1st Pepperdine Energy Forum - November 2024

In fall 2024, I attended Pepperdine's inaugural Energy Forum, held over three sessions in November at Pepperdine's Hauteville campus in Switzerland's Vaud canton. I was the sole student participant across the sessions, representing my university, though I remain uncertain as to how I came to be invited. My French professor, Dr. Annalisa Izzo, had recently covered renewable energy vocabulary in class, which proved timely, as the forum was conducted entirely in French, aside from a session delivered in German.

The forum convened cantonal officials and municipal leaders from communes across the Riviera, including La Tour-de-Peilz, Corsier, Vevey, Montreux, and Blonay, alongside energy companies and investors, to examine Switzerland's path toward carbon neutrality. Prior to my arrival, Dr. La Valle had drawn my attention to a related environmental concern: the rising water temperature of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman), which has contributed to algae blooms, invasive mussel infestations, and declining perch populations as food sources diminish. This context lent particular significance to one proposed solution discussed at the forum: lake-source heating, in which water drawn from the lake circulates through underground pipes and a plate heat exchanger to warm nearby homes, in some cases extending to properties further inland, while simultaneously helping regulate the lake's temperature. While not a universally applicable solution across Switzerland, it holds meaningful potential for lakefront and near-lake communities given its dual function. Wind and solar were also discussed extensively, while nuclear energy notably was not part of the conversation.

A particular highlight was hearing from Gerhard Schmid, Syndic of Fuchstal, a small German commune that has achieved full energy self-sufficiency. He addressed the forum in German, so much of the technical detail was not fully accessible to me, though I understood him to describe how turbine design should be adapted to local wind conditions, with shorter turbines suited to lower-wind areas and longer blades favored where wind speeds are higher, along with rough cost estimates in the range of six to eight million euros per turbine.

Working groups were then formed to address regional challenges, including substituting fossil fuels with renewable electricity, thermal storage, data-driven consumption management, public-private financing, and public engagement. I took part in a group examining the most appropriate energy source for the land surrounding the Château grounds, and separately observed a proposal for a wind farm at Les Pléiades: seven turbines, an estimated investment of 48 million CHF with a fifteen-year payback period, and a projected output of 55 GWh annually, sufficient, in combination with existing solar infrastructure, to cover 200% of Riviera households with fully decarbonized energy.

Altogether, the forum offered a grounded understanding of what Switzerland's pursuit of carbon neutrality, with certain regional targets extending to 2040, actually requires: substantive proposals, engaged municipal stakeholders, and genuine political trade-offs, rather than an abstract commitment to clean energy.