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Is there a global problem with respect to meeting
energy demands?
If so why? If not why not?
If there is a problem what factors may contribute
to the problems?
Where do we start to answer these questions?
Energy and the Future
Prof. D. Venkataraman (DV)
Department of Chemistry
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Contact:dv@chem.umass.edu
Department of Chemistry
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Is There a Energy Problem?
“The question of the possible exhaustion of the world’s oil
supply deserves the gravest consideration. There is
every indication that we are face to face with this possibility”
Scientific American Editorial in 1913
Quoted in “ Current Thinking” by Heather Rogers
In New York Times 2007
“Energy is the single most important challenge facing humanity today”
R. E. Smalley in 2004
Testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, April 27, 2004
“Ours is going to be an administration that makes decisions on science, what's
realistic, common-sense decisions. For example, circumstances have changed
since the campaign. We're now in an energy crisis.”
President George W. Bush in 2001
Answer to Helen Thomas’s Question in a WH press conference on Mar 29, 2001
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Is There a Energy Problem?
“In fact, there is no energy crisis and there is little reason
to expect there will be”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001
In a speech in Toronto, reported by Forbes Magazine
“A slim majority of Americans (53 percent)
say the nation is in the midst of an energy crisis”
Newsweek Poll, 2001
Reported in Newsweek, May 5, 2001
“Everything we think we know about ‘running out of energy’
isn’t just muddled and wrong;it’s exact opposite of truth”
The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste,
And Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy
Peter Huber and Mark Millis, Basic Books 2005
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Global Power Demand
Global Power Consumption (2004)
14 Terawatts (TW)
 14 x 1012 watts
Equivalent to each person leaving thirty 100W bulbs burning for a year
U.S. Energy Consumption, 3.3 TW (2001)
Equivalent to each person leaving hundred 100W bulbs burning for
a year
Source: United Nations, U.S Department of Energy
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Current Sources of Energy
Reconstructed using data from Prof. Nate Lewis’ Website at Caltech
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Known Knowns
Total Global Oil Reserves: 1293 Billion Barrels of Oil
(1 Barrel = 42 gal. or ~159 L)
Current Global Demand : 90 million barrels of oil/day
How long will it last at the current rate? ~40 years
Expected Demand in 2015 : 98 million barrels/day
Expected Demand in 2030: 118 million barrels/day
Global Coal Reserves: Equiv. to 4800 billion barrels of Oil
Uranium Reserves: ~85 years
Thorium Reserves: 2500 years
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Known Unknowns
Would we find large oil/natural gas deposits?
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Petroleum
Quadrillion Btu
U.S. Energy Consumption by Source
SaudiFrom
Arabian
Reserves = 264 billion barrels = 8 years of oil
US Department of Energy
at current demand
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Hydroelectric
Power
 Would increasing the efficiency through technology
innovations lead to decrease in consumption of oil?
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Coal
 How rapidly would Africa and other under-developed
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catch up with developing and developed nations?
Natural Gas
Nuclear
Electric
nations
Power
Wood
0
1650
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
2000
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Unknown Unknowns
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Energy Problem: Is there some truth or is it truthiness?
Total Global Oil Reserves: 1293 Billion Barrels of Oil
(1 Barrel = 42 gal. or ~159 L)
Current Global Demand : 90 million barrels of oil/day
How long will it last at the current rate? ~40 years
Expected Demand in 2015 : 98 million barrels/day
Expected Demand in 2030: 118 million barrels/day
Global Coal Reserves: Equiv. to 4800 billion barrels of Oil
Uranium Reserves: ~85 years
Thorium Reserves: 2500 years
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Nature 1998, 395, (6705), 881-884.
10 TW power needs to be generated from
non-carbon sources by 2050!
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Energy and Environment
Methane
CH4 (g) + H2O (g)  CO2 (g) + 4 H2
Water- Gas Shift Reaction
CO + H2O  CO2 + H2
Projected H2 Demand in 2040
150 Mtons
Current Production
10 Mtons
From Coal
C + H2O  CO + H2
C + 2 H2O  CO2 + 2H2
1 ton of H2 = 5 tons of CO2
“ We are facing a planetary emergency”
Former Vice President Al Gore
Senate Committee on Environment and Public
Works, Mar 21,2007
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Global Warming
“I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem
we must wrestle with”
Michael Griffin
Former NASA Administrator in an interview on
NPR
May 30, 2007
“If polar ice caps melt, then we will have more
water to make Tang”
Stephen Colbert
On the Cobert Report, Jun 06, 2007
Carbon-based fuels used to industrialize two nations with
> 2 billion people?
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Energy and Economics
Reconstructed using data from Prof. Nate Lewis’ Website at Caltech
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Energy and Politics
Source: BBC News
Marshall Ramsey, Jackson Mississippi, The Clarion Ledger,
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Oil, Energy and Politics
From Wikipedia Commons, Wiki entry on ‘Oil Reserves’
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The E3G Problem: Energy Demand, Economics, Environment and
Geopolitics
Economics
Affordable
Energy
Environment
Energy
Demand
Geopolitics
Non-uniform Distribution
of Resources
Climate Change
Nuclear Waste
Containment
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E3G Problem: Conventional Sources
Scenario 1:
Drill or ‘Explore’ more oil wells
Use Coal for Primary
Built more nuclear plants
Less dependence on foreign oil
More energy security
More greenhouse gas emissions
Generation of nuclear waste
Global nuclear proliferation
Source:http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v33_2_00/research.htm
Need methods to sequester carbon dioxide!
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E3G Problem:Scenario with Alternate Energy
Scenario 2:
Develop Renewable Fuels
Tap Wind Energy
Tap Solar Energy
Tap Geothermal Energy
Less dependence on foreign oil
More energy security
No greenhouse gas emissions
Environmentally Friendly
Not affordable
Low efficiencies
Need Efficient Affordable Renewable Energy Sources
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Emerging Problem: Availability of Fresh Water
WE3G Problem: Water + Energy Demand + Economics + Geopolitics
Source: United Nations and International Water Management Institute
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Need of the Hour
A well-thought long range policy based on facts and
a political will to implement the policy
Economics
Environment
Public awareness of the emerging problems
Increase in workforce on
renewable energy/water problems
Energy
Demand
Increased research funding for renewable energy/water
problems
Water
Geopolitics
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E3G Problem: Renewable Energy Solutions at UMass Amherst
Solar Energy (MassCREST)
Solar Insolation = ~340 W/m2
Total Land Area = 150,000,000 sq. km
US Area = 9, 826,630 sq. km = 3341 TW
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What
a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil
and coal run out before we tackle that.”
Thomas Edison
In 1931 to Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone
From Current Thinking by Heather Rogers in
New York Times, June 3, 2007
Source: Basic Research Energy Needs for Solar Energy Utilization, US Department of Energy
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E3G Problem: Renewable Energy Solutions at UMass Amherst
1 Joule = 1 Watt
radiated
1 secHydrogen (MassCREST)
Explore
Other
FuelsinLike
237 kJ = 237 kW in 1 sec
H2(g)
+H
½ for
O21(g)
I can
H2Oburn
(l) 2370
+ Energy
If I burn
2g of
sec,
hundred watt
2
bulbs for 1 sec Available Energy at 298K = 237.15 kJ/mol
Hydrogen Production: How to break H-O-H bonds at lower temperatures?
Hydrogen Storage: How to reversibly convert H- to H2?
Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA