The Future of Energy

Yesterday, I went to a fascinating series of talks as part of "One World Week" here at Warwick. The event was called "The Future of Energy: A Power Struggle". The speakers  included heads of large energy companies, a lawyer specialising in energy and an American researcher into energy systems.

It was really interesting to see where the emphasis was put in the different talks, in terms of the "future energy mix". For example, Kevin McCollough (NPower) thought that nuclear was an inevitable part of our future, whereas David Hone (Shell) focussed on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a technology to push, so that we can keep using the current fossil fuels that we do currently. Adrian Gault (Committee for Climate Change) suggested that it would be very difficult to meet our emissions targets for 2050 without significant bioenergy and CCS contribution, with all the new cars sold in 2030 being electrically driven. Mark Jacobson (Stanford) put forward an ambitious model based on Wind, Water and Sun (WWS) which the rest of the panel thought was too lofty a goal.
There were a few key facts which I jotted down during the talks, as I thought they were particularly striking or surprising. I've put them below, just as a series of soundbites from the different speakers. The talks were filmed, so hopefully they will go online at the address above at some point and you can see the quotes in context. The quotes may well not be word for word, but the numbers are correct (to my knowledge).


" An average of £1 trillion per year is required to be invested in infrastructure worldwide."
David Elmes  [source]

"£200 billion is required in the UK to update our infrastructure in the next 10 to 15 years. That money has to come from somewhere."
Kevin McCollough [source]

"There are over 400 nuclear reactors worldwide. This technology is an inevitable part of our future energy mix."
Kevin McCollough

"The limit is about a trillion tonnes of carbon"
David Hone

"Nuclear was not recommended as it still created 9-25 times more pollution per kWh than wind, mainly from mining and refining of uranium and the opportunity cost emissions associated with the time lag between planning and operation of the nuclear plant compared with a wind farm."
Mark Jacobson

"CCS coal still creates 50 times more CO2 than wind per kWh"
Mark Jacobson

"Switching over to electric cars reduces the power demand by around 32% (USA: 37%). This is because electric cars are ~80% efficient, whereas gasoline cars are 17-20% efficient"
Mark Jacobson

"His [Jacobson's] work is mostly theoretical."
Kevin McCollough

Overall, Mark Jacobson stole the show for me, despite being an ocean away (giving his talk via Skype!). His enthusiasm overshadowed the slightly more realistic and short-term views of the UK business and government panel. There is value in both sides: we need people thinking about keeping the lights on for the next few years and slowly changing over to different sources, but it is nice to think about a full "future model" for energy as well. The kind of sky blue thinking that Prof. Jacobson and his group at Stanford are doing is the same as those who decided to set up the first national electric grid or fly to the moon. It's good to see that this ambitious attitude is still alive.

UPDATE: I've got into touch with Prof. Jacobson and he's pointed me towards this page,which gives a clearer indication of his group's plan. Enjoy!