Discussion: electricity, energy and societal impact

Kevin Schneider, senior research engineer of the Pacific Northwest National Library, will lead a brief lecture of the region’s electricity infrastructure and a discussion of today’s energy issues and their societal impacts from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at the Western Washington University Center at Olympic College in Poulsbo.

The event is free to attend and light refreshments will be available.

Participants will learn how electricity first came to Washington in 1881 with the anchoring of the SS Willamette in Elliot Bay, followed by the arrival of Edison Central Stations. Through Schneider’s knowledge of electrical engineering, participants will discover what it took to meet the electrical demands of the region’s past to the emerging smart-grid technologies available today, as well as the concerns and societal impacts of aging infrastructures and new technology.

Schneider served six years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear electrician, including a tour on the U.S.S. Los Angeles. After leaving the Navy, he received his bachelor’s degree in Physics and his master’s degree and doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is currently a senior research engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working at the Battelle Seattle Research Center in Seattle. His main areas of research are distribution system analysis and power system operations. He leads many of the laboratory’s efforts in the areas of distribution and micro-grid analysis.

The Western Lecture Series is open to the community. For more information on this lecture series and to RSVP to this event, please visit the Western Center at Olympic College Poulsbo website at www.wwu.edu/poulsbo, or call 360-650-3717.