COLLOQUIUM

Monday, May 9, 2005

"The "Athena Project": Addressing the World-wide Energy/Climate/Water Problem"

Presented By

Our energy use patterns over the last hundred years have resulted in unprecedented levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and noticeable increases in the mean Earth temperatures. If we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, we are still committed to significant changes in our climate. Continuing to produce greenhouse gases in a wholesale manner is doing a major experiment with the livability of the Earth. Meanwhile, the population of the Earth will increase by several billion people in the next 50 years. If economic growth is to continue, the demand for energy is estimated to approximately double in the next 50 years so that we will need approximately 10 TW more energy than we use now. Much of this demand will come from the developing world where most of the population growth will occur and where advanced energy technology is not available. At the same time, over one billion people do not have enough potable water and the demand for water to irrigate crops will grow. Water tables are dropping on every continent. Water is needed to produce energy and energy is needed to produce water. These problems are enormous and highly interconnect. There is no one solution that will be a magic bullet for their solution. These problems are not just physical, they will affect social structure and the probability of increased conflict. We need a major world-wide effort to solve these problems. What might this program look like?