Powering China: Surplus Commodities, Coal Generation Overcapacity, and the Wasting Away of Labor

Professor Xi Wang is a professor of energy policy and energy social science at Western Washington University in Bellingham. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in English at Cornell University, and attained a Master of Science in Environmental Studies and a Ph.D. in Geography, both at the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU). Her research is interested in questions of energy and climate governance, especially in the context of energy system transitions and efforts at deep decarbonization. Outside of academia, Professor Wang has worked in community organizing for food, environmental, and labor justice in Washington, D.C. and Boulder, on organic farms in D.C., Spain, and Ecuador, for the consulting firm Booz Allen, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

On the day of her presentation, Professor Wang will be sharing a multimedia story version of her Ph.D. exit talk, “Powering China: Surplus Commodities, Coal Generation Overcapacity, and the Wasting Away of Labor”. Attendees are strongly encouraged to watch the research talk on YouTube before the Speaker Series presentation on 3/1. The relevant section of the video is from 0:39:00-1:11:30 (please note that the audio quality improves after a couple of moments). In the talk, Professor Wang discusses overcapacity of coal-powered generation in China's electricity sector, which she argues stems from China's broader problem of capital overaccumulation. 

On the day of the Speaker Series presentation, Professor Wang will present a multimedia story of the same topic. Afterward, she'll ask the audience to compare and contrast the experiences they had with these two different presentation styles on the same topic, and to explore different approaches to engagement when talking about complex issues such as energy and climate.