Sometimes God is just not fair when it comes to consequences of sin. Have you ever noticed that sometimes one person can do the same thing that another person does and it seems, matter of fact, not the same, but oftentimes the consequences that we get as a result of sin, they're just different. In many cases they would even seem that they're unfair. One person does this, another person does the exact same thing, and the consequences are vastly different. Why is that? Why does it seem like God is unfair? Or can we even say that God is unfair? Well, the answer is yes. He is unfair sometimes when it comes to how consequences are meted out. But that's not necessarily a bad thing because God knows who he's dealing with. Consequences serve two purposes. The good thing is that you can actually help to mediate what the consequences end up becoming. Here's what I mean. Sometimes the consequence is death. The purpose of punishment is twofold.  Think about how God dealt with the children of Israel. There would be times where their punishment would just simply be death. And then there are also times where their punishment would be brought about to bring them to a course of correction. Is it always fair? Sometimes the person might get this. Sometimes the person might get a little bit more. Sometimes the punishment is extremely more than the next person. There are people with the exact same charges in prison and the judge might give them one year. Person with the same charge, similar background circumstances might get five years or 10 years or 20 years. It varies. Who determines and why should a person get mercy? Well, it depends on that person's set up circumstance. And ultimately, God knows. Let's go to Hebrews. I want to pull out something for a second. And Hebrews 12, 6 tells us this, for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. Well, why is that important? Well, because we all get disciplined and no one likes discipline. As a matter of fact, he's going to say so in a second. He says he scourges every son whom he receives. Well, the good news is you're a son. And so every son is going to be disciplined, though that son, that child of God, doesn't like it at the moment. He says it is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as sons, as with sons, I'm sorry, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. But if you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. There are people, though, that you will think that might be getting away with whatever the sin is. But understand, God has not given up on punishing them.  So when they get punished, they are going to get punished. But there might be some sort of benefit for them to be around. The benefit could be to grow you to help you and your patients and your endurance. Or as an example, but when it comes to us, whatever the correction is, it's to grow us. For my own personal testimony, had I gotten a lighter punishment, maybe I would not have changed. Maybe I'm so hardheaded, so stubborn, that after a short amount of punishment, then I would have figured out a way to kind of go back to doing what I want to do. And so maybe the greater the punishment is because of the greater the stubbornness in me. And it takes a course correction, because maybe maybe the same is with you. If you are stubborn, but I can put a stubborn person, a convicted person. And when I say convicted, I mean convict, they have convictions and they're going to carry out their convictions. But if God can turn those convictions for him, in other words, make a stubborn person for themselves into being someone stubborn or zealous for God, well then amen. And it might take a little bit longer for this person than it does the next person. And oftentimes, the people that have the greatest amount of punishment or the more severe load is because it might be a heavier burden on them, a heavier load to carry for the kingdom of God, which is a good thing if God entrusts you to do so. But it's going to take an awful lot of discipline, an awful lot of training. And so this is what God is doing. Every son of his, he's going to chastise when they get in trouble, but also he wants to grow that son. And so that's the issue. Yes, you cannot control the consequences, but what you can control, this is the good news, you can control how the consequences end. In other words, will this consequence lead to my death? But if I change, the consequence will lead to my growth. And that's the whole point. One thing for certain, if you're his, the Bible says that God is going to cause all the things to work for the good to those who he loves, and it will be for his glory. That's a good thing. Amen.


who is going to be talking about the Professor Ramakrishna, I am sorry I had mentioned the name, Professor Ramakrishna who will be giving us an intro session about the gate portal that we have. So this is a portal that we have developed exclusively for gates, gate aspirants. So this is a very user friendly portal that our team has developed where we have video solutions and so can be a one stop space for gate aspirants. So we hope that all the experiences who have joined here today, please watch this session and take the details and share it with your students. It's going to be a fantastic opportunity for students to get the necessary help when if they are applying for the gate program. So with that I am handing it over to Professor Ram. Sir, please. Yes, you share the slides. Okay, also portal sir? Yeah, portal master. Gate or NPTEL, please. Okay, we will go through the main initiatives. Okay, so we're screening up the same to the desk. Okay, this is being visible. Okay, yeah. Okay, so thanks everybody for joining my name is Ramakrishna. I am a faculty at Electrical Department IIT Madras and also happened to coordinate the NPTEL activities since the past one year or so. So not many of you need introduction to NPTEL and of course you are a big part of our big family of NPTEL which makes things work and which made us grow from enrolment of some few hundreds to a few lakhs and there will be a lot more even now. So I will not really go into the details of this. We all know how we started off with three courses in 2014, 500 courses in 2021 and the current semester in January. What is the reason for that? I think everyone to be on mute. If you want to speak just raise your hand or take something in the chat window. So I'm assuming I'm audible and all that if you have any difficulties with that please let me know. Okay, so we all know so of the growth and in the current semester we are in July semester 2022 we are offering up to 622 courses. Okay and then we all know about domain certification and our efforts in translating our efforts into different languages to CSR support and also I directly come to the gate portal and why we came up with this initiative and what this portal offers for you and what is the new features that will come up. So we know about 9 lakh people appear for gate each year and it's useful for graduate admissions across India for M Tech courses, MSP research, in some cases recruitment in PSUs and so on. Okay so what is the objective of the gate portal here? So if you look at many of our discussion forums or the live sessions with students a typical question would be is this content enough if I do gate or why don't you solve some gate related questions or anything that would help them prepare well for the gate exam and of course since we are a big repository we were thinking of that for a long time and came up with the solution of can we make one you know because we have this huge repository of content we have a lot of people working for us in the form of research scholars who do the TA work and so on. So can we enable access to high quality which also can we make use of the existing NPTEL lectures to cover gate syllabus and not only that not just not just doing that we also have a platform now where we provide detailed video solutions of previous years gate exam. I'll show you a quick glimpse of this after I run through the slides. So the solutions will be comprehensive they'll not just be like you know tricks to solve they will teach you everything from the basics they will solve step by step on the board or on the writing device and towards the end also help the learners with some quick tricks to solve those problems so this will also help them the more they watch the videos each video will have that thing of reminding them of what is the basic concept so you watch more videos all the basic concepts will be ingrained into you and the more you do it to that you discover your own shortcut ways of solving problems right and then we'll so there's something which you are working on so we are expecting a launch on the 12th of august where we will have a personalized you know we can very people can take mock test they can do practice assignment they can just practice subjects across the topic or something so that launch we will also do over the youtube channel and then we will share with you those links so what is coming up is the following so we are linking gate syllabus to relevant NPTEL gate content we have video solutions and I actually go to the to the gate page now can you can you share with us so this is already visible okay good so it's it's very easy to go here this gate dot NPTEL dot ac dot in and here we just tell what what all we do and and much of this effort is being sponsored by the MADS labs from from Bengaluru to via their CSR grant okay so I just quickly click so if I go to syllabus mapping so there are a bunch of subjects here starting from computer science ECE civil doubly mechanical metallurgy chemistry and mathematics and as we are speaking we'll soon add up for two more subjects in the form of physics and chemical engineering okay so what does this this page do so if I click on say mechanical engineering and so these are all the topics which are covered in getting the gate syllabus right so you need to have to have expertise in some or all of these to to to crack the gate exam so if I click on fluid mechanics there might be some top some subtopics okay my fluid mechanics doesn't have but we see something else some more dynamics okay whatever I'll show you this in some other so all the all the lectures related to thermodynamics you can find it over here so just just click it and you will directly go to the relevant NPTEL video not the entire subject but that particular topic of of thermodynamics right so then these are been they have been done across several several papers say I go to ECE I click on analog circuits it will have several components of its own let's say I go to op amp circuits from a lot of questions come and you'll see videos directly linking you to per particular concept of the op amp for example amplifier summers differentiator so I don't really have to search through this entire NPTEL repository or that 30 hour video lectures to find me where do I learn about active filters all can be just just come here you click here and immediately the video of that particular lecture will be displayed so this is as I said done for most subjects couple of them are still adding up and we hope to you know get get it done in the next few weeks or so another important feature which I will show is the video solutions so I can sort it by year or by topic say I just want to look at solutions of of questions coming from say fluid mechanics so I'll have all the questions answered here so you just click here it will go to the appropriate page of the video solutions and all these solutions have been done by our research scholars at IIT Madras and other IITs and have been verified by the scholars themselves and there is also faculty who coordinates the entire effort for each subject to verify the quality of the content and as I mentioned earlier all these videos are are self-contained in themselves that you have the basic principles that will be mentioned while solving the problem each they will do a step by step solution will be written down and then towards the end there will be some shortcut tricks if needed to solve this particular problem so you can also select by year and say I just want to look at all the questions from say 2021 set one and everything goes here and we also solve questions from aptitude we also solve questions from mathematics okay