An Update on U.S. Energy Policy and Related Technology Development

Dr. Surles has a distinguished career in energy and environmental management and consulting positions. Since 2012, he has been at the University of Hawaii as Lead for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solutions and as Senior Advisor to the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE). During this time, he has also served as an expert for APEC and IEA in Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Peru, and Korea and has worked on an analysis of DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative for Booz, Allen, Hamilton. From 2010 to 2012, as Desert Research Institute Vice President, he led program development and management for three research divisions and four research centers in environmental and energy sciences. From 2006 to 2010, he was the Technology Integration and Policy Analysis Program Manager at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute focusing on grid integration of variable renewable resources and electricity storage technologies. He was simultaneously a senior advisor at CIEE focusing on carbon capture and storage. From 2004 to 2006, he was Vice President at EPRI focusing on air quality, health, energy/water nexus, and climate change issues. From 2000 to 2004, he was on loan to the California Energy Commission as the Public Interest Energy Research Program Director from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LBNL) where he had been Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Programs from 1998 to 2000, focusing on energy efficiency, energy storage, and climate change science and analysis. In 1997, he was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson to be Deputy Secretary for Science and Technology at California EPA. From 1978 to 1997, he was at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) with his final position being General Manager for Environmental Programs. Major programmatic areas included energy systems assessment, climate change science, risk analysis and assessment, emergency planning and response, and energy and environmental modeling. Dr. Surles received his PhD in Chemistry from Michigan State. He has more than 300 publications, technical reports, and presentations to his credit. He has served on a number of committees, including seven appointments with the National Research Council as well as DOE and its laboratories. In addition to those listed above, he has consulted for the Northeast Asia Economic Forum, East-West Center, the United Kingdom Energy Research Centre, and the State of Victoria.