Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2013 Symposium (2014)
Chapter: Energy: Reducing Our Dependence on Fossil Fuels Introduction--Halil Berberoglu and Stuart Thomas
Energy:
Reducing Our Dependence on Fossil Fuels
HALIL BERBEROGLU
University of Texas at Austin
STUART THOMAS
DuPont
Fossil fuels have served humans well over the past two centuries, improving quality of life and advancing civilization. But we have become overly dependent on this singular energy inheritance that took millions of years to accumulate and are consuming the available reserves at an accelerating pace. A number of serious issues are now associated with this dependence, affecting energy security, national security, air quality, and global climate change. The objective of this session was to provide a broad perspective on these issues and to present and promote technical solutions for diversifying fuel production infrastructure to meet the energy needs of a growing population.
Laura Díaz Anadón (Harvard University) opened with a historical perspective on the development and adoption of fuel resources and then surveyed technical, economic, environmental, social, and policy considerations as well as challenges for technology research and innovation. The second speaker, Joyce Yang (Department of Energy), reviewed advances and hurdles in biofuel production technologies, with a focus on biomass feedstock and processes. In addition to logistical factors (e.g., transportation, infrastructure), she considered these developments in the context of support from federal policies and funding. Willem Rensink (Shell USA) followed with an industry perspective on the need to adapt infrastructure and technology to achieve scale-up and economies of scale in biofuel production from biomass.1 The session’s final speaker, Rachel Segalman (University of California, Berkeley), reviewed artificial photosynthesis research focused on
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1 Mr. Rensink’s presentation is not included in this volume.
