Prof. Rajan Gupta
Los Alamos National Laboratory
3:30 PM, April 12, 2006, Rm 128
Energy Security in the 21st century: The need for bold and novel thinking
Energy is the key to development, is the basis of modern technological
societies, and energy security is essential for national and
environmental security. Oil, coal, and gas were the dominant sources
of energy in the 20th century. Deployment of nuclear energy, after a
promising start, got hampered by issues of safety, proliferation, and
safeguards. As we enter the 21st century oil production may have
peaked, gas may follow by 2025 and increasingly these reserves are
concentrated in unstable volatile parts of the world. Hydropower
dominates renewables and its potential has plateaued. Solar and wind
have shown large growth over the last decade but their share is still
tiny. Barring the unlikely miracle of discovery of new gigafields,
growing global competition for oil and gas could threaten energy
security and stall development. The US urgently needs to lead the
efforts to develop and deploy alternate energy sources and storage,
reduce the use of fossil fuels, and find solutions to carbon
sequestration. In anticipation of a "what if such a transition is
forced upon us", this talk examines global energy resources and use,
challenges that are fast becoming apparant, and what we should be
doing to preempt such a scenario. A preview of the talk is available
at
http://t8web.lanl.gov/people/rajan/energy_RG_06.pdf
Coffee and cookies before the presentation at 3:20
pm, and refreshments after the presentation will both be served in
Room 128.