so that is that is about the syllabus mapping and the video solutions what is coming up is these two things right so you have online assessment platform for practice so an end gate EE will now appear as a NOC course same thing with gate ME and so on so you'll have lists of each topic say network signals power systems and so on and at the end of each topic you will be able to take a practice assignment of five or six questions exactly similar to what happens in any NOC course okay and then at the end we will have a platform where you can take a practice test so for the moment we will start practice tests which will run from nine to six six nine eight to six p.m. every Sunday we can increase the frequency based on based on the number of users that we get so you can take a three hour practice test of course I will not restrict you to three hours you can do it anytime between nine and six and at six o'clock the just like an assignment it will close and then it will display either scores it will also display your scores across how many you got right how many you got wrong what topics and so on so all those fine fine grain details we will be putting up so just look watch out for that on the 12th of august so this will come up for EE EC and mechanical engineering so please and the others are getting soon getting populated and another feature also that since you also want this thing to be a little little you know active not just passive is we will have online assistance through mentors so these mentors essentially come from our prime minister research fellow scholars so there's a special category of people are funded by the prime minister's office directly to these are like really brilliant of our research scholars to to pursue their their their PhDs that I have at several IITs, ICERS, Central University and so on so these these people will be will be interacting live with with data aspirants once every week or depending on on the subject so gate EE might have like five or six sessions per week and each session will solve say problems related to say your power systems or signal systems and so on all that schedule will be put up so you can your students can come they can ask questions to this scholar these all are gate qualified these are all qualified their PhD qualified exams they are in the advanced stages of the research so they are fairly experienced in in in the subject they're fairly experienced in handling students because they do a lot of TA work internally also at their respective positions institutes right so we'll put up this schedule so make sure that you are advertising these things among your your students so that they can benefit by interacting and they can ask questions related to to get any any subject related questions or any general guidance which they may want with respect to cracking the gate exam everything they can interact directly with our our our research scholars and occasionally we'll also have faculty members who will be present in those in those meetings so I just stop here or take a pause and you know let you ask questions of how you would look at this portal what your expectations from this portal would be and and so on so that it'll help us because ultimately you or your students will be the end users of this of this portal so if you have any questions or suggestions please let us know please raise your hand or just type down your your questions requesting you to raise your hand or type your question in the chat window do you think that your students will be interested in such a portal you can share your thoughts also no voice I guess I was audible somebody says no voice uh no sir we can hear it okay okay I can also give you so I think the connection yeah hello yes yes sir yes sir thank you so much for a nice presentation you have covered all the things but sir my suggestion is that if we arrange one session for students then directly they will get the benefit of this yes workshop yes that is we have done that earlier we can do that again we'll also do a session on the 12th of august where there'll be a formal launch we'll send you a video link you can ask your students to to participate what we also highly encourage is to participate in those gate related live mentoring live mentoring sessions so once people are there they can get a little more first hand information they can also put up their demands or their suggestions for the portal this will work in progress so so we may need a lot of inputs from the end users also so that we will keep doing so keep keep keep watching for that starting next week or towards the end of next week we will do a lot of these live sessions so we just hope your students can can attend those sessions okay sir thank you thank you so much thanks any other questions or feedback so anything just write to us if not now later you can share this among your students and there's also on the on the portal there's also a little button for feedback you can you know give suggestions point out some errors there could be few errors because of obvious human errors of you know maybe some wrong copy paste or something would have happened we didn't cross check but you know ask your students to just access a portal report errors reports any suggestions or anything else that they would want to see on the portal thank you sir i am amid budhupath gap i am bhopal yes sir please go like to say it is very good initiative students are very happy when we are sharing in classes face to face mode and sharing on social media and it is also available on youtube channel so we have already shared the link of youtube channel so whatever we got as you are saying human errors and other things so we will give our feedback thank you sir yes sir thank you so much and please keep checking for our new launch on the mid of august so you can also start taking practice assignments and our three hour mock test and see your performance keep on improving your performance and so on yes sir so we will send out this youtube link to all the local chapter spoc so those who did not join today they can watch it later also yeah so if there aren't any more questions we can wind up the session yeah okay yeah thanks everybody for attending thank you sir thank you


I certainly don't need to introduce our speaker today, and I shan't, but I do on behalf of our very warmest welcome, we are pleased and truly honored to have you visit us today. Thank you very much, Brad, and thank you all very much, and thanks for the tour of your plants. It was 99 and 4,400 percent pure, fascinating. I have to say, I appreciate the introduction, because I once had an experience back in that other life of mine when I was on television every week, and on a New York street one day, a fellow suddenly 30 feet away says, I know you, I see you, and he started toward me and everybody in the street stopped, and I'm kind of being stalked by him as he comes toward me and he's getting a piece of paper and a pen out and got right up to me and told me, saw me all the time and wanted my autograph, Rameland. So I signed Rameland, it was no sense to disappoint me. It's great to be back in the Cincinnati area. I was out here last year visiting Procter & Gamble during the campaign. Didn't get exactly here, though. It hardly seems possible now, there was actually a presidential candidate back then who promised the first thing he'd do if elected was raise your taxes. The American people held a little referendum on that idea and sent a message loud and clear to Washington that America wants less government, less taxes, and more prosperity. And that's why leaders of the other party have now joined us in our effort to overhaul our nation's creaky tax code and replace it with a streamlined version, one that cuts personal and business tax rates, closes unfair loopholes and spurs economic growth. America's fair share tax plan is now working its way through the House of Representatives. It's up to them to send a bill to the Senate as quickly as possible so that we can pass a fairer pro-growth tax plan this year in 1985. It's a challenge I know, but I just don't think that America should have to wait for fairness and the increased growth that lower tax rates will bring. And if we have to, we're going to send Mr. Clean down there to keep an eye on him and make sure they do the job right. From the beginning, Procter and Gamble has been an important ally in our fight for tax reform. I was talking to one of your executive officers earlier, and he had kind of a funny way of talking, but I couldn't have agreed more with what he was saying. He said, there's a rising tide of good cheer and joy in the land. We see new zest in the economy every day, and all we need now is a bold new dash to safeguard the gain we've made already. And I said thanks and congratulated him on the top job that you're all doing in support of tax fairness. Well, seriously, this company exemplifies the forward-looking executive or expansive philosophy, I should say, that has made America the number one economic power in the world, the kind of positive thinking behind America's fair share tax plan. Your president, John Smale, testified before the House and Wains and Means Committee that although Procter and Gamble would be affected by our loophole closing, you support the initiative because you know lower tax rates mean greater growth and more jobs. And this company has the vision to look beyond the ledger books and see what's good for America is good for individual businesses and every one of their employees and customers too. Let me also take a moment to recognize the contributions of your congressman, Bill Grattison. He's been an effective, untiring supporter of tax reform in the House. And if every congressman were as supportive as Bill Grattison, we'd have tax fairness today. Bill and his Ohio colleagues, Tom Kindness, Bob McEwen, and one who was going to be with us but then got interrupted by the press of things in the House and couldn't, Del Latta, they understand one thing that is all too often forgotten in Washington, that a tax overhaul that doesn't make life easier for America's working men and women isn't worth the paper it's printed on. That's why our pro-family initiatives are the heart and soul of America's fair share tax plan. Some people in Washington are saying that the people aren't very worked up about tax reform. Well, I think the people just don't know yet what it is we're talking about. We're going to make it affordable to raise children again. You hear a lot about tax shelters. Well, the one shelter we approve of is the family home. The truth is the pro-family measures of our tax plan are there to write a great historical injustice. Throughout the great tax explosion of the 60s and 70s, everybody with a paycheck got hit and hit hard by taxes, but those trying to raise families got clobbered. Not only did their taxes skyrocket, their personal exemption, the real value of the deduction they were allowed to take for themselves and each one of their dependents was steadily knocked down by inflation. Let me insert here just some words about inflation or some figures, but I'd give you an idea of how everyone was victimized. 1977, Henry Haslett, the economist, has done a study of this. The median, average median income, that's the half way mark, half the people are above it, half the people are below it, was $189 a week, 1977. By now, it's up to $299 a week. And that means, of course, the individual that's making that many more dollars is paying considerably more income tax as moved up through the tax brackets. But figure out that earnings in 1977 dollars. If the dollar today had the same purchasing power it had in 1977, that $299 only has $171 of purchasing power compared to $189 in 1977. But in addition to that, because the tax is based on the number of dollars, not their value, that individual has moved up through a number of tax brackets and is paying a higher percentage of less purchasing power than he was before. In other words, families were getting a double whammy, double tax hikes. