Review: Energy: Science, Policy, and the Pursuit of Sustainability (original) (raw)

Energy in the Age of Sustainability

Meeting global energy needs in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way is one of the grand challenges of our time. While the use of energy based on fossil fuels has enabled great advances and an increase in the standard of living, it has also brought us to the brink of an environmental catastrophe. As a society, we will need to develop strategies that integrate renewable and sustainable energy sources. We must also engage and partner with policy makers in order to articulate an energy policy that is not only scientifically and technically sound, but also one that the global society will accept. The energy challenge is the type of problem that we, as a global society, have never faced before and we need decisive scientific and political leadership to address it. We must accept the challenge and insist that our leaders articulate a global energy policy capable of meeting such a challenge. (Image created by Alice Muhlback and used with permission.) E nergy: its mere sound evokes a broad range of reactions depending on our experience, education, political affiliation , and many other factors. The word is part of our everyday lexicon in terms of the cost of energy (when we actually mean the cost of fuel), global availability of energy and the inevitable geo-political analysis, the environmental consequences of energy use, carbon footprint, global warming, emerging economies, population growth...you get the idea. Energy is part of virtually every aspect of our lives, local and global. Energy is also a subject of big numbers such as "quads" (quadrillion BTUs), Terawatt-years, and gigatons (usually of generated CO 2). As chemists, actually as citizens (better yet, as informed citizens), we need to grapple with these concepts and the magnitude of these numbers to get a realistic assessment of what they mean and how our collective behavior affects them and the future of our planet. (See Figure 1.) Energy availability, in a reliable and inexpensive way, has been key to technological advances and innovation, which, in turn, have enhanced our standard of living. One can readily identify and acknowledge that developments such as the steam engine, the incandescent lamp, the internal combustion engine and the computer, just to name a few, have transformed the way we live and interact with each other. All of them have a common thread of depending on an energy source, albeit different in each case, to accomplish a particular function. This brings us to the description of energy in terms closer to those associated with thermodynamics, mainly as the ability to do work. So the question is, how are all of these issues interrelated, and what role do we, collectively, play?

Energy in the Context of Sustainability

Daedalus, 2013

Today and in the coming decades, the world faces the challenge of meeting the needs of a still-growing human population, and of doing it sustainably – that is, without affecting the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Energy plays a pivotal role in this challenge, both because of its importance to economic development and because of the myriad interactions and influences it has on other critical sustainability issues. In this essay, we explore some of the direct interactions between energy and other things people need, such as food, water, fuel, and clean air, and also some of its indirect interactions with climate, ecosystems, and the habitability of the planet. We discuss some of the challenges and potential unintended consequences that are associated with a transition to clean, affordable energy as well as opportunities that make sense for energy and other sustainability goals. Pursuing such opportunities is critical not just to meeting the energy needs of nine bil...

Energy and Environment Perspectives

The inevitable increase in population and the economic development that must necessarily occur in many countries have serious implications for the environment, because energy generation processes (e.g., generation of electricity, heating, cooling, or motive force for transportation vehicles and other uses) are polluting and harmful to the ecosystem.

Resource letter PSEn-1: Physics and society: Energy

2007

University Press, Oxford, 2003). These textbooks for an undergraduate course at the United Kingdom's Open University address the question of supplying energy cleanly, safely, and sustainably in view of increasing population, increasing industrialization, and global warming. The first volume covers a wide variety of renewable energy systems. The second volume covers all primary energy sources and their associated technologies, the physical forms of energy, energy economics, environmental impacts, and the sustainability of each major energy technology. There are no exercises or problems. (E) 2. Energy: Physical, Environmental, and Social Impact, G.J. Aubrecht (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliff, NJ, 3rd edition 2006). This book's three major parts deal with fossil, nuclear, and solar energy resources and their consequences. There are individual chapters on overpopulation, energy efficiency, mineral resources, recycling, fossil-fuel pollution, transportation, climate change, nuclear-power risks, and the energy cost of agriculture. The final chapter presents the book's bottom line: alarm bells of overpopulation and overexploitation are sounding worldwide. Each chapter includes a list of key terms, a summary, problems, and questions. (E) 3. Energy: Its Use and the Environment, R.A. Hinrichs and M. Kleinbach (Thomson Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA, 4th edition 2006). This book covers all the major energy resources, transmission, efficiency, and environmental effects. Each chapter includes worked examples, a reading list, questions, numerical problems, and hands-on activities. (E) 4. Energy and Society: An Introduction, H.H. Schobert (Taylor & Francis, New York, 2002). This book is best described as a history of technology. Its 37 chapters include human energy, fire, waterwheels, wind energy, steamelectric power, transportation, six chapters on fossil fuels including separate chapters on diesel and jet fuel and gasoline, three chapters on nuclear power including fusion, chapters on environmental effects, and three chapters on renewables (biomass, wind, solar). There are no exercises or problems. (E) 5. Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options, J.

