Physics Colloquium, January 31, 2006

Energy Security in the 21st century: The need for bold and novel thinking

Rajan Gupta

T-8, Los Alamos National Laboratory

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 apparent, and what we should be doing to preempt such a scenario.

A preview of the talk

4:00 p.m., Robert Smith Seminar Room, 1080 PRB

Reception at 3:45 p.m., Atrium, PRB