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the colossal growth of government over the last two decades was financed by raiding the dwindling bank accounts of America's families. If the personal exemption, which was $600 in 1948, had kept pace with inflation, it would be worth $2,700 today. Well, we plan to almost double the current exemption. We can't go all the way, but our plan would make it $2,000 to make up for some of what families lost over the years. And to me, that's only fair, and what's fair is worth fighting for. I hope you're with me on that. Well, we're also increasing the standard deduction of $4,000, or $2,400, I should say, for joint returns. And this will mean that families, as well as the elderly, the blind, the disabled, living at or below the poverty line, will be completely scratched from the federal income tax rolls. The U.S. government will no longer tax families into poverty. Our pro-family measures will mean that a family of four doesn't have to pay one single cent of federal taxes on the first $12,000 of income. And because saving is so essential to families, but so very difficult with all these expenses, we're expanding the tax-free saving accounts, the IRAs, the individual retirement accounts, so that they are fully available to non-wage-earning spouses. We figure that the housewife is also working a full 40-hour return. Now, you shouldn't have to be affluent to experience the blessings of a home life. That's a right to which every American is entitled. I'm glad to say that the democratically-controlled House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families has rated our tax proposal the most pro-family tax proposal before the Congress, more pro-family than any other proposal around and light years ahead of the present tax system. Now, this goes beyond economics, although, in my opinion, pro-family policies are the best economics there is. This gets to the moral core of our nation. America has a responsibility to the future, and our children are our future. We're a nation of immigrants who labored and sacrificed to give their children a better life, and that's the American dream.  You know, our forefathers got so riled up over a t-tax, among other things, that they started a revolution. Now we have a tax on families, a tax on achievement, success and aspiration, a tax on the American dream. I think I know what Thomas Jefferson would have said about that, because Thomas Jefferson only had one line of criticism when the Constitution was adopted. He said it lacks one important thing, a provision preventing the federal government from borrowing money. Well, I think it's time we had another revolution, a peaceful one this time, called America's Fair Share Tax Plan. We need your support. Let Congress know that your pro-growth, pro-fairness, and pro-family, and America's Fair Share Tax Plan is a gift that we owe to our children. And with your help and with this company's support, and with these fine representatives in the house that I've mentioned who are here with me, it's a gift that we all do our part. We'll have wrapped up by Christmas time. And then maybe we can sing joy to the world with extra feeling. I mentioned here this, some people have suggested publicly lately that I'm so concerned about the tax plan that I'm not concerned about the deficit, the federal deficit that we're trying to correct.  Both of these things are important, but there's nothing more important than eliminating the deficit in federal spending. And right now, a few of our senators in us are talking about a long-range plan, not just every year trying to whittle a dollar here or a dollar there out, but a plan aimed at a balanced budget. And then we will obey the wisdom of Mr. Jefferson and see if we can't get a provision in the Constitution that says the government from then on can't spend any more than it takes in. Well, God bless you all. Thank you all. It's been a great pleasure to be here with you. I'm going to say a few closing remarks for the president's visit to Ivorydale. And I want to ask that all of you remain at your table until the president is escorted from the cafeteria, if you will. President, we thank you very much for sharing your comments and enlightening a perspective on your tax plan. But most of all, we thank you for spending time with us at Ivorydale. We appreciate the opportunity to meet you and share our thoughts with you. Thank you very much. On behalf of all of the employees for the Proctor and Gamble Ivorydale Manufacturing System, I'd like to present you with a memento of our appreciation and esteem. For those of you in the audience, this is an ad from 1907. And it was in the Saturday evening post. And for perspective, I'd like to


What's going on everyone Sam here with late in sports cards, and I am ripping one box of 2021 Bowman draft jumbo baseball for Logan S Good luck Logan see we got in here. Let's hit like a Meyer or a Lawler or a Henry Davis Something like that man Logan, I'm assuming you know but paper base will not ship out of this all of your hits inserts numbered Chrome will all ship out of this though Here we go Polo I pulled a super yesterday. It's pulled two supers in a row two nights in a row supers base got Austin Martin to 250 purple paper nice Got your chrome is Pacheco first Joe Rock got Elmer Rodriguez on the gold Elmer Rodriguez Cruz gold first to 50 red socks nice one there Nice red socks hit got refractors Raquel Vindicastro Jefferson Quero and Base oh we got a red we got a red Okay, let's gear up here. Come on, baby big red Alcantara Ethan Wilson Westcalf Cooper Bowman Joe Mack it is a first and it looks like a bat Lonnie white jr. Red Bowman first auto pirates Congrats Logan Let's go man Nice red We'll get that magged up for you, buddy We'll take a red auto any day of the week and twice on Sunday nice one man Let's go We've got Tyler Soderstrom Teal lava to 199 Nice refractor Colton Couser first South relic first wow very solid refractors there, too and base Paper base Bobby Witt in there nice John Rhodes Julio Carras Jaden Hill on the Refractor first Colton Couser Reed Schrimble Got Gunnar Henderson and Henry Davis first refractor not killing it on their first refractors here As well nice one there base Paper base in Victor Colton Couser nice Michael McGreevy Genesis Ryan Cusick and Drew Gray first refractors and base Aqua paper Jose Salas How many cars in the past only 32 actually Mentor Pananga Russell Smith Noah Miller Genesis South relic refractors Christian and Carnassio and Strand and Elmer Rodriguez Cruz and Paper seems like a lot more than 32 It doesn't seem like a lot more than 32 in a pack Jackson Job Chase Petty Draft night Got Jake Fox and Calvin Ziegler on the chrome refractors and base Minimum of 50. That's what I'm saying Dean. Honestly, man Looks like it Ricky Tiedman Reed Schrimble Colton Couser got Benny Montgomery orange and Victor Otto to 25 Holy cow Nice hit there on the Benny Let's go congrats Logan Wow Holy moly Pedro Leone Emanuel Rodriguez on the refractors Holy Killer box of Chrome uh Bowman Chrome draft here. You'll look we cess for this Maddox Bruns Genesis Marcelo Meyer guy Harry Ford chrome first refractor Torkelson refractor Base the rooms Matthew Nelson got Hunter Goodman first auto for the Rockies Congrats on that one. They're Logan nice Hunter Goodman first auto Cusick Pete Crow Armstrong base Have the same card. No auto Bradley Bradley is one of our resident Colorado sports fans him and Brennan Hunter Goodman first Benny Montgomery first Marcelo Meyer draft night got Maddox Bruns first and Owen Kellington refractors base Danny Montgomery first again. Nice got Ryan Cusick on the speckle That is not numbered first for the Braves Job and tie Madden Hunter Goodman and gyro Paul Merrer Pomerro Primera on the refractor last pack here. Good luck Logan Pena That's in Kirstad now Jacob Steinmetz and Brandon Bossier Fractors and base that'll do it for your box there Logan Congrats on the hits man had a heck of a break. We'll get those right out to you buddy Thanks again


This is ThinkTech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Okay, welcome back. This is ThinkTech. I'm Jay Fidel. Welcome to Making Leadership Work on ThinkTech. Today is called A New Day at Shamanad. We're going to talk about important changes at Shamanad and new delivery models for innovation at Shamanad. If you want to ask a question, participate in discussion, you can tweet us at ThinkTech HI or call us at<PHONE_NUMBER>. Our guest for the show are Lynn Bavington. She's the President of Shamanad University and Helen Turner. She's the Vice President of Innovation at Shamanad. So we're going to talk about new programs, new delivery models, new innovations, new entrepreneurship, the whole enchilada at Shamanad. Welcome to the show, Lynn and Helen. Thank you so much for having us on the show. Thanks, Jay. So why don't you tell me about yourselves. President, what does it mean? Where do you come from? How can I get your job? I'm not sure how you can get my job yet. I just got here. I arrived on campus on August 1st to be greeted by a wonderful group of staff, faculty, and students in a traditional OLE, which was a gift. And I came to Shamanad because it's a very special place. I came from Fairfield University in right near New York City, which is a Jesuit University, similar in some of its mission to Shamanad. But I was attracted to the university because Shamanad really walks the talk. They have a commitment to educating students to be leaders in the world today, to contribute to their local economy and the world economy in some very special ways. So I feel very privileged to be here in this role right now. And I guess time will tell whether or not you'll be able to take my job. I always ask that. Helen, you used to be the what, the Dean of Natural Sciences at I actually still am. So I came to Shamanad 10 years ago now. And it was really to help them do a big build in the sciences. So Shamanad had, you know, a small but high quality science program at the time. What we were focusing on then was to try and do a build to make it really cutting edge and relevant. So that's what I spent the last 10 years doing as Dean of Natural Sciences. And then Dr. Barrington asked me to add to my job, thinking about innovation at a whole university wide level. And so we've been doing a lot of innovation in STEM at Shamanad, a lot of grant programs, a lot of new delivery methods, a lot of student success that we're seeing. So my challenge now is, okay, how does that vision get articulated across the whole university? What an exciting time. It is exciting. It is a new day. The two of you are engaged in a kind of new step up in your careers and then your daily, your daily quality of life, I guess. Yeah. We certainly are. So tell us about Shamanad, educate us about Shamanad. How big was it cover? You know, what is going on there in general? Okay. Well, Shamanad is a private Catholic, Marianist university here in Honolulu. We educate about 2,500 students. We have a number of undergraduate programs and selected graduate programs. And Shamanad is really based on a strong liberal arts background with professional schools woven in. We have an education school, nursing, business, criminal justice, as some of our professional programs. And we really are in the business of higher education for a higher purpose. We want our students to graduate and be able to be leaders and contribute to their own communities where they live. And we think that by blending both liberal arts and the professional programs that our students have that opportunity. What is the element, what is the religious element, if at all? I mean, I'm not sure I know what it is. I don't think it's a very religious school, but tell me about that. Well, the Marianist tradition focuses on family. It focuses on inclusivity. About 40% of our students are Roman Catholics. But the Marianist tradition celebrates all faith traditions. And the whole idea is that you teach students to look beyond themselves and look to contribute to their community. A strong emphasis on making the world a better place on inclusivity and including the whole family in what we do. It is a Roman Catholic institution. Is it religious? I suppose it depends on your definition. We don't require any of our students to particularly attend prayer services or anything like that. But we do celebrate all different kinds of faith traditions on a regular basis in our community. It's right near St. Louis. Is there a relationship? We arose from St. Louis historically. The founders