The stuff we need for clean energy
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Inside: EDITORIAL
The stuff we need for clean energy ENERGY SECTOR ANALYSIS
United States launches new direction to manage nuclear waste ENERGY SECTOR ANALYSIS
Brewing fuels in a solar furnace INTERVIEW
Bigger picture helps Alf Bjørseth focus on energy and materials projects for the future ENERGY QUARTERLY ORGANIZERS CHAIR David Cahen, Weizmann Institute, Israel Anshu Bharadwaj, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, India Russell R. Chianelli, University of Texas, El Paso, USA George Crabtree, Argonne National Laboratory, USA Sabrina Sartori, University of Oslo, Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, Norway Anke Weidenkaff, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology and University of Bern, Switzerland M. Stanley Whittingham, State University of New York at Binghamton, USA Steve M. Yalisove, University of Michigan, USA
ENERGY QUARTERLY sponsored in part by:
Center for Study of Science, Technology, and Policy
Images incorporated to create the energy puzzle concept used under license from Shutterstock.com. Energy Sector Analysis images: fuel rods cooling pool, courtesy of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; concentrated solar power technology, courtesy of Torresol Energy.
To suggest ideas for ENERGY QUARTERLY, to get involved, or for information on sponsorship, send email to [email protected].
The stuff we need for clean energy Here is another issue of MRS Bulletin Energy Quarterly devoted to the ways in which materials can help in the quest for a sustainable energy supply. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the world’s middle class will grow from about 1.8 billion people today to 5 billion in 2030; and if there is one thing we know about the middle class, it is that they consume energy. The challenge is huge. The world has to grow its energy delivery capacity and somehow reduce the environmental impact of all that energy conversion too. A challenge is just an opportunity in disguise, and the opportunity is to build a clean, efficient, and sustainable energy conversion infrastructure worldwide. That’s the upside. The downside is that if we miss this opportunity, then we will go decades into the future using technologies that impair our environment. Many things influence the choice between clean technologies and traditional ones, but the first is always cost. New technologies must either be cheaper than the ones they replace, or offer something that the consumer is really interested in buying: energy is about as basic a commodity as there is, so cost tends to win over enhanced features, especially invisible ones such as low environmental impact. A second “decider” has emerged in recent years, and it is the materials. Cleaner energy production and more efficient consumption tend to rely on technologies that use more specialized materials like neodymium and dysprosium for generators and motors, terbium and europium for phosphors, lithium for batteries, and many others that are required to make advanced technologies work. L
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