Denis Hayes | |
---|---|
Born | Denis Allen Hayes August 29, 1944 [1] Wisconsin, United States |
Alma mater | Stanford University Harvard Kennedy School Stanford Law School |
Occupation | Environmental advocate |
Known for | Coordinating the first Earth Day, founding the Earth Day Network, construction of the Bullitt Center |
Denis Allen Hayes (born August 29, 1944) [1] is an environmental advocate and an advocate for solar power. He rose to prominence in 1970 as the coordinator for the first Earth Day.
Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and expanded it to more than 180 nations. During the Carter administration, Hayes became head of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory), but left this position when the Reagan administration cut funding for the program.
Since 1992, Hayes has been president of the Bullitt Foundation in Washington and continues to be a leader in environmental and energy policy.
He is also the author of Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America's Health, Economy, Politics, Culture, and Environment [2] and Rays of Hope. [3]
Hayes has received the national Jefferson Awards Medal for Outstanding Public Service as well as many other awards. Time magazine named him a "Hero of the Planet" in 1999.
Denis Hayes was born in Wisconsin in 1944, but mainly raised in the small town of Camas, Washington, where in 2007 the Hayes Freedom High School was named in his honor. [4] His experiences growing up in the Pacific Northwest instilled a lifelong love of nature. [5] His father worked at a paper mill on the Columbia River, where both the discharges from the mill and the lack of worker protections showed Hayes the impact of industrialization on both people and the environment. [6]
In 1964, Hayes graduated from Clark Community College in Vancouver, Washington. [6] Hayes received his undergraduate degree in history from Stanford University, [7] where he was president of the student body and an activist against the Vietnam War. [8] [9] During those years, he spent significant time backpacking to remote corners of the world. [10] Hayes later enrolled at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, [11] although he eventually was graduated from Stanford Law School. [12]
He left Harvard after being selected by Senator Gaylord Nelson to organize the first Earth Day. [13] The first Earth Day (April 22, 1970) had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, about ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities. [14] It is believed that some 20 million demonstrators participated. [15] [16] In 2009, the story of Earth Day was told in the film Earth Days [17] which closed that year's Sundance Film Festival. [18]
Following the success of the first Earth Day, Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and served as international chairman for Earth Day's anniversaries in 1990 [19] and 2000. [20] [21] Internationally, he is recognized for expanding the Earth Day Network to more than 180 nations. [22] It is now the world’s most widely observed secular holiday. [23] Hayes continues to chair the board of the international Earth Day Network and is the Chair of the Earth Day 2010 Global Advisory Committee. [24] Earth Day celebrated its 50th anniversary in April 2020, and marked the day with environmental activism across the globe [www.earthdaynetwork.org].
During the Carter administration, Hayes became head of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory), [25] [26] but left this position when the Reagan administration cut funding for the program. [27] Hayes went back to school and completed a Juris Doctor degree at Stanford Law School, and went on to become an adjunct professor of engineering in that university and litigator with law firm Cooley Godward. [28]
Since 1992, Hayes has been president of the Bullitt Foundation [29] in Seattle, Washington and continues to be a leader in environmental and energy policy. [30] [31] [32] By mobilizing the resources of The Bullitt Foundation, Hayes intends to make the Pacific Northwest the best-educated, most environmentally aware, most progressive corner of America—a global model for sustainable development. He is currently overseeing construction of The Bullitt Center, expected to be the most energy efficient commercial building in the world, [33] firmly planting Seattle at the forefront of the green building movement. The goal of the Bullitt Center is to change the way buildings are designed, built and operated to improve long-term environmental performance and promote broader implementation of energy efficiency, renewable energy and other green building technologies in the Northwest. The building is seeking to meet the ambitious goals of the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most strenuous benchmark for sustainability. For example, a solar array will generate as much electricity as the building uses and rain will supply as much water, with all wastewater treated onsite. Also in Seattle are Hayes' wife, Gail Boyer Hayes [34] (daughter of Paul D. Boyer), and daughter, Lisa A. Hayes, [35] a lawyer defending the Northshore United Church of Christ regarding Tent City 4 (King County, Washington). [36]
