HAMPTON, Va. -- America must find ways to need less energy, and to produce more. So says Martin Hoffert, one of the staunchest advocates for the adoption of alternative energy sources to stave off the ill effects of global climate change. He puts it bluntly: "Our civilization is not going to make it past this century if we don't solve the climate problem."

Hoffert will speak on energy solutions and technological options for solving the warming issue in a colloquium lecture called "An Energy Revolution for the Greenhouse Century" on Tuesday, April 1, at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center at NASA Langley Research Center. That evening, he will speak on the subject again for the general public at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air & Space Center on Settlers Landing Road in Hampton.

Media interested in interviewing Hoffert at a news briefing at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday should contact Emily Outen at 864-7022 by noon for credentials and entry to NASA Langley.

Hoffert is a retired professor of physics and former chair of the Department of Applied Science at New York University. He has researched a range of topics including fluid mechanics, plasma physics, atmospheric science, oceanography, planetary atmospheres and environmental science. Hoffert is currently focusing on energy technologies such as space solar power that could stabilize climate change from the fossil fuel greenhouse.

Hoffert earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; master's and doctoral degrees in astronautics from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn; and a master's in liberal arts studies from the New School for Social Research where he did graduate work in sociology and economics.

- end -

text-only version of this release