Ensuring our Future
Mounting evidence indicates that within the next few years, our world will reach the point of consuming more conventionally made cheap oil than we have the capacity to produce, creating an enormous cultural and financial shock. We will then scramble to fill the need with more coal and natural gas. Consuming those resources at the rate necessary to replace cheap oil will deplete those resources by the end of the century and result in added strain on our environment.
While there is no silver bullet solution, there are many smaller but effective steps we can take to mitigate this problem. We can become more efficient as a nation, by using technology to help us consume less electricity in our homes and less fuel in our vehicles. We can shift to more nuclear energy where the fuel is reprocessed. We can continue to develop solar energy, including solar thermal, solar for fuels production and photovoltaics. We can couple these solutions with carbon capture and forestry sciences to help mitigate the effects of global climate change.
How closely are energy and environmental issues related to our way of life? Consider that just before the world economies started to collapse in 2008, energy prices rose significantly. According to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy, market prices for oil, natural gas and coal either eclipsed or reached near-record prices, with oil“exceeding $140 per barrel in early July—record even on an inflation-adjusted basis.”When the world economies went into recession, demand and prices collapsed, with oil prices falling by more than 75 percent by the end of 2008.
The effect on our environment, as noted by dramatic climate change, is equally devastating to our way of life. Before the industrial revolution, every million molecules of air contained about 280 molecules of carbon dioxide. In 2008, the proportion was near 400 molecules per million. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that this increase in carbon dioxide has very likely (more than 90 percent) caused most of the observed increase in global temperatures—between 1-1.6 degrees Fahrenheit—since the middle of the 20th century.
This may seem like a small amount, but research suggests that an average change of just 4 degrees can result in rising sea levels, agricultural yield changes, species extinction and more frequent extreme weather events.
The breadth and depth of faculty expertise here at The Ohio State University makes us uniquely able to impact these energy and environmental challenges. College of Engineering faculty have achieved global leadership in carbon capture; high efficiency photovoltaics; thermoelectric materials modeling and development; membranes for filtration and water purification; novel processes for biofuel production; design of innovative fuel cell, hybrid electric and electric vehicles; high efficiency aeropropulsion; probability risk assessment for nuclear systems; and resilience and sustainability.
Our success is evidenced by the fact that over the last five years, engineering faculty have had more than $50 million in expenditures related to energy and environmental research, coordinated and supported by our Center of Energy, Sustainability and the Environment and the Ohio State Institute of Energy and Environment.
This impact has made its way to our undergraduate programs as well, as our students placed first in the 2009 EcoCAR challenge; designed, built and successfully demonstrated the Buckeye Bullet 2, which set the world land speed record for a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle; and will successfully compete in the Solar Decathlon this October.
Today’s students are well aware of these energy and environment issues. They see how their world has been harmed by pollution. They understand that energy is wasted by inefficiencies in technological advancements. They know that developments in countries like Germany, Japan and China have created the next space race.
Energy and the environment is this generation’s challenge—their Apollo. We are ensuring that they’re ready to meet the challenge.
