a forest landscape ecologist whose research focuses on long-term and broad-scale changes in forest ecosystems, with an emphasis on quantifying how land use – including harvest, conversion, and land protection – affects forest ecosystem processes and services. He is the Principal Investigator for the Harvard Forest Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and involving more than 100 scientists and students investigating the dynamics of the New England landscape. He also leads the New England Landscape Futures project, which collaborates with diverse stakeholders from throughout the region to build and evaluate scenarios that show how land-use choices and climate change could shape the landscape over the next 50 years. Thompson holds a PhD in Forest Ecology (2008) and a MS in Forest Policy (2004) from Oregon State University.

Grace Wu is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara. Before joining UCSB, Grace was a Smith Conservation Fellow at The Nature Conservancy and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. She was also a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis. She was trained in systems thinking and interdisciplinary approaches in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley.

Moderator

Thabo Lenneiye is the inaugural managing director of the Carl H. Goldsmith Sustainable Agriculture Fund at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, where she leads research at the intersection of sustainable agriculture, climate, and energy policy. Her work focuses on building a comprehensive research agenda that explores how agriculture can address the challenges posed by climate change and the global energy transition. Lenneiye is also a senior fellow with the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton School.

Her experience reflects a deep commitment to societal impact. Before joining the Kleinman Center, she served as managing director of Penn Praxis, where she oversaw strategic planning, business development, and operations for the applied research center focused on social impact at the University of Pennsylvania. At Gensler, a global design firm, she not only worked as an architect and project manager but also collaborated with the executive team to drive initiatives related to justice, inclusion, and social impact. Notably, she led the establishment of Gensler’s Africa practice and supported CEO Diane Hoskins in her role on the Obama Administration’s Presidential Advisory Council for Doing Business in Africa (PACDBIA). Additionally, she served as the inaugural secretary of the Board for the African Union Pan-African Diaspora Women’s Association from 2017 to 2018.

This event is a part of Energy Week at Penn, a week of energy-focused events across Penn’s campus. Browse and register for other Energy Week events: energyweek.upenn.edu

Please note this is an in-person event. We look forward to welcoming guests to the Kleinman Center’s Energy Forum. A recording will be available on the Kleinman Center website the following day.

Boxed lunches will be available to go following the event!