of St. Louis at some point in history decided that they would build a junior college, which is what Chaminade started out as, and then became a university. And that was in the 1950s. So do you get a lot of students from St. Louis? Actually, not as many as you might expect. But some of that is because the students have been going to school there for a period of time on the same campus. We share the same campus. Their students can take some classes while their senior year towards a college education. And we certainly have a partnership with St. Louis for many of the functionings on campus. What about science at Chaminade? How important is it? What are the depth and breadth of its offerings? It's been an area of great growth in the last 10 years. I think how important it is to Chaminade is that science and technology are one of the sort of fundamental expressions of our Catholic social teachings. So Catholic social teachings tells us to be concerned about the stewardship of the earth. It tells us to be concerned about the dignity of people and their health care. And so those are really the kind of themes that we threaded through the development of the science programs at Chaminade. We have some unique niches, so we offer the only forensic science program in the Pacific region. Very proud of that. That's a really innovative program. We have a really strong presence in pre-med and pre-health careers as well. And then we've also recently started a building environment and sustainability. So really trying to think about what kind of professionals does Hawaii need to work in the conservation agencies to become environmental justice lawyers. I mean everything that we can think about that's not such a hardcore science focused degree. I mean those young people are thinking about policy, they're thinking about advocacy, they're climate warriors, right? So really that's the kind of breadth of the science programs. And then it's sort of there are two, there's some foundations that underlay the way we think about science. We have a lot of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island students, so the challenge of how you can bring culture and traditional knowledge into the science curriculum and blend that as a way of knowing with the Western way of knowing about science is very important to us. And then also we constantly have an eye on the future and we think that the future lies in students really being able to understand big data and not being limited. Yeah it's a kind of computer science that just is now I think in every aspect of the science endeavor. And we talked just earlier about science communication that's another big piece for us as well. What is that? Tell the people what that is. So it's an evolution like many things at Shaman Islands. So we always had the you know a big focus on science writing, right? So we thought yeah if we make the students able to write about science then they'll be able to talk to other scientists in writing and of course that's the way science works. But I think it's becoming clear to every practicing scientist in the United States today that unless you can communicate with the public, unless you can communicate with politicians then you are not going to be successful as a scientist and also your agenda is not going to get served. And so we've been taking as a guidance from National Science Foundation who have their super communicator program and we've been implementing that in the classroom actually starting this semester. Well it's very interesting because you know take the science fair we cover the science fair coming up in March I guess and go around and these kids I guess they're not college kids they're high school kids. Right. But the biggest and most exciting part about them is their ability to tell you what they're doing. And they're so cute they're so lovable because they they can do that they understand this thing about science communication. And to tell the story of their work in a bigger context you know so when I was being trained in science communication as a grad student the bar was to be able to in you know exhausting detail tell people what I worked on. But that sense of hey in the big sense I'm trying to cure cancer or I'm trying to attack heart disease or I'm trying to mitigate seawater inundation that's the big story that every student has to be prepared to tell and then explain how their work fits into that you know which piece of the pie they're focusing on. And I think that goes back to what makes the shamanide education different because our students it doesn't matter if they're a science major a business major health care history the skills they learn are communication they learn to communicate both verbally as Dr. Turner was talking about but also in writing writing is essential and they work on teams so by the time they're ready for the workplace they're team ready I mean I talk to employers and they say the hardest thing about college graduates is they step into the work world they don't know how to work on a team and our that's that is a shamanide education they our students have had so many experiences working on interdisciplinary teams that they understand and can communicate with you the history major when I'm the science major and Alan might be computer science and we can all work together solving problems and and we think that that's a really important skill for graduates today. I'm what I gather is that you're looking to create a well-rounded individual as your graduate who has the technology as appropriate and has the special skills in the special courses but is also able to deal in this world as a responsible citizen right what what's the blend and how do you do that? Well you know some of it is very deliberate in plan for example if you're an accounting major we all know pretty much what goes through that but I just described to you all of the liberal arts courses that those students take but even within the business curriculum those students have service built into their class service learning it's called throughout the curriculum they go to homeless shelters and help the folks in the homeless shelter fill out a tax return wonderful which which can make the difference between the person being able to actually get enough money to get out of the shelter so by the time these accounting majors graduate they may get a job at the big four firm now but they also understand the importance of their work to their community besides just simply taxes so you can take every discipline and we have deliberately interjected those kinds of experiences so that when our students graduate they see the value of that. And I think it's also about listening to the students and who they want to be so you know you hear a lot said about the millennials generation whatever we're up to now I can't remember the but you know these young people are interested in having social impact as well as successful lives and successful careers and trying to think about there the world that we're preparing them for and what their motivations are you know I think a while ago in Shamuna we really moved away from a very kind of top down here's what you need to know go forth it's much more now thinking about listening to the students listening to the the community and figuring out who should we be preparing and that might change quite often right and academia typically moves at a glacial time pace but but one of the great things about Shamuna as Dr. Bamenton alluded is that because we can move fast and we're not afraid of bringing new programs online bringing new initiatives online for as long as they're needed that I think means that we can continue to serve the students and their vision of who they want to be and what their dreams and their passions are. So you find out what their dreams and their passions are and then you build a real knowledge base and you build confidence and you build confidence yeah I think that's critical plus we are situated here in Hawaii economy and we have to look at what the needs are within our community and we know what those needs are I mean we have a big focus here on innovation and innovation economy and our programs have fit nicely into the focus on health care we have a holds rich deep expertise in that area in the area of data and data science in the area of sustainability and certainly in the area of social justice which is one of those pillars so we think we're very well positioned to to contribute to the education of students here that can make a difference in Hawaii. Well yeah you said magic words in Hawaii because you want to build students who can have a life here and can build the economy for us if they leave we lose them on the other hand there's a certain culture point in Hawaii in all the schools high schools and colleges about heading off to the mainland immediately and finding a life there and staying there and never coming back in fact sometimes their parents follow them and so when we get back from this break Lynn and Helen I'd like to ask you you know what the blend should be ideally and what do you want to communicate to these kids about whether they should stay here participate in the development of the state going forward and and and what they want to think about about going to the mainland okay we'll be right back after this break. Hi I'm Pete McGinnis-Mark and every Monday at one o'clock I present Think Tech Hawaii's research in Manoa where we bring together researchers from across the campus to describe a whole series of scientifically interesting topics of interest both to Hawaii and around the world so hopefully you can join me one o'clock Monday afternoon for Think Tech Hawaii's research in Manoa. Aloha and Richard Concepcion the host of Hispanic Hawaii you can watch my show every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. we will bring you entertainment educational and also we tell you what is happening right here within our community Think Tech Hawaii Aloha. Rebecca I told you we come back and we came back some things you know you got to do so Lynn Babington she's the president of Shamanad and Helen Turner she's the vice president of innovation both critical figures obviously in development of the school so where you know where does the school fit are you are you building graduates who will stay or you're building graduates who will go you carefully selected areas of focus which sounds to me like those areas would be relevant to this economy or to the economy we want to have it's aspirational but you know what do you see what do you ideate for these kids well to be quite honest with you we hope that our students graduate with the skills to be successful and contribute here at home but we want them to have the skills to be successful globally we want them to come away from our education as good communicators as I said but to be adaptable which really fits in with the Marianist tradition as well adaptation for change is one of the pillars and values of the Marianist education and we all know today that students will graduate and probably have 10 jobs five different careers we want our students to be lifelong learners we want them to have the skills and knowledge to retool when they need to retool so from that perspective we hope that they will be successful wherever they go um you know on the other hand it is common here that people want to send their children maybe to stateside to um or to the mainland for their undergraduate education and we feel very strongly that while that may be a good opportunity for some for some students they may be better served to stay here for undergrad and link into programs that can help them be successful to maybe go to graduate school for example we have our science students and students in the humanities we have these programs whereby in the summertime we belong to a consortium of 20 different universities and our students go to Stanford and Princeton and they are working to be developing as leaders so I'm at a young lady this is a good story and she grew up in a high school um here and she said she wasn't prepared and she came to Shamanad we sort of had a boot camp for students to help them in the science and math her freshman year between freshman and sophomore year she went to Stanford she worked in a high-profile researchers lab it was a great