[E&S-seminars] Prof. N. Lewis (Caltech) Seminar

[Gretchen Kappelmann]

THE LABORATORY FOR ENERGY
AND THE ENVIRONMENT (LFEE)
AND
THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
PRESENT

Nathan S. Lewis
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
California Institute of Technology

Scientific Challenges
in the Development of Sustainable Energy
Thursday, May 27, 2004
11:00 am
66-110


Please contact Gretchen for information or appointments.
(guidess at mit.edu or 617 253 9385) 

This presentation will describe and evaluate the challenges, both 
technical, political, and economic, involved with widespread adoption 
of renewable energy technologies. First, we estimate the available 
fossil fuel resources and reserves based on data from the World 
Energy Assessment and World Energy Council. In conjunction with the 
current and projected global primary power production rates, we then 
estimate the remaining years of supply of oil, gas, and coal for use 
in primary power production. We then compare the price per unit of 
energy of these sources to those of renewable energy technologies 
(wind, solar thermal, solar electric, biomass, hydroelectric, and 
geothermal) to evaluate the degree to which supply/demand forces 
stimulate a transition to renewable energy technologies in the next 
20-50 years. Secondly, we evaluate the greenhouse gas buildup 
limitations on carbon-based power consumption as an unpriced 
externality to fossil-fuel consumption, considering global population 
growth, increased global gross domestic product, and increased energy 
efficiency per unit of globally averaged GDP, as produced by the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A greenhouse gas 
constraint on total carbon emissions, in conjunction with global 
population growth, is projected to drive the demand for carbon-free 
power well beyond that produced by conventional supply/demand pricing 
tradeoffs, at potentially daunting levels relative to current 
renewable energy demand levels. Thirdly, we evaluate the level and 
timescale of R&D investment that is needed to produce the required 
quantity of carbon-free power by the 2050 timeframe, to support the 
expected global energy demand for carbon-free power. Fourth, we 
evaluate the energy potential of various renewable energy resources 
to ascertain which resources are adequately available globally to 
support the projected global carbon-free energy demand requirements. 
Fifth, we evaluate the challenges to the chemical sciences to enable 
the cost-effective production of carbon-free power on the needed 
scale by 2050 timeframe. Finally we discuss the effects of a change 
in primary power technology on the energy supply infrastructure and 
discuss the impact of such a change on the modes of energy 
consumption by the energy consume and additional demands on the 
chemical sciences to support such a transition in energy supply.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/environmental-seminars/attachments/20040521/697fa8c6/attachment.htm