MARK Z. JACOBSON, Climate Scientist at Stanford University
Event Date: September 5, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm
MARK Z. JACOBSON – Live in Sonoma!
Is it possible for all 50 states and all countries in the world to use only renewable energy sources in the foreseeable future?
At the Sebastiani Theater on the Plaza
Tickets: $25 for event
Event & Reception at nearby private residence: $60 – $50 for Praxis Members – Tickets that include Reception must be purchased by August 28 so we can plan for enough food.
Mark Jacobson, PhD is a noted climate scientist and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and Director of its Atmosphere Energy Program. He maintains that we can transition all states and countries to 100% renewable energy in record time. “Because technologies are advancing and WWS (wind, water, solar) costs are dropping more quickly than previously thought, newer studies propose an 80% transition by 2030 and 100% ideally by 2035-2040, but certainly no later than 2050.”
Jacobson’s computer models for developing 100% renewable energy for all purposes in all 50 states of the U.S. and countries all over the world have brought much acclaim. His 2015 study on transitioning the 50 states to WWS was cited as the scientific basis for House Resolution 540 and for the 2015 New York Senate Bill S5527 on renewable energy. The Green New Deal also draws from Jacobson’s models. A fervent supporter of renewable solutions, Jacobson eschews nuclear power, carbon capture, and geoengineering as creating more pollution problems than they solve. To view the state by state and country projections, visit The Solutions Project website: https://thesolutionsproject.org/what-we-do/inspiring-action/why-clean-energy/
In 2015, he was the lead author of two peer reviewed papers, one of which examined the feasibility of transitioning each of the 50 U.S. states to a 100% renewable energy system, powered exclusively by wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) and the other one provided a proposed method to solve the grid reliability problem with high shares of intermittent sources. In 2015, the editorial board of. PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) selected the grid integration study of Jacobson and his co-workers as the best paper in the category, “Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences,” and awarded him a Cozzarelli Prize.
Jacobson was an expert witness with the Sunrise Movement’s Held v. Montana, the first climate trial in U.S. history. He is the author of No Miacles Needed and Still No Miracles Needed (Pub. May 2026), which will be available at this event. He is co-founder with Mark Ruffalo, Marco Krapels, and Josh Fox of The Solutions Project, which is designed to educate and public and policymakers about the ability of U.S. states and communities to switch to 100% renewable energy.
Jacobson walks his talk, living in a house that generates so much renewable energy that he hasn’t paid an electric bill in over a decade. Here is a short TV interview where he demonstrates how renewable energy supplies all the power in his house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDWH7rktrXw
Jacobson holds a BA in Civil Engineering, an MA in Economics, and an MS in Environmental Engineering, from Stanford University and a PhD in Atmospheric Science from UCLA.