experience the next year she went to Princeton in the meantime we have these partnership agreements with medical school she decided partway through she went to go to medical school she hasn't even graduated and she will already be in george washington medical school automatic in well because they save spots for us we have these agreements with over 20 different institutions for medicine osteopathic medicine podiatry all the various ptot the various health professions so the family that's thinking about sending their child for an undergraduate education somewhere really if they want to go to a health profession school they would be better off staying at Shamanad and having an absolute entree but the best thing about that story is that young lady said to me she walked didn't to stanford in this lab and she thought to herself oh my gosh i'm just coming from Hawaii you know i'm not gonna be quite up to snuff and she said within two weeks she realized she was as smart as any of these great and that's that's what we want that's what we want yeah and she could be anywhere she could be anywhere she could be our choices are that's right that way yeah what about your graduate programs you have you know what you use the term lifelong learning which resonates with me because i learned that the hard way so what do you do are you are you doing that i mean if i'm a graduate can i come around and take a graduate course well we have graduate programs in education the variety of field special ed early childhood education etc in an MBA program and in the business world and we have graduate programs in forensic science and criminal justice that are very well known we will build graduate programs in nursing but in addition to graduate programs we're also focusing on certificate programs as you indicated you may want to learn a specific area like we're looking at data science data analytics do you need a master's degree maybe but you may already have the skill set that you just need a little bit extra fine-tuning in health care for instance we have a very rich expertise in gerontology we have an aging population here very important yeah so we will be developing and offering a post graduate program contribution in yeah in gerontology and we are trying to leverage where our expertise are and what our community needs yeah so you're responsive to that you're responsive to change yes you got to do that you got to be nimble you got to be nimble today yeah now the hogan program yes we would be remiss would we not if we did not mention them can you talk about the hogan program so the hogan entrepreneur program it lives in our school of business and communication under the dean scotch rotor and it is i think a hidden jewel in Hawaii we regularly have students who place in national business competitions what we perhaps you know what perhaps don't see behind those headlines is this two-year program that focuses as an entire kind of additional curriculum for the students and it's about entrepreneurship it's about innovation and it's also about networking so hogan rejoices in this amazing advisory board which are not just movers and shakers in the hawaii community they're also the people who've been here for a long time and they know how business is done here and actually one of the things that budded from that was one of the new MBA programs that came on at shamanard just a couple years ago which is an island business MBA it is focused on how you do business in this community great preparation but the hogan students go on to great things one of my students devon rostoffer who is a hogan graduate she's now running urban planning for the city of detroit in michigan right so so they are both social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs i think in the more you know conventional setting we have students who set up companies we have students who've gone off from hogan and then being placed in in large organizations as well where they can kind of be entrepreneurs right so very exciting program yeah so this is not just technology and it's not just innovation it's could be anything anything at all uh as a subject of the entrepreneur i remember i went to one of the your hogan programs and i noticed you had a category for nonprofits yes i thought it was really important because so much of the economy is tied up in nonprofits so much of the work is being done by it like us you know i think one of the the the taglines is helping those who want to do good do better right i think that's that idea that if you can support social innovation and you can support um one of our partnerships with mehmer schools is actually thinking about how you can have incubator spaces that really support both native Hawaiian innovation and then specifically in the social arena so that you know yes there have to be new companies there has to be tech transfer in the sense that maybe an organization like university of Hawaii would do it but there also needs to be that framework for social social justice endeavors that will benefit the community but then nevertheless have to compete for funding have to do a great job of communicating their mission it's an overlapping skill set so that that takes me to one one point i wanted to discuss with you and that is where in your view does shamanad fit you know in the landscape of higher education state of hawaii well hawaii is very fortunate to have some wonderful higher education uh institutions here i think that um we all uh need to work better together and we are beginning to do that we're all slightly different in in our missions and in the students we serve and in the graduates that we graduate and so we need to capitalize on what each of us is good at you know you already discussed we're smaller we're more nimble and we've targeted where our expertise are uh university of hawaii benoa particularly is a research one institution we have many partnerships with them both research partnerships clinical partnerships we have faculty that move back and forth that is very important we now are building some very strong agreements with our community college partners all of whom are part of that system because we understand that it's important for students to have a variety of entrees into a higher education and the community college is certainly certainly one of them um and so students to seamlessly finish their education there and if they can transfer to shamanad to complete their baccalaureate degree we think there's a place for everyone um and it's important that in a community like this there are different kinds of options for students and for businesses to partner with how do you compare with hpu which is all around us downtown here well again hpu has some very good programs we have some of the same we have some programs they don't have um their their focus is um slightly different than ours on the other hand they have very good educational programs and their graduates are very successful and i think like us they emphasize the small class sizes i mean i think where where i see shamanad fitting in you know having you know this is my 10th year now so i've sort of seen this shift a little bit is i i think that it's like the boutique hotel in wikiki right small but perfectly formed high quality um for students for whom a family atmosphere is very important maybe it's their first pass um the first generation students who you know maybe they're going to be ready for going to the mainland but maybe not right now i think there's a lot of of those kind of aspects that we we tailor to and then this this great wonderful openness to being a place where students from community colleges can come and complete that degree and get the four-year that's a great opportunity for them and then there's a lot of other conversations that are happening right now about people who want to learn differently or in a different place or for a different purpose and again i think you know there are a lot of students out there or learners out there who don't they don't want a degree they might even want a certificate but they may need a training experience linked to one of the innovation hubs or something like that and and that openness to to serving all of those different constituencies i think that's where i'm hoping we can fit in more in the next in the next few years we have a few minutes left to talk about the future and i mean i'm going to make a guess and say that we're in a new time shamanada is in a new time new administration new vice president of innovation new new ideas new nimbleness if you will new new perceptions of the relationship of the university in the community new new ideas about the the way the model student graduating but one of the things i noticed i think i noticed is that you're you're into finding more robust partnerships all over the place because you have concluded i guess that these partnerships are of value to you know to going to the next chapter can you talk about that absolutely yes we have a variety of partnerships both with the local business community we have a program with university or the bank of hawaii to educate their current workforce those who haven't completed a bachelor's degree um we also have partners with a number of foundations i'll i'll let dr turner speak to one of the partnerships that's been particularly successful and we are replicating that partnership with others so would you like to talk about that coming on there when i first came to shamanada i remember giving a presentation to the faculty senate and you know that's that's like the shark tank right and and their question was well where's the money going to come from how are we going to do this because we are a small tuition driven university and and now looking back at the decade i think what lets us punch above our weight are the partnerships a lot of those have been federal so we have funding from the department of education department of defense national science foundation nationally institutes of health you know the whole laundry list of people who both hold us to a high standard and then also contribute to our programs more recently though one of the big partnerships that we were able to develop was with kamehameha schools and i think a lot of people in the community have heard about it um full ride stem scholarships for native hawaiian scholars multi-million dollar program really looking at the whole student again how do we support that student not just as a future scientist but as a person of culture a person of hawaii in their family context and so that i think is one of the the real signature programs for for shamanada at the moment of how we fit with community and we would like to develop more and so thinking about how we can network with the innovation community with htdc with you know all of these innovation ideas that are going on finding out where we fit into that and what service we can provide with us particular skillset and i think also that partnership led to us being successful in in achieving a howard hughes the medical foundation grant which was it's huge it's a nationally recognized very prestigious group of people and we were recognized because of these partnerships and being successful at including culture including the the rich diversity of our population here into the education so we only have a minute left but let me let me ask you then how do you see this all unfolding over the next say five years if i if i go down the time trail the timeline here and i and i stopped five years from now what am i going to see how am i going to see the changes at shamanada well i think what you'll see is it will be very clear our areas of excellence and in those areas of excellence we hope to have deep partnerships with our community with our educational partners as we talked about and people will know the areas that we are good at and they will understand the value of a shamanada education we don't expect to grow our undergraduate program to be huge we need a right size what that is we're in the education business and we have the obligation to educate our community in all kinds of ways whether it's graduate programs certificate programs training programs we see a lot more of of that type of education being developed in the areas that we're expert at and in the areas where there's a need within our community so that's what i would expect to see then that's encouraging and that's vital and that's important to the community and i hope when you say that you include that you'll have a nice relationship with fink tech and you'll send your faculty down and we'll talk about all the things they're doing thank you thank you then well thank you for having us on having been president of shamanad thank you jay the vice president of innovation thank you both so much for coming around


