Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Mr. Tillerson may have informed you about his company's Global Climate and Energy Project
at Stanford University. Exxon is now funding research into lowering the cost and increasing the ef-
ficiency of solar photovoltaic devices, increasing the efficiency of fuel cells, increasing the energy
capacity of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, designing higher-efficiency engines that produce
lower emissions, making biodiesel fuel from bacteria, and improving carbon capture and storage.
This is all admirable, if it is genuine and not just window dressing. Here's a reality check in that
regard: Exxon is investing about ten million dollars a year in the Global Climate and Energy Pro-
ject—an amount that almost exactly equals Mr. Tillerson's personal compensation in 2010. Ten mil-
lion dollars also equals about three hours' worth of Exxon profits from last year. You tell me if you
think that is a sensibly proportionate response to the problems of climate change and oil depletion
from the world's largest energy company.
Even if Exxon's investments in a sustainable energy future were of an appropriate scale, they
come late in the game. We are still in a bind. That's because there is no magic-bullet energy source
out there that will enable world energy supplies to continue to grow as fossil fuels dwindle. Re-
newable energy is viable and necessary, and we should be doing far more to develop it. But solar,
wind, geothermal, tidal, and wave power each have limits and drawbacks that will keep them from
supplying energy as cheaply and as abundantly as we would like. Our bind is that we have built our
existing transport infrastructure and food systems around energy sources that are becoming more
problematic with every passing year, and we have no Plan B in place. This means we will probably
have less energy in the future, rather than more.
Again, I am addressing my words especially to you students. This will be the defining reality of
your lives. Whatever field you go into—business, finance, engineering, transportation, agriculture,
education, or entertainment—your experience will be shaped by the energy transition that is now
under way. The better you understand this, the more effectively you will be able to contribute to
society and make your way in the world.
We are at one of history's great turning points. During your lifetime you will see world changes
more significant in scope than human beings have ever witnessed before. You will have the oppor-
tunity to participate in the redesign of the basic systems that support our society—our energy sys-
tem, food system, transport system, and financial system. I say this with some confidence, because
our existing energy, food, transport, and financial systems can't be maintained under the circum-
stances that are developing—circumstances of fossil fuel depletion and an unstable climate. As a
result, what you choose to do in life could have far greater implications than you may currently
realize.
Over the course of your lifetime society will need to solve some basic problems:
• How to grow food sustainably without fossil fuel inputs and without eroding topsoil or drawing
down increasingly scarce supplies of fresh water;
How
to
support
seven
billion
people
(and
counting)
without
depleting
natural
re-
sources—including forests, fish, and finite stocks of minerals and metals; and
• How to reorganize our financial system so that it can continue to perform its essential func-
tions—reinvesting savings into socially beneficial projects—in the context of an economy that is
stable or shrinking due to declining energy supplies, rather than continually growing.
Each of these core problems will take time, intelligence, and courage to solve. This is a challenge
suitable for heroes and heroines, one that's big enough to keep even the greatest generation in his-
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