3 April 2024

14:20 – 15:05

Amphi 2

Giovanni Paoloni

Giovanni Paoloni is full professor at “Sapienza” – Università di Roma, teaching ‘Archival Theory’ and ‘History and policies of science and research’, and past director of the Post-graduate School on Library and Archival Heritage (2014-2020). His lines of research focus on the history and archives of tech companies and scientific research institutions, from the unification of Italy to the end of the 20th century. Principal investigator of the project “Anguana – A museum of man and the mountains” (Istituto per la ricerca scientifica sulla montagna – IMONT, 2005-2008), he is currently PI of the website www.archividellascienza.org, a joint endeavor of Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL and Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ (Milan). Since 2014 is a member of the Comité d’Histoire de l’Électricité et de l’Énergie (Fondation EdF, Paris): in 2017 he organized the international meeting Transitions in Energy History: State of theArt and New Perspectives (Milan, 29th November – 1st December 2017). Currently member of the Accademia delle Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna, and the Accademia Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti di Palermo, Visiting Senior Member of Linacre College (Oxford University), and Visiting Scholar at the Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Berlin).

How Green is the History of Green Power?

The word ‘green’ is generally used to define ‘non-fossil’ fuels for the production of energy. It is sometimes considered as an equivalent of ‘renewable’, though this assumption is quite disputable. Fossil fuels (gas, coal, oil) are considered the main responsible for the acceleration of climate change. In the scientific community there is widespread consensus towards a transition to green energy production and on this shift being badly needed.
However, no energy production can come without environmental cost, and the current transition is neither the first nor the only in global history. The envisaged transition includes both technical and cultural aspects. This presentation deals with the role history can play in shaping future energy policies through a better understanding of past transitions of the industrial era.