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The next item of business is a statement by Paul Wheelhouse on publication of the Scottish energy strategy. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement, and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Paul Wheelhouse, 10 minutes please minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today, with the publication of Scotland's energy strategy, we mark a significant advance in Scottish Government energy policy and indeed energy policy for this Parliament. It follows a major process of consultation, which covered not only the draft energy strategy but detailed matters relating to onshore wind, Scotland's energy efficiency programme, the development of local heat and energy efficiency strategies and district heating regulation. The strategy that we are publishing today is fully in line with our draft climate change plan and it supports our programme for government commitments and our ambitions for sustainable growth. It also sends a series of clear messages, our determination to decarbonise, our commitment to support the innovation and evolution of our energy system, our focus on inclusion and economic benefit and the development of supply chain opportunities and we make plain to the wider world that Scotland is an open, modern and excellent location for energy investment and collaboration. The strategy is accompanied by the onshore and wind policy statement confirming the value of onshore wind to Scotland's energy system, our economy and communities. 2017 has been an important year for the energy sector. We have seen dramatic reductions in the cost of offshore wind and more success for Scottish projects in securing long-term contracts that auction these developments and others in sectors such as floating wind energy, wave and tidal power generation provide a huge opportunity for the Scottish supply chain. Our programme for government, which is announced by the First Minister, contains new commitments on electric and other low-emission vehicles and our intention to support up to £60 million of new innovation funding under the low-carbon innovation fund, setting Scotland apart as a country at the vanguard of the global move to low-carbon energy systems. Scotland is also leading the way in promoting community and locally-owned renewable energy well ahead of the rest of the UK, giving the people in those areas a genuine stake in the nature and operation of their energy systems. I can announce today that the latest figures from the energy saving trust show an estimated 666 megawatts of community and locally-owned renewable capacity is now operating in Scotland, an increase of 12 per cent from last year's figure. I firmly believe that people want more opportunities like this and we will continue to work with industry and communities to make that a reality. Our local heat and energy efficiency strategies will set out a long-term prospectus for investment in new energy efficiency, district heating and other heat decarbonisation programmes. Indeed, a second consultation is now under way on the detail of those proposals. The strategy itself includes our vision for 2050 of a flourishing competitive energy sector delivering secure, affordable and clean energy for Scotland's household, communities and businesses. Scotland's social and economic wellbeing and the sustainable productivity and competitiveness of our economy depend on secure, affordable and reliable energy supplies. We can build on Scotland's existing industrial strengths, including harnessing the capabilities of our world-class oil and gas sector and leading industrial clusters such as Grangemouth as well as the growing strength that we have in all areas of renewable energy. Scotland's businesses are also well-placed to capture the economic benefits of developing and pioneering new approaches. Smarter ways to generate and store renewable energy and monitor energy use can open up fresh opportunities for consumers, with applications and technologies that can reduce both carbon emissions and energy bills. The move to electric and ultra-low-emission vehicles will create both opportunities and challenges for electricity and transport systems. A co-ordinated approach involving all stakeholders will help us to understand and tackle those opportunities and challenges in the best way possible. Scotland's energy efficiency programme places a renewed emphasis on reducing the energy consumption of our buildings and decarbonising their heat. Our earlier designation of energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority underlines the economic benefits of those kinds of investment. We are determined to make our energy system as inclusive as possible, protecting and informing but also involving and empowering Scotland's consumers. However, for far too many households, energy is still unaffordable and the market is failing many Scottish consumers. Many of those fuel-poor households are part of a significant group that does not switch suppliers and are therefore on some of the most expensive energy tariffs. While recent moves by the UK Government to cap tariffs for certain consumers may help to reduce bills, that may be insufficient in isolation, and those must form part of a wider effort to ensure a fair market for all. That is why, in October, the First Minister announced the ambition to establish a new energy company. The aim is that the company will support economic development and contribute to tackling fuel poverty, as well as being owned by the people of Scotland and run on a not-for-profit basis. It is important to seek views and expertise as we further develop this proposal. Early feedback on the strategy consultation has been constructive and we are grateful for this input. In just one of those responses, the University of Edinburgh's Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability said that they would, and I quote, welcome exploration of a place for a Government-owned energy company to act on a not-for-profit basis, addressing market failures to assist in lessening instances of fuel poverty. Following the announcement of our aim in October, Dermot Nolan, chief executive of Ofgem, was widely quoted as saying Ofgem would, and I quote, welcome any form of potential new entry into the energy market, and we commit to a formal process of public consultation in the later part of 2018. Scotland has always set a high bar when it comes to our energy potential and goals and we are internationally recognised for the strength of our commitment to the development of renewable energy, particularly in electricity. I can confirm today that we are building on that progress by adopting two new and ambitious targets for 2030. First, the equivalent of 50 per cent of Scotland's total energy consumption for heat, transport and electricity to be supplied from renewable sources. That demonstrates our commitment to a low-carbon energy system and underpinning the continued successful growth of the renewable energy sector in Scotland. Secondly, an increase of 30 per cent in the productivity of our energy use across the Scottish economy. That means delivering more economic output for each unit of energy consumed across the economy. Alongside those important targets, we have developed six new strategic priorities that will summarise briefly. First, we will make greater efforts than ever to protect consumers from excessive costs while helping them to take advantage of new opportunities arising from energy. Secondly, we will continue to prioritise energy efficiency, supporting and improving the efficient use of energy in Scotland's homes buildings, industrial processes and manufacturing. Thirdly, we will continue to champion Scotland's renewable energy potential with an ever-greater focus on creating new jobs and supply chain opportunities. Fourthly, we will ensure that Scotland's homes and businesses can continue to depend on secure, resilient and flexible energy supplies. Fifthly, we will empower our communities by supporting innovative and integrated local energy systems and networks to help to drive local community and economic regeneration. Thirdly, we will continue to support investment and innovation across our oil and gas sector, including exploration, innovation, subsidy engineering, decommissioning and carbon capture utilisation and storage. The strategy includes a range of actions to deliver our goals. We have committed up to £20 million through an energy investment fund to support and stimulate renewable and low-carbon energy investments in 2018-19. That will build on the successes of the renewable energy investment fund. The vision of the funding support to include low-carbon technologies alongside renewables will ensure that future investment reflects the wider systems approach and local energy ambitions being encouraged within the strategy. Presiding Officer, today we are also publishing our onshore wind policy statement. We expect onshore wind to play a growing and invaluable role in our transition to a low-carbon future. The support and investment frameworks for onshore wind have fundamentally changed just as the technology is also changing with moves towards larger, more efficient turbines that have made onshore wind highly cost effective. We are determined to help to secure a route to market for new developments through policy changes at a UK-wide level and through our actions of our own. Our planning system already makes positive and practical provision for onshore wind, protecting our landscapes and ensuring that development goes ahead only in the right places. That will remain the case and ensure that onshore wind can continue to power Scotland's low-carbon future, while involving, regenerating and benefiting local communities. Presiding Officer, today's publication marks the next stage of a process rather than a full stop. We are determined to increase public and business engagement on our energy future. People are much more aware, interested and informed about energy issues, not just policy, but the ways in which technological and other changes can give households, businesses and communities more options and more control. As we move ahead, we need to take all of society with us. With the final climate change plan and Scotland's energy efficiency programme, we will develop a new approach, drawing on experts from a range of backgrounds. We will monitor the strategy annually, working closely with the Scottish Energy Advisory Board and its industry leadership groups. We expect to publish the first annual statement in 2019. Presiding Officer, Scotland has world-class skills, expertise and knowledge from the North Sea, oil and gas industry to our growing renewable energy sector, our academic institutions and our smaller start-ups. This strategy recognises and builds on our past, on our achievements to date and on Scotland's capacity for innovation. It confirms the vital role of energy efficiency, of our renewables potential and our desire to develop new local energy systems and to develop a Scottish supply chain to deliver a sustainable energy future. It places consumers and their interests more firmly than ever at the heart of everything that we do, and I commend Scotland's energy strategy to Parliament. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in the statement, and I will allow around 20 minutes for that. Members, please press the request to speak buttons, please, and Alexander Burnett. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank the minister for early sight of his statement today on the Scottish Government's energy strategy. I also note my register of interest, particularly in relation to businesses involved in renewable energy. The publication of this strategy was long overdue, and, disappointingly, the delay does not appear to have resulted in more substance. We welcome the overarching goals for 2050, and the support and recognition of Scotland's island wind, and the UK's Government's role in the contracts for difference process. However, the remainder of the strategy provides no detail of what should be achieved and how between now and 2050. The only indication of further detail is the route map for Scotland's energy efficiency programme, which will not appear until May next year. Of the six pages of strategic priorities, only two Scottish Government actions give financial commitments. The remainder consists of promises of further engagement, further development of aims and mere words of support. Once again, this is a Government strategy, long on rhetoric but short on detail. As it looks like a draft strategy, when will we see some details of targets and actions to be achieved before 2050? Paul Wheelhouse. I want to point out a few things to Mr Burnett through himself. First, this is not delayed at all. We published the draft strategy in January for consultation by end of May. We committed to publishing the strategy by the end of this year, and we have delivered on our commitment to do so. For Mr Burnett to claim that it has been delayed, I can understand the industry's excitement about the strategy being published, because it strongly supports the direction of travel in which the Scottish Government is going. Obviously, we are eager to see the final document, but Mr Burnett is frankly wrong that this is delayed at all. In terms of the detail, I challenge him that this is a process that has involved considerable consultation with the Scottish Energy Advisory Board and the industry, and it is strongly supportive of the list of actions that we have published. We have seen it in concert with the climate change plan, which will be published early in the new year, and it has been developed using the time model. It is a very thorough document that is warmly welcomed by industry, and we understand that the UK Government is looking closely at taking a similar line to the Scottish Government in the approach that we have taken to a whole-system approach here. Just as in many other decisions that we have taken ahead of UK ministers, whether it is on underground coal gasification, I believe, in due course on fracking as well, I think that Mr Burnett will find that the UK Government has plans to take a similar approach to the Scottish Government in this respect. Jackie Baillie I thank the minister for advance copy of his statement. There is much to welcome in the energy strategy, but, as ever, the Government will be judged by its actions. The minister talks about the renewable sector's potential and having an even greater focus on creating new jobs and supply chain opportunities. We agree. It is fair to say that the major investment in renewables so far has not led to a significant number of jobs or supply chain opportunities retained in Scotland. He will be well aware of the recent problems with BiFab, and I welcome the efforts of the workforce, the trade unions and indeed the Scottish Government in ensuring the future of the yards. However, it is clearly the case that the overwhelming majority of the investment in, say, the Beatrice project, to take one example, has gone overseas. Six billion pounds of development was less than 4 per cent of that value being retained in Scottish manufacturing. I say that it is surely not beyond us to retain a greater proportion of work and jobs at home. There is scant detail in the energy strategy that tells us how you will do that, so can the minister tell us now what he will do to ensure that opportunities turn into reality? Paul Wheelhouse I thank Jackie Baillie for the constructive tone in which she has addressed her question. I would certainly reiterate the point that I have said in my statement that we propose to monitor the delivery on it, and I fully accept that we have to deliver on a strategy now that we have it, and to report annually on it. You can judge us as we go ahead, and I am sure that Ms Baillie will do that in her usual robust style, but I look forward to engaging with her on that. She is right to identify that there are some examples of projects that have a low Scottish content—low UK content even—which is frustrating to UK ministers and of course to ourselves and the Scottish Government. There are some very good examples, such as the Novenovations project up on the Blue Mill Sound, which I think was 80 per cent Scottish supply chain—that is an exemplar—but we have to try and make sure that more projects are hitting that kind of milestone if we can achieve that. I am not sure—I do not recognise the full figures that she said in relation to Beatrice. Apologies, Presiding Officer, but we understand that a higher percentage is shared than I think was implied by Jackie Baillie and her response. Of course, the operation and maintenance expenditure will all be local through harbours like WIC, which is being widely regenerated, which is a very welcome development. I want to reassure Ms Baillie and members in the chamber that we are taking the issue of supply chain content extremely seriously. I have chosen to flag up on the strategy as a strong priority for the Government. Through groups like the offshore wind industry group, which has a specific supply chain focus and the increased focus of the oil and gas industry leadership group on supply chain issues, I promise Ms Baillie and others that we are taking ever greater interest in the issue. I am sure that Ms Baillie and others will do so. I have quite a few requests to speak, so if we are fairly succinct, everyone should get in. Richard Lochhead, followed by Donald Cameron. I welcome the minister's statement on the progress on community and locally-owned renewable energy and his comments on the work that is taking place to establish a publicly-owned energy company in Scotland. Can you reassure the chamber that such a company would be the heart of his energy strategy going forward, given that in today's society we still experience unacceptable levels of fuel poverty, and much of the profits and exploits from energy resources in this country go overseas? Therefore, a publicly-owned energy company is one way in which the people of Scotland can get much more benefit from the abundance of energy resources on their own doorstep. Paul Wheelhouse. I thank Mr Lochhead for his question. He hits on an issue that is really important. Clearly, the strategy states our rationale for setting up a new ambition of a new energy company, largely being around the levels of fuel poverty that are in Scottish society, being unacceptably high. In 2016, 26.5 per cent of Scottish households were fuel poor at that point, and many of those fuel poor households are part of a significant group that we know do not switch suppliers, which is proving very sticky in the market that people are not switching for less expensive energy tariffs. We set out the intention in terms of the energy strategy of putting in place our ambition around setting up an energy company vehicle that supports economic development, but, crucially, contributing to tackling the drivers of fuel poverty in Scotland. We will consult on that in the course of 2018, and it will be a formal consultation that will give opportunities to all stakeholders, including members across the chamber, to feed their thoughts into the role and remit of such an organisation. However, central to our concern is around the level of trust that consumers in Scotland have in the energy market and the need to improve our approach to tackling inequality and promoting inclusive growth. I certainly welcome Mr Lockhart's interest. I know that he has had a long-standing interest in this issue, both as a minister and a back-bencher, and I look forward to working with him and others in the chamber to bring this forward into the course. Donald Cameron, followed by Lewis MacDonald. Thank you. Can I refer to renewable energy in my register of interests? Notwithstanding the comments in the statement and in the onshore wind policy statement, does the minister genuinely believe that wild land can be protected whilst at the same time delivering increased onshore wind? Does he recognise the very significant concerns of many environmental groups, as well as a huge number of local communities who feel that our natural landscape has already been compromised by onshore wind? Paul Wheelhouse. I wouldn't have today time to go through the onshore wind policy statement, but we do recognise those issues in the documents. Obviously our twin ambitions of improving our performance in terms of delivering renewable energy have to be taken in the context of protecting important landscapes as best we can and taking full account of those issues in considering planning applications. Both the Cabinet Secretary and I consider section 36 consent for over 50 megawatt projects. It's very much part of our consideration looking at wild land issues. It's not a formal designation, as Mr Cameron knows, but it's also important that we recognise that within the process. That's an improvement that we've made to the planning system in Scotland. I think that it's one that's been warmly welcomed. There are a number of sites that have not entirely been rejected on the grounds of wild land, but it's been a contributory factor to a rejection of a planning application. Equally, we don't want to portray a picture that wild land will be a barrier to development of sensible projects in good locations. It's obviously a matter that we balance against other factors such as economic impact and contributing to tackling climate change, which should be a priority for us all in this chamber. Lewis MacDonald, followed by John Mason. Thank you very much. The minister described six new strategic priorities, all of which I thought are recognised as the existing and, indeed, the well-established energy priorities of his Government. Can he tell us what is new about these priorities and, in particular, what new initiatives he will now take to support investment and innovation across our oil and gas sector? Paul Wheelhouse. I welcome Mr MacDonald's comment. He is right that there is some consistency in terms of some of the priorities that we have taken forward, but we have provided a lot of detail in terms of each of the six priorities, the specific actions that we propose to take forward in relation to them all. I suppose that it's a reassurance that our strategy has been along the right lines, obviously informed by members in this chamber but also by stakeholders outside the chamber, but we're putting some meat on the bones in terms of specific actions that we want to take forward. He mentioned specifically oil and gas, so I just want to respect the point that he's raised there by saying that we are obviously taking forward a new forum that will help us to take forward work with academia and industry around CCS and hydrogen, which is part of enabling the industry to have a part in the low-carbon transition. We want to commission evidence on the impact of technology and market barriers, regulatory barriers around hydrogen and CCUS opportunities in Scotland. We are supporting the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage project at St Fergus in the north-east of Scotland, and we are going to continue to work with the UK Government on oil and gas authority to progress those Scottish carbon capture usage and storage interests. There are a number of measures there, which I can direct Mr McDonnell to. We'll perhaps give him in letter form a full detail there, but I want to reassure him that we are putting meat on the bones in each of these strategic priorities. John Mason, followed by Mark Ruskell. The minister talked about smarter ways of storing energy. I wonder if he could expand at all about how he thinks that we can expand Scotland's capacity for storage of energy. Sorry, Paul Piohouse. Sorry, thank you, Presiding Officer. Mr Mason raises an important point. Storage is critical not just to our own approach, but to that of the UK Government as well, and indeed internationally. It's becoming a greater than ever focus on energy policy in the areas of storage. The application of storage technologies will be strategically important and deliver real benefits for Scotland, and the hint to be placed a