The public lecture "The Global
Energy Challenge"
Energy is the life-blood of the modern world. According to the Energy
Information Administration, global energy consumption is expected
to grow by about 70% in the coming 25 years. Much of this growth is
driven by developing countries, whose inhabitants seek a standard of
living that more closely resembles that of the western world. Petroleum
provides about 40% of the world-wide energy demand, and, although
estimates vary, oil production is expected to peak in the relatively
near-future. The combination of increased energy demand and declining
petroleum supply can be a threat to political stability and is likely
to lead to a shift towards coal and non-conventional oil. This will
further increase CO2 emissions and thus accelerate global warming and
life-altering regional climate changes.
Many actions can be taken now to begin to reduce energy demand,
diversify our energy portfolio, and reduce costs of energy supplies,
with lower greenhouse gas emissions. This will not happen, however,
without a plan and the willingness to implement such a plan. Public
engagement and education in dealing with the pressing challenges and
opportunities are the key to getting started now. In order to foster
such engagement I have prepared the presentation "The Global Energy
Challenge." I developed this
presentation while working for the Global Climate and Energy Project
at Stanford University.
This Powerpoint presentation is freely available and aims to be
appealing and understandable for a broad audience. The comment-boxes in
the Powerpoint presentation give ideas for a narrative. The
presentation sketches the tension between increased energy demand, peak
oil, the associated challenge in curbing climate change, and actions
that we can take towards a sustainable energy system. The presentation
gives ideas for positive action that teachers, students, businessmen,
consumers, and citizens can take, and it conveys that the challenges
related to our energy supply come with career opportunities, a point
that is especially appealing to a young audience.
I am available to give this
presentation. Please let
me
know if you would
like me to present this material in your
department/company/institute/club;
I am happy to tell my story and motivate others to join this effort.
Other than travel expenses I do not charge anything. My biographical sketch
and an abstract are at the bottom of this page.
Alternatively, you are free to download the presentation and present it
yourself, this could actually be a great way to become involved. Click here
or on the image above to download the latest version. The URL is
http://www.mines.edu/~rsnieder/Global_Energy.ppt
You are free
to use this presentation for education and outreach, and should feel
free to modify it. If you do modify it, in any other ways than
shortening it, then please replace my name on the title page by your
own.
Here are some tips for presenting this material:
1) In its present form, there is too much material for a single
presentation of about 45 minutes. You will need to delete material. For
most general audiences the story of the seven wedges is too
complicated.
2) It is important to be positive. I started out as the
doomsday-prophet when giving earlier versions of this lecture. This is
not effective; people go in instant denial and turn themselves away.
Also, it is important to empower people to make a difference. Let the
emphasis be on challenges and opportunities, and give people ideas what
they can do. Once they get involved doing some small things, they will
discover other ways to make a difference.
3) I added notes in the comment box for each slide of the Powerpoint
presentation that may help speakers
see the narrative of this presentation. Take a look at these notes,
because the slides alone may not contain enough clues what the
narrative is.
The presentation is aimed at a general audience. Here are my
experiences and ideas seeking a venue for this presentation.
1) I have given the presentation to service clubs. There
are, of course, many other groups where you could give your
presentation (local libraries, church, home-owners association,
girl(boy)-scouts, etc.). Here are websites with club
locators for the
Rotary Club and Kiwani's:
To be honest, just approaching clubs has not been the most efficient
way to establish contact. Using
personal contacts is the most effective way to set up lectures.
2) High school teachers are easy to interest in this material, but they
face the problem that they often have to teach in lockstep, and are
overwhelmed with everything they need to do. Identifying teachers
that are truly motivated is the most important ingredient to success
for
delivering this material at high-schools. Again, using personal
contacts works best.
3) I have had good experiences teaching at community colleges. This is
a great way to reach large groups of students. Teachers of
general science classes are often grateful when a class is taken off
their hands, and since the topic of energy interests them, they are
interested to
have this material presented in their class.
4) When you teach at a university, don't forget your own students. This
is a great topic for a general science class, a earth-system class, or
a departmental seminar.
As you are giving this seminar, you will discover weak
points, and are
likely to have interesting ideas for improving it. I value any type of
feedback that you may have. I am also interested in ways you may see to
engage colleagues and professional societies to help deliver this
lecture.
There is a wealth of information on energy available on the internet. I
have created a website with links to sources that I found particularly
interesting or useful. You can access this information from:
Please join me in this important activity. I am sure you will find it
rewarding!
Roel Snieder
W.M. Keck Distinguished Professor of Basic Exploration Science
Colorado School of Mines
1500 Illinois Street
Golden, CO 80401-1887
USA
tel. +1.303.273.3456
fax +1.303.273.3478
email rsnieder@mines.edu
http://www.mines.edu/~rsnieder
Biographical sketch of Roel Snieder
Roel Snieder holds the
Keck Foundation Endowed
Chair of Basic Exploration Science at the Colorado School of
Mines. He received in 1984 a Masters degree in Geophysical Fluid
Dynamics from Princeton University, and in 1987 a Ph.D. in seismology
from Utrecht University. In 1993 he was appointed as professor of
seismology at Utrecht University, where from 1997-2000 he was appointed
as Dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences. In 1997 he was a visiting
professor at the Center for Wave Phenomena. Roel served on
the editorial boards of Geophysical Journal International, Inverse
Problems, and Reviews of Geophysics. In 2000 he was elected as
Fellow of the American Geophysical Union for important
contributions to geophysical inverse theory, seismic tomography, and
the theory of surface waves. He is author of
the textbooks "A
Guided Tour of Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences"
and "The Art of Being a
Scientist" that are published by Cambridge University Press. Since
2000 he is a
firefighter in Genesee Fire Rescue.
Abstract
A stable and sustainable energy supply is one of the major issues
of this Century. World-energy demand is expected to increase by
about 70% in the coming 20 years, while the production of
petroleum — our main source of energy — is likely to
peak in this period. The combination of rising demand and
declining production of conventional oil raises the question:
“What is the plan?” In the absence of a plan for a sustainable
energy supply, coal and non-conventional oil are likely to become
the main source of energy. These energy sources lead to much higher CO2
emissions per unit energy than than the sources currently used.
Combined with the expected increase in energy use, this
aggravates global warming. We face the challenge to develop
a strategy to develop a sustainable energy system with
acceptable environmental impact. In my presentation I give
examples what one can do as a teacher, student, consumer,
businessman and as a citizen to make progress towards a more
sustainable energy system.