Amory Lovins to Talk Tuesday in Chapel Hill

A visionary thinker on sustainable energy will speak tomorrow at the University of North Carolina's Friday Center in Chapel Hill - and his appearance couldn't come at a more critical time for the state.

Amory Lovins is a Harvard- and Oxford-trained physicist who helped found the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowpass, Colorado in 1982 with the goal of making the hydrocarbon-based automobile and power sectors vastly more efficient. He's been recognized for his groundbreaking work with nine honorary doctorates, a MacArthur Fellowship and the Right Livelihood Award, among many others honors. Newsweek magazine has praised Lovins as "one of the Western world's most influential energy thinkers."

The N.C. Waste Awareness & Reduction Network is sponsoring the free event, titled "Transitioning to Safe, Economical Electricity: A Forum on Decisions Affecting Our State." Also scheduled to speak are William Schlesinger, dean of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences; Mike Nicklas, principal of Innovative Design, a sustainable architecture firm based in Raleigh; and state Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Guilford County Democrat and longtime environmental advocate.

Lovins' appearance comes as the state's two leading electric utilities, Progress Energy and Duke Energy, have announced plans to build new coal-fired plants and expand their nuclear facilities - both highly polluting sources of power.