Bill Weihl, the 'Green Energy Czar' at Google, kicks off the 2009-10 Dean's Speaker Series at the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

How can greenhouse-gas emissions be controlled to avoid catastrophic climate change? One answer - often the cheapest - is to consume less energy. The Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI), co-founded by Google Inc. with the University of Michigan as a key founding member, is working to cut the energy consumed by computers in half by 2011.

Even with this and other efforts aimed at reducing energy consumption, the world will still consume an enormous amount of energy, much of it generated from fossil fuels. The RE<C ("renewable electricity cheaper than coal") initiative at Google is funding innovation aimed at driving the cost of renewable electricity generation below that of coal-powered electricity with the goal of making renewable energy the economically sensible choice for everyone. Weihl will discuss CSCI, RE<C and other green activities at Google, and suggest things that all institutions (businesses, governments and universities, for example) and individuals could do to help.

A public reception will follow in the Ford Commons, First Floor, Dana Building.