great emphasis on it in our strategy. We obviously in Scotland have existing capacity in terms of pumped hydra storage, and that is crucial in that area. Scotland already hosts key facilities such as a crook in the foyers, which are providing a facility for the GB system. These stations can store large amounts of water, releasing that energy when demand on the system is high, and it is crucial for black-start capabilities as well. We also believe that investment in new pumped hydra storage capacity would greatly enhance the flexibility and resilience of our electricity network. We are also working on areas such as smart systems and the UK smart systems and flexibility plan. We believe that regulatory changes are crucial for increasing Scotland's storage capacity in relation to that. We also support off-gem's on-going work-to-facility co-location of storage and renewables obligation and feed-in tariff accredited projects to try and experiment with how we make use of storage to support intermittent sources of energy to become a more reliable feature in terms of both black-start and providing resilience in the system, which I'm convinced that it can do if we get the strategy right. Mark Ruskell, followed by Graham Dey. I welcome this energy strategy, in particular the green box on page 63, which embeds the fracking ban into the energy strategy in the way in which the Green Party requested in this parm just a few weeks ago. I want to ask about waste incineration, minister, because we see 11 waste incinerators that have either been built or are being proposed in Scotland at the moment. This is raising concerns about our ability to meet Scotland's recycling increase in our recycling rate. There are concerns about the impact on communities, and many developers are actually citing the market downturn and the value of recyclers as a reason for why more incinerators should be built. It's clearly that there's a loophole in the waste regulations here, so why is there no reference to energy from waste in the energy strategy and when will the Scottish Government actually review this? Paul Wheelhouse. I certainly recognise a strong community interest in issues such as waste incineration. Our strategy sets out. We're not wanting to be tied to any specific technology. I'm sure that Mr Ruskell, whose very experiences and matters we'll see in the strategy, we're not being specific about which technologies dominate in 2050. Indeed, we set out some scenarios around the greater use of electricity or hydrogen just to present some alternative pathways. When it comes to issues like waste to energy projects, the specific issues that Mark Ruskell raises are ones that I'm happy to engage with, with colleagues such as Roseanna Cunningham who has responsibility in areas of recycling and waste, so I don't want to tread on Ms Cunningham's toes in terms of portfolio responsibilities, but I'm happy to engage with Mr Ruskell to understand better the concerns he has in the communities that he represents and we'll obviously take that in the round. This is a living document. It will be updated as time goes on. We've got a chance for Parliament to influence it as we go forward and we hopefully will report back in the response that I gave to Ms Bailey about performance as we go on as well. It's quite clear I'm not going to get through that, but could we speed up a bit, please, with both questions and answers? Graham Day followed by Liam McArthur. I wonder if the minister might outline the role he sees for offshore wind in the delivery of queen green energy, particularly in the first of fourth and tey. Can I ask him how the Scottish Government will facilitate progress on those developments off the coast of Angus in Fife, so we can recover some of the near three-year delay caused by the failed legal challenge that was mounted against them? Paul Wheelhouse. Focuss in two things. Firstly, we are very strongly supportive of offshore wind development. We believe that it's highly cost-competitive in comparison with nuclear energy. We know that the strike price that's been agreed by the UK Government is around £92.50 per megawatt hour for Hinkley Sea. It's the region of £57.50 per megawatt hour for the latest Murray offshore project. Indeed, the fourth and tey projects are seeking to bid for, in the case of Norton Agwea. There's already a CFD secured, or yet to secure CFD contract for difference, Presiding Officer. That is very important. We expect it to be very competitive projects and this is driving down the cost of electricity for consumers whereas nuclear is potentially pushing it up. We do strongly support it. We are working closely with stakeholders like the RSPB, renewable energy developers themselves and the conservation agencies to ensure that we take a balanced approach to developing this technology. It's vital for our low-carbon future but also protecting and enhancing the wildlife so that we can engage positively with all parties and I'm confident that we can do so. Liam McArthur, followed by Ruth Maguire. I welcome the publication of the strategy and also declare that I am in receipt of both fit and RHI payments. Given its strategic priority, what assurances can the minister give that the upcoming warm homes bill will contain ambitious measures to improve energy efficiency? Given that consumers across the islands and islands, including in Orkney, pay a surcharge of 2p a unit for energy at the same time as having the highest levels of fuel poverty in the country, what steps will he take to make the case for socialising energy costs across the country? Paul Wheelhouse. We are already continuing to commit significant funding for tackling energy efficiency in our housing stock. It's one area where, sadly, comparable schemes in the rest of UK have ceased but the Scottish Government has committed £0.5 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament to supporting the roll-out of seep. Clearly, we are looking at some very innovative and important projects, including Mr MacArthur's constituency through the low-carbon infrastructure transition programme and the seep pilots as well, to ensure that we are developing the right approaches and the right circumstances with taking some of the learning out for a private sector so that we can do risk investment in this area. The £1 billion is estimated to be the cost to bring our housing stock and energy efficiency standards up to the levels that we want to attain by 2030. Clearly, we want to work the private sector. The programmes that we have put in place and which are substantially funded by the Government will benefit Mr MacArthur's constituency and will look to develop supply chain opportunities in areas such as Orkney to support that work at a local level. Ruth Maguire, followed by Maurice Golden. Earlier this year, the First Minister said that he would like to hear about the potential of our seas and can he confirm the Scottish Government's future plans for the technology in Scottish waters? I can certainly concur with Ruth Maguire. High Wind is a very exciting project. Perhaps because of its innovative nature and its origins, we did not secure as much supply chain opportunity in that as we would like, but it is crucially demonstrating that technology in the Scottish context. We are confident that it is already helping to drive further interest in investment in offshore floating wind. The Crown Estate Scotland is already taking forward plans for further licensing rounds up to 2030 and is specifically looking at what provision can be made for both fixed, traditional offshore wind, but now increasingly floating offshore wind which will hopefully benefit many constituencies across the country. I look forward to working with both Crown Estate Scotland and Marine Scotland in doing that. Maurice Golden, followed by Claudia Beamish. What level of feasibility has been undertaken to establish the commercial and operational viability of the state-owned energy company? As I set out in my response to Mr Lockhead considerable work is going on at this time to establish the nature of the challenges we face, it is a challenging thing as I am sure Mr Golden would recognise to create an energy company. We have been doing work extensively with stakeholders but we propose to have a formal consultation in the next year. At this present time we are working on a strategic case which is being developed through private contract to help support the Government in providing the necessary underpinning analysis that would allow us to take forward our work. I hope that in due course we are able to talk more of that with Mr Golden's interests but we are doing the necessary due diligence. It is a very serious issue but I can assure members in this chamber that we are taking it very seriously. At the last question in this statement is Claudia Beamish. Building on the last question can the minister give any more detail on the proposed energy company from the feedback on the strategy consultation particularly how the SNP will help to tackle fuel poverty not least in rural Scotland? In terms of the points that I have made in my statement, we have identified that a number of stakeholders are very supportive of the principle of taking forward this work and indeed it is very welcome that Ofgem has been widely quoted as being supportive of our efforts here. It has only been 71 days that I have had to remind myself since the announcement in October and perhaps it is not reasonable to be expected to provide a blueprint but I want to assure Claudia Beamish and other members in the chamber who have expressed their interests through parliamentary questions and other routes that fuel poverty is a key driver for why we are trying to do this. We obviously have an interest in protecting consumers. There are innovative ideas around price caps and other measures that have been put forward but clearly we think that in isolation that may not be successful at its own right and competition within the market but we will flip back from 98 per cent in 2013 to around 80 per cent today and that is thought to be one means by which downward pressure can be maintained on prices but we are happy to engage with Claudia Beamish as our plans come forward. That concludes questions on the publication of the Scottish Energy Strategy. Apologies to those who wished to ask questions and weren't able to.


Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Dave Moss and I'm a senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. When all of us leave the capital today and get in our cars to go home, we will be tracked. Using automated license plate readers, also known as ALPR, police will scan our license plates to document our location. To give you an idea of the scale, in 2016 and 2017, drivers in Sacramento had their plates scanned 195 million times by police and sheriff departments. That's nearly 270,000 scans per day. That data was uploaded to the cloud where it became searchable by more than 800 agencies around the country. From police in rural Georgia to the US border patrol. The vast majority of this data belongs to people who are not and never will be connected to a criminal investigation. These numbers are not unique. Mass ALPR collection is going on across California. You may well ask, how is this data, which reveals our sensitive driving patterns, protected and controlled? You won't like the answer. In 2015, the California legislature passed SB 34, a fairly basic list of regulations that includes implementing a usage policy that protects civil liberties and privacy. In analyzing records from agencies around the state, we have determined that agencies are often flouting this law. Some haven't promulgated policies, or if they have, they aren't following them. Many aren't conducting audits or keeping the required logs of when the data is searched or shared. Whether you believe ALPR is a useful public safety tool or not, one must recognize the need to ensure that law enforcement are acting as responsible stewards of our confidential, locational data. New legislation may very well be in order, but before we can get there, we need to measure the scope of the problem. That is why EFF supports an impartial state audit, and we urge you to move this audit forward for the sake of every driver in this room and every driver in California.