Sustainable Development: Energy Matters

The lecture deals with the role of energy in sustainable development of human society, and related energy issues. Social, cultural and technological development of human society is intertwined with the discovery and development of energy sources. The journey of development began over a million years ago with the discovery of fire which continues unabated even today needing ever more energy to fuel the inflationary cycle of development. In the first part of the lecture the role of energy in development is reviewed in relation to the development of energy sources and their use. In the second part of the lecture energy consumption for various regions of the world is analyzed and energy indicators of development are identified. Vast disparity between the developed and developing countries is reflected in their energy consumption patterns. As developing countries strive to join the ranks of developed countries, the developed ones endeavor not only to sustain their development but also to achieve higher levels of the quality of life for their people. This together with the growing population has led to an ever increasing consumption of energy which at present is supplied by non-renewable sources, predominantly fossil fuels. This in turn has led to degradation of our atmosphere, land and water. The third part of the lecture emphasizes on the need to develop new and renewable sources of clean energy which shall have the potential to sustainably supply the energy needs of future while preserving our environment. The concluding section of the lecture focuses on energy sustainability and security for the generations to come.

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY REQUIRED FOR THE WORLD

This article aims to present what the future would require for the production and consumption of energy in the world based on the use of clean and renewable energy. To avoid the catastrophic future that is predicted for humanity resulting from global warming, it is imperative, among other measures, to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by replacing the current global energy matrix based fundamentally on fossil fuels (coal , oil and natural gas) and in nuclear energy, by another global energy matrix structured based on renewable energy resources (hydroelectricity, biomass, solar energy, wind energy and hydrogen) to avoid or minimize global warming and, consequently, the occurrence of catastrophic changes in the Earth's climate. Regardless of the various solutions that may be adopted to eliminate or mitigate the causes of the greenhouse effect, the most important action is, without a doubt, the adoption of measures that contribute to the elimination or reduction of the consumption of fossil fuels in energy production, as well as such as the more efficient use of energy in transport, industry, agriculture and cities (residences and commerce), given that the use and production of energy are responsible for 57% of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity. In this sense, the implementation of a sustainable energy system is essential. A sustainable energy system will only be possible if, in addition to abandoning fossil fuels, energy efficiency is also greatly improved.

Introduction to Research Handbook on Energy and Society: why study energy and society?

Research Handbook on Energy and Society

Unprecedented, climate breakdown, ecosystem collapse. These are some of the terms used to denote the risks to all life on Earth from humanity's intensive exploitation of fossil fuels for energy, and the associated degradation of nature. In affluent industrialised societies, most people take access to energy for granted; they have little knowledge of sources, production systems or related injustices and environmental impacts. The extensive and intensive technologies of electricity, gas and oil are woven into working, resting, socialising and travelling, so that they have become part of the background to life. Energy is consumed even while most people are sleeping: freezers and fridges operate; lights switch on and off; industrial processes run; data centres and networks operate, along with all of the other service infrastructures of consumer societies. Fossil fuels have been fundamental to the development of such societies, bringing benefits from mass production of goods and services, health and welfare systems, greater scope for self-determination and increased life expectancy. But their intensive exploitation is causing major changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate systems, as well as polluting the air, and degrading land, soils, water sources and oceans. Before the eighteenth century industrial revolution, concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs), measured as carbon dioxide (CO 2) equivalent, were around 280 parts per million. Dependence on fossil fuels for energy since then is associated with rapidly increasing concentrations to over 400 parts per million. This is estimated to be the highest level in three million years (for detailed data see Ritchie and Roser, 2020; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2020). Increased concentrations of greenhouse gases produce global warming; the ten warmest years on record have occurred since 1998. The impacts on the climate system are already evident in increasing frequency and severity of droughts, heat waves, storms and crop failures, as well as sea level rise and loss of glaciers. Unchecked, the expectation is that whole regions will become barely habitable, resulting in widespread social disruptions, diseases and widening inequalities, associated with intensifying wars over food, water and all resources, major flooding and loss of coastal cities, and mass extinction of many species (UNEP, 2020). The science is clear; we need urgently to end dependence on fossil fuels and to transform ways of life in affluent countries, in order to avoid the worst climate disasters, and to have hope for future generations. Valuable research on clean energy, mainly led by engineering sciences, has been done, and has been instrumental in significant technological innovations. But systemic change at the speed and scale needed to mitigate risks of catastrophic climate change is lacking. This Research Handbook on Energy and Society adopts the perspective that technological innovations are insufficient to solve societal problems. In order to transform energy systems, with the aim of avoiding the worst impacts of climate disruption, we need to understand processes of societal change, and the interdependencies of technology and society. In the book, international contributors analyse the interactions between energy systems and societies over time,