Faculty of Science

35th Annual HUGGINS SCIENCE SEMINAR features Daniel G. Nocera

Personalized Energy for 1 (x6 Billion): A Solution to the Global Energy Challenge

Wednesday, September 25/2013  7:00pm Huggins Science Hall Room#10

The supply of secure, clean, sustainable energy
is arguably the most important scientific and technical challenge facing
humanity in the 21st century. Rising living standards of a growing world
population will cause global energy consumption to double by mid-century and
triple by the end of the century. Even in light of unprecedented conservation,
the additional energy needed is simply not attainable from long discussed
sources – these include nuclear, biomass, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric. The
global appetite for energy is simply too much. Petroleum-based fuel sources
(i.e., coal, oil and gas) could be increased. However, deleterious consequences
resulting from external drivers of economy, the environment, and global
security dictate that this energy need be met by renewable and sustainable
sources. The dramatic increase in global energy need is driven by 3 billion
low-energy users in the non-legacy world and by 3 billion people yet to inhabit
the planet over the next half century. The capture and storage of solar energy
at the individual level – personalized solar energy – drives inextricably
towards the heart of this energy challenge by addressing the triumvirate of
secure, carbon neutral and plentiful energy. This talk will place the scale of
the global energy issue in perspective and then discuss how personalized energy
(especially for the non-legacy world) can provide a path to a solution to the
global energy challenge

Daniel G. Nocera is the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University and is a leading scientist in the realm of energy conversion in biology and chemistry. The focus of his work has been to create the science to address one of the most important societal problems — namely, providing energy for the world’s poorest people and cultivating sustainable energy supplies for the future. In that vein, his research group recently accomplished a solar fuels process that captures many of the elements of photosynthesis and they have now translated this science to produce the artificial leaf— a device that is considered a milestone in the effort to create sustainable energy.

EVERYONE WELCOME TO ATTEND.

RECEPTION TO FOLLOW