David von Hippel, Ph.D., is an independent consultant and Nautilus Institute Senior Associate based in Eugene, Oregon. His work with Nautilus has centered on energy and environmental issues and systems in Asia, and particularly in Northeast Asia. He was recently the technical leader of the Reducing the Risk of Nuclear Weapons Use In Northeast Asia (NU-NEA) project, a three-year effort aimed at identifying and elaborating plausible nuclear use/nuclear conflict “use cases” in East Asia, evaluating the impacts of those use cases, and developing and evaluating potential policies that could be implemented to reduce the likelihood of nuclear weapons use. From 2017 through 2021 he co-led a multi-nation Regional Energy Security Project for Nautilus Institute, centered around energy paths analysis in each of the countries of Northeast Asia, and the related East Asia Science and Security Network and follow-on projects that focused on potential nuclear materials issues in the region and on the impacts of accidents and attacks at nuclear energy facilities. Also with Nautilus, he has done extensive analyses of the patterns of fuels use and prospects for energy efficiency and energy sector redevelopment in the DPRK.
Since 2013, David has focused on climate and disaster resilience assessments and other analyses of energy systems and infrastructure under a changing climate for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other clients. David works and has worked for many agencies in addition to Nautilus and ADB, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the Global Green Growth Institute, USAID, the Stockholm Environment Institute—US (Boston, MA), the Center for Climate Strategies, and many others on a broad range of energy and environmental topics in dozens of countries. Many of the projects completed during David’s 35-plus years in the field have involved analysis of renewable and other energy systems for electricity generation and meeting other energy needs. Development and evaluation of economy-wide future energy scenarios and integration of climate change issues in energy systems planning, and capacity building in same, has also been a major focus.
Dr. von Hippel holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Energy and Resources from the University of California-Berkeley, and M.A. and B.S. degrees from the University of Oregon.
David can be contacted at: dvonhip@igc.org