Transforming Energy in the Twenty-First Century

Energy use is fundamental to modern societies and a primary way we humans interact with climate, ocean pH, and many other natural systems that provide essential services.  It is time to change the energy mix to reduce those impacts.   Estimates of available resources indicate that there is no shortage of energy available for conversion to services.  The challenge is to do so at costs that are within reason, with sources of supply that are secure, and with impacts that protect essential natural systems.  Options for doing that, and the research required to make it possible, are considered in this talk.

Speaker: Lynn Orr is the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor in Petroleum Engineering in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering and Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.  He joined Stanford in 1985, and served as Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford from 1994 to 2002 and as Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project from 2002 to 2008.  He a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Board of Directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.