Clean Energy Spotlight: Jessica Lovering
This week's #cleanenenergyspotlight boasts 10 years of experience in nuclear energy with a focus on innovation policy for advanced nuclear energy. One of the Faces of Clean Energy, Jessica Lovering, is now the executive director and co-founder of the Good Energy Collective. The Good Energy Collective is a policy research organization that amplifies nuclear energy as an “essential part of the broader climate change agenda and work[s] to align the clean energy space with environmental justice and sustainability goals.”
Jessica's affinity for climate policy began while working in Alaska and was struck by the detrimental impacts of climate change: “record summer heat, melting permafrost, [and] retreating glaciers.” This was when she recognized her passion for environmentalism and switched to a graduate program focused on environmental policy.
Upon graduating, Jessica began working at The Breakthrough Institute, concentrating on nuclear policy within their Energy & Climate program. In 2015, she became the Director of their energy initiative and expanded her existing research into decarbonization. As a student at heart, she returned to graduate school in 2017 to obtain a PhD at Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy.
Throughout her career, Jessica emphasizes that, among other clean energy alternatives, “nuclear energy will be critical for fully decarbonizing the global energy systems.”It will also create good-paying jobs and strengthen the U.S. economy– making it “more resilient to price shocks in the future, like those incurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.”
Thankfully, the clean energy future that Jessica envisions is coming to fruition following the Inflation Reduction Act: The “bill’s essential investments in nuclear energy, from tax credits…to national laboratory funding for nuclear projects, will help our country lead by example in reaching ambitious climate goals.”
Thank you, Jessica, for your dedication to clean nuclear energy, and congratulations on being this week’s #cleanenergyspotlight.
