Forging the Solution to the Energy Challenge: The Role of Materials Science and Materials Scientists
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Forging the Solution to the Energy Challenge: The Role of Materials Science and Materials Scientists
JEFFREY WADSWORTH
The energy challenge is central to the most important strategic problems facing the United States and the world. It is increasingly clear that even large-scale deployments of the best technologies available today cannot meet the rising energy demands of a growing world population. Achieving a secure and sustainable energy future will require full utilization of, and substantial improvements in, a comprehensive portfolio of energy systems and technologies. This goal is complicated by several factors. First, energy strategies are inextricably linked to national security and health issues. Second, in developing and deploying energy technologies, it is vital to consider not only environmental issues, such as global climate change, but also economic considerations, which strongly influence both public and political views on energy policy. Third, a significant and sustained effort in basic and applied research and development (R&D) will be required to deliver the innovations needed to ensure a desirable energy future. Innovations in materials science and engineering are especially needed to overcome the limits of essentially all energy technologies. A wealth of historical evidence demonstrates that such innovations are also the key to economic prosperity. From the development of the earliest cities JEFFREY WADSWORTH, President and CEO, is with Battelle Memorial Institute, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201. Contact e-mail: [email protected]. Jeff Wadsworth has been President and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute since January 2009. Battelle is the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization, executing about $5 billion of work annually and employing about 21,000 people. Formed in 1925 as a charitable trust and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle counts among its successes the development of the Xerox machine, pioneering work on the compact disc, and a number of innovations in medical technology, telecommunications, environmental waste treatment, homeland security, and transportation. Battelle has spun off new ventures and companies in fiber optics, pharmaceuticals, energy, electronics, and informatics. Its principal businesses today are fee-forservice contract research, laboratory operations, and commercial ventures, executing more than 5,000 projects for some 1,500 industrial and government clients throughout the world. Jeff formerly led Battelle’s Global Laboratory Operations business, where he oversaw Battelle’s management or comanagement of eight major laboratories—six national laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy, representing more than $3 billion in annual business (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Cent
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