[E&E seminars] Seminar on Energy on Monday, March 5.

[Karuna Mohindra]

LMP SEMINAR
Monday, March 5, 2007


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“ENERGY QUALITY, NET ENERGY AND THE COMING ENERGY TRANSITION”



Cutler J. Cleveland, Boston University
Department of Geography and Center for Energy and Environmental Studies,
Boston University,675 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215,
phone: (617) 353-3083, fax: (617) 353-5986;
email: cutler at bu.edu

Abstract
Global oil production will peak in the coming 
decades, followed by natural gas and coal. These 
turning points constitute an unprecedented 
watershed in human history. This talk focuses on 
some of the critical challenges we face in the 
transition from conventional fossil fuels to 
alternative sources, particularly solar energy. 
Conventional wisdom holds that technical 
improvements in the efficiency of energy end use 
and the shift towards a dot-com economy will 
de-couple energy use and economic well-being. But 
the relationship is much more complex than this 
simple formulation. Most analyses underestimate 
the important quality differences between fossil 
fuels and solar energy and their economic 
implications. Quality in this case is measured by 
the amount of economic output generated per unit 
of energy input. The lower quality nature of 
solar energy is reflected in part by its energy 
density, and its lower energy return on 
investment, the amount of energy delivered by a 
system compared to the energy used in the 
delivery process.  When quality differences are 
accounted for, the relationship between energy 
use and economic activity is very strong.


Time:  12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Place:  Room 33-116
Pizza social to follow in 35-135
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