Energy Challenges: Why There Isn’t an Easy Solution
New Transportation Technologies
A large portion of the oil produced globally is directly processed into transportation fuels like gasoline and diesel. These fuels dominate the transportation industry because they combine reliability, affordability and performance. But, large swings in gasoline prices at the pump during the past few years are growing symptoms of this century’s energy challenge. In order to meet surging demand over the next 50 years, alternatives to these transportation technologies are vital.
Among the alternatives being considered is equipping vehicles with the ability to consume clean and affordable natural gas. Already a proven technology, many challenges still remain—pipelines, service stations, and vehicles must all be adapted to accommodate the fuel. It will also be important to develop cutting-edge electric cars to offset the demand for gasoline and diesel fuel. Eventually, refueling your car may be as easy as plugging it into to an electrical outlet in your garage. On the distant frontier of alternative transportation technologies are novel ideas such as the use of algae or other micro-organisms to convert the sun’s energy into liquid fuel that can be used like oil. Another emerging technology involves hydrogen-powered cars that transform hydrogen into electricity. The major promise of this technology is that water is the only waste product released. Scientific breakthroughs in these areas are still required to make these technologies competitive with today’s fuels.
Reducing Environmental Impact
Already great strides have been made to ensure that oil and gas producers make as little impact as possible on the natural environments in which they operate. This includes drilling multiple wells from a single location or pad to minimize damages to the surface, employing environmentally sound chemicals to stimulate well production, and ensuring a seamless transition from the wellhead to the consumer.
Another major environmental obstacle to low-impact fossil fuel production is the highly intensive process of mining coal. Currently, coal-powered plants are one of the largest sources of electricity in the world. The transition to cleaner sources of energy such as wind, solar and natural gas will reduce the impact of coal production on the environment.
Substantial work will be required to address the impact of oil and gas consumption, notably the emission of carbon dioxide as a major byproduct. Among the proposed solutions to this problem is the sequestration, or storage, of carbon dioxide in old oil and gas fields. Storage of carbon dioxide from power plants and other industrial facilities would require collecting and processing the gas, compressing it to high pressures, and then injecting it into the small spaces between rock grains deep below the surface. Here, the key challenge is capturing and storing the CO2 emissions on a sustainable scale. Can we store enough CO2 to realize a meaningful reduction in emissions released to the environment? How do we best collect CO2 released as a byproduct of various industrial processes? Can we do this in a reliable and cheap manner? How do we ensure that once it is stored, it will not be released into the atmosphere again? Ultimately, reducing emissions will require storing carbon dioxide, developing new alternative sources of energy and, perhaps most importantly, using less.