Over Hayes' career, he has been a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC [37] and at the Bellagio Center in Italy, a senior fellow at the Worldwatch Institute, [38] an adjunct professor of engineering at Stanford University, a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow of the Bosch Foundation, a Silicon Valley lawyer at the Cooley Firm [39] , and author. [40] He has served on dozens of governing boards, including those of Stanford University, the World Resources Institute, the Federation of American Scientists, The Energy Foundation, [41] Children Now, the National Programming Council for Public Television, the American Solar Energy Society, Greenpeace, CERES, and the Environmental Grantmakers Association. [42] [43]
Hayes has received the national Jefferson Awards Medal for Outstanding Public Service, [44] as well as the highest awards bestowed by the Sierra Club, The Humane Society of the United States, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Council of America, [45] the Global Environmental Facility of the World Bank, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, and the American Solar Energy Society. [46] He was featured in the 2009 documentary film Earth Days . Time has named him "Hero of the Planet." [47]
Hayes was selected by Engineering News-Record as one of the Top 25 Newsmakers of 2014 for using biomimicry in the development of the Bullitt Center. [48]
Renewable energy, green energy, or low-carbon energy is energy from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. Renewable resources include sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy sources are sustainable, some are not. For example, some biomass sources are considered unsustainable at current rates of exploitation. Renewable energy is often used for electricity generation, heating and cooling. Renewable energy projects are typically large-scale, but they are also suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries, where energy is often crucial in human development.
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by Earthday.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2024 is "Planet vs. Plastics." 2025 will be the 55th anniversary of Earth Day.
The Bullitt Foundation is a foundation established in 1952 by Dorothy S. Bullitt, a prominent Seattle businesswoman and philanthropist who founded King Broadcasting Company in Seattle. Its assets as of the end of 2010 were in excess of US$100M.
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According to data from the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy accounted for 8.4% of total primary energy production and 21% of total utility-scale electricity generation in the United States in 2022.
Matthew Pothen Thekaekara (1914–1974) was an Indian scientist and author of books and papers relating to spectrophotometry and the solar constant besides works on theology. He was instrumental in publishing some of the earliest AM0 spectra, which is a model spectrum of the sun in space. The historic 1973 Thekaekara spectrum was the basis for ASTM E490 from 1974 to 2000, when it was replaced by the most recent AM0 upgrade, in ASTM E490-00.
A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors to focus the sun's rays upon a collector tower. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems are seen as one viable solution for renewable, pollution-free energy.
David J. Hayes is an American attorney and legal scholar who serves in the Biden Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy. Hayes has led White House work on clean energy deployment issues, climate resilience and greenhouse gas emission reduction and carbon sequestration initiatives. Hayes also has assisted in developing and implementing the climate-related provisions included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Executive Order 13514 was an Executive Order, entitled Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, which U.S. President Barack Obama issued on October 5, 2009. EO 13514 was replaced by Executive Order 13693, titled Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade, issued by Obama on March 19, 2015. The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, whose name was changed to the Office of Federal Sustainability by Executive Order 13693, is housed at the Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Its role is to oversee policy, guidance, and implementation of the sustainability Executive Order.
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As of the first quarter of 2023, Washington State has 604 MW of solar power electricity generation. This is an increase from about 300 MW in 2021 and 27 MW in 2013.
Solar power in Louisiana is ranked 34th for installed solar PV capacity as of 2017 by the Solar Energy Industry Association. The state's "solar friendliness" according to Solar Power Rocks has fallen to 50th place for 2018 as the state credit program ends and full 1:1 retail net metering is being phased out. Taxpayers still benefit from federal incentive programs such as the 30 percent tax credit, which applies to business and residential solar photovoltaic and thermal energy systems of any size.
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Solar power in Georgia on rooftops can provide 31% of all electricity used in Georgia.
Solar power in Idaho comprised 550 MW in 2019. A 2016 report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that rooftops alone have the potential to host 4,700 MW of solar panels, and thus provide 26.4% of all electricity used in Idaho. A large increase in the state's solar generating capacity began starting year 2015 when 461 MW of solar power was contracted to be built in Idaho.
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