Jackson Koeppel: Redefining Infrastructure

Monday, November 18, 2013, 1 - 2pm

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A presentation by Jackson Koeppel of Soulardarity about the power of distributed energy generation and community infrastructure ownership in Detroit.

Soulardarity is facilitating the installation of 200 community-owned solar-powered streetlights in Highland Park, a three-square-mile city within Detroit where most utility- owned street lig hts were repossessed in 2011. Soulardarity is using the innovative technology of off-grid solar as a tool to redefine how infrastructure is planned, built, and owned, and the many ways in which new technology can facilitate social change. Soulardarity’s mission is to help economically-deprived communities find solutions to a range of problems by redefining infrastructure and forming new models of civic participation. Jackson Koeppel is a founder of Soulardarity and a member of Grand Aspirations, a national non-profit empowering young leaders to build a green and just economy.

Lecture located in Room 315F

This event is organized by The Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design

Open only to current Cooper Union students/faculty/staff.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.