Series 4, Issue 2 | Energy Today - January 27, 2020
Series 4, Issue 2
Week of January 27, 2020
The official e-magazine of ...

In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the seemingly impossible goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, even though the technology to do so wasn’t even remotely ready. Eight years later, on July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon—arguably, the single greatest technological triumph in human history. It was the first "moonshot." 
 
An article in Nature commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the Apollo Mission noted that the moonshot framework—defining a problem, supporting it with money and cross-disciplinary expertise and attempting to solve it in a given timeframe—is being applied to more-complex challenges that we might call “earthshots.” But an earthshot like solving climate change is more difficult than a moonshot by far. Not only does it involve massive scientific and technological challenges, but it also must contend with the inevitable tradeoffs of a complex global marketplace and conflicting geopolitical demands. 

This issue of Energy Today explores audacious, Blue Sky decarbonization ideas. Los Angeles, for example, wants to build a hydrogen-fueled power plant, but it’s never been done before. Stanford University researchers have created a new catalyst that can turn carbon dioxide into fuel, but they’ve still got to figure out how to reduce the harmful byproducts. Some believe we have to geoengineer the planet and others want to transform the entire oil and gas sector. 

The technological problems of decarbonization are daunting. The human conflicts that must be overcome make this earthshot seemingly as impossible as the original moonshot.


Humankind has a gigaton problem: it emits more carbon than is sustainable and an excess of 80 gigatons of carbon has to be removed from the atmosphere. Perhaps only the oil and gas industry has the knowledge and resources to sequester carbon at this scale.

In this article, John Gibson, the chairman, CEO and president for Flotek Industries and former CEO and president of Halliburton, sees carbon tax credits as a step toward what he calls a new "atmospheric services industry."



by Andrew Myers

Is there a more ambitious earthshot than recycling CO2 emissions from car exhaust pipes into natural gas and propane?



by Fred Pearce

Human intervention with the climate system has long been viewed as an ill-advised and risky step to slow global warming. But with carbon emissions soaring, initiatives to study and develop geoengineering technologies are gaining traction as a potential last resort.


See also: 45Q for CarbonTech

Summary by AES Editors
 
To meet its massive electricity needs in a state that increasingly demands more action to meet emissions goals, the city of Los Angeles is planning a transition to a renewable energy that has never been tried before: hydrogen.


 
By Elizabeth Duff
Senior Editor, American Energy Society
 
While climate scientists and green-energy technologists search for gigaton-scale solutions to reduce carbon emissions, let’s not overlook some of the more modest ideas which call on nature to heal itself.


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From the Royal Foundation
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The Editors of Energy Today welcome submissions of original articles for publication consideration. Please contact the editorial staff by email with questions or attach the proposed article as a Word document.

In case you missed it: Energy Matters (series 6, issue 2)
The energy news you needed to know last week.

In case you missed the previous issue of Energy Today : The Books Issue .

 About this publication

Energy Today , the official e-magazine of the American Energy Society, is an independent (classical liberalism) trade e-magazine about issues related to energy and the environment. 

Scope & Aims: Energy Today is the foremost interdisciplinary forum for the publication of forward thinking and bold ideas about energy. Underpinning this objective is a commitment to independence and integrity, the delivery of high quality content and services, and a writing style that conveys significance in an engaging way.

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