2011 UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium | Energy Policy

The 21st Annual UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium on the Transportation – Land Use – Environment Connection

Held October 16-18 at UCLA’s Lake Arrowhead Conference Center

Program

Presentations

Overview
The UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium is a collaborative enterprise that brings together researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders each fall to discuss and debate the transportation – land use – environment connection. This fall, we will focus on the increasingly central role of energy in the transportation – land use – environment connection. Rapidly rising global oil prices and the ongoing nuclear power crisis in Japan suggest that this topic is timely and important.

Experts differ in their opinions about when oil production will peak – if it hasn’t done so already – and exactly when we can expect a tapering of supply in the face of rising global demand. Many argue that we must rely more on technological advances to improve our extraction techniques, better and more efficiently manage our supply, and reduce consumption. Others argue that we must transition to alternative energy forms that will reduce our reliance on oil. However, in deciding which path to pursue, many questions still remain.

Advances in efficiency may hold part of the answer, but even in evaluating, for example, which transportation modes are most efficient, it is not clear whether to evaluate based on the potential of technologies, the behaviors around their use, or utilization rates. And, while options abound, there is little consensus on which alternative energy sources should be pursued, and whether and to what extent public policy should steer the process. Should we switch to new sources such as bio-fuels, or would conservation efforts be more cost-effective? What are the land use implications for renewables? What are the energy consequences of alternative forms of development, and how do these compare relative to changes in vehicle fleet?

The analysis needed to yield wise and prudent decisions is difficult in the face of considerable uncertainty. What are recent advances in life-cycle analyses, and is there a clear path for balancing net benefits/costs over short, medium, and long-term horizons? How are cities and regions coping with and overcoming the challenges of creating local programs in the context of global warming?

Speakers include experts on energy markets, alternative energy sources, and conservation, and will consider the role of energy in transportation systems, land use and development, and environmental policy in the coming years. Likewise, speakers will discuss how past policies in transportation and development have shaped the way we consume and produce energy. This symposium is intended for policy decision-makers and analysts in the public and private sectors whose work concerns land and transportation systems and their environmental consequences. Our speakers and audience members are purposefully heterogeneous to stimulate thoughtful discussion and debate among all participants. We hope you will join the conversation this fall at Lake Arrowhead.

Symposium Co-Organizers:
Florentina Craciun, Program Director, Lewis Center for Regional and Policy Studies, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Brian D. Taylor, Professor of Urban Planning; Director, Lewis Center for Regional and Policy Studies; Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Allison Yoh, Associate Director, Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies; Associate Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

2011 Sponsors

Automobile Club of Southern California

Bay Area Air Quality Management District

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Southern California Association of Govrnments

Federal Transit Administration

Los Angeles Worl Airports

Majestic Realty

Port of Long Beach

San Bernardino Associated Governments

San Francisco County Transportation Authority

South Coast Air Quality Management District

Luskin Center

Urban Land Use and Transportation Center, UC Davis

Southern CS Edison