The Sustainable Energy Challenge
George Crabtree
Departments of Physics, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering University of Illinois at Chicago Materials Science Division Argonne National Laboratory Outline • the challenges: oil, the economy and carbon dioxide • what is sustainability? • sustainable energy alternatives and roadblocks • UIC Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy
Colloquium Center for Energy Efficient Materials University of California Santa Barbara November 2, 2011 Background Reading
Controlling the Functionality physicsworld.com of Materials for Sustainable Energy October 2009 George Crabtree John Sarrao
ANNUAL REVIEW OF CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS October 2010
George Crabtree and John Sarrao
http://www.annualreviews.org/ journal/conmatphys http://physicsworld.com/cws/ article/print/40527
http://www.americanenergyinnovation.org/ The Problem: Dependence on Imported Oil
25 Cost to economy US Oil consumption 20 $350 B/yr at current prices 15 transferred to foreign oil producers 10
5 production Million barrels per day
0 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 US EIA Unpredictable supply threatens economy, lifestyle, national security
find alternatives to imported oil biofuels, electricity, solar fuels
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm The Problem: Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
0.5 Global average surface temperature
°C °C 0.0
- 0.5
50 Global average sea level 0 mm mm - 50 -100 -150
2 Northern hemisphere snow cover 4 2/3 of carbon dioxide emissions come 0 from power plants and autos million km - 4 Permanent changes in weather patterns, agricultural networks and coastal geography 1850 1900 1950 2000 IPCC Fourth Assessment 2007 Cost of accommodation may be higher than http://www.ipcc.ch/graphics/gr-ar4-syr.htm SPM1 preventive cost of reducing emissions Roadblocks to Sustainable Energy Technologies
Performance: fossil is cheaper
Sustainable energy technologies are in their infancy. They perform far below their ultimate potential.
Dramatic improvements are needed – incremental tuning of the present state of the art is not sufficient
Breakthroughs needed understand and control materials and chemistry at molecular and nanoscale levels
What is Sustainability?
Lasts a long time Oil in 1900 Coal in 2011
Does no harm
Nuclear electricity: no CO2
Ethanol: reduced CO2
Leaves no change Closed chemical cycle Electricity, hydrogen
6 Sustainable Next-Generation Energy Technologies
Sustainability Profile lasts a long time does no harm leaves no change
Solar electricity: a fully sustainable energy chain manufacture and end-of-life impact must be considered
breakthroughs needed lower cost, higher efficiency photovoltaics third generation materials and nanostructures electricity storage Carbon Sequestration Sustainability Profile
lasts a long time emissions does no harm leaves no change sequestration
carbon dioxide
depletes coal resource 100s of years
breakthroughs needed chemical reactivity with rocks in extreme environments ~ 1000 years migration through porous rocks geologic monitoring and predictive modeling leakage routes to atmosphere Nuclear Electricity
Sustainability Profile lasts a long time emissions does no harm leaves no change nuclear waste
depletes uranium resource 100s of yrs breakthroughs needed materials for extreme environments high temperature, high radiation flux high corrosivity spent fuel usgs geologic monitoring and modeling 10 000s yrs Replace Conventional Oil
cellulosic biofuel oil sands and shale solar chemical fuel coal to liquid lasts a long time lasts a long time does no harm does no harm leaves no change leaves no change recycles CO2
switchgrass ethanol plant cellulosic biofuel: recycles carbon dioxide solar fuel without biology: thermo- or photo-chemistry oil sands and shale, coal to liquid: à 50% more carbon dioxide breakthroughs needed à more pollutants cellulosic breakdown to sugar or fuel chemistry of carbon dioxide to fuel Electrify Transportation Sustainability Profile lasts a long time does no harm leaves no change electric motor replaces renewable gasoline engine electricity production
battery - e renewable hydrogen + + + O production 2 tesla motors + + H2 + + + H O fuel cell 2 hydrogen storage breakthroughs needed x2-5 higher energy density in batteries catalysts, membranes and electrodes in fuel cells Sustainable Energy Enabling Technologies: The Grid
Wind
Sun
breakthroughs needed long distance reliable, efficient delivery of electricity Enabling Technologies: Storing Energy
• Store intermittent solar and wind electricity • Electrify transportation with plug-in hybrids and electric cars
30 batteries: Energy Storage Density gasoline 30-50x less energy density than gasoline ethanol 20 impossible dream: x10 methanol
improvement hydrogen compounds combustion (target) chemical MJ / L system MJ / L system Energy/volume Energy/volume 10 + beyond batteries: batteries fuel cells = electricity chemical storage + fuel cells compressed super hydrogen gas = electricity 0 capacitors 0 10 20 30 40 Energy/weight electrical MJ/kg system chemical storage storage electro-chemical storage breakthroughs needed x2-5 increase in battery energy density x10-20 increase through chemical storage + fuel cells The Transition to Sustainable Energy: High Tech Materials and Chemistry traditional energy gas CH4 oil CH2 heat useful work coal CH0.8 commodity materials combustion disposable fuels
sustainable energy sunlight electricity wind biofuels useful water solar chemical work geothermal fuel biomass direct high tech materials and chemistry conversion e.g., photovoltaics, electrodes, superconductors, catalysts
sustainable energy requires controlling complex, functional, high tech materials and chemistry New Science: Controlling Complexity
controlling materials and chemistries in ultra-small and ultra-fast regimes
computer complex modeling materials nanoscience
We are at the dawn of a new era • build materials with atom-by-atom chemical precision • predict behavior of materials that have not been made • design new materials and chemistries for specific tasks
breakthroughs to next-generation sustainable energy technologies are within reach Complexity Equals Functionality
energy Levels of Complexity compositional structural functional unit light electron connecting architectural functional units
temporal connecting sequential steps
many interacting degrees of freedom
synthesis characterization theory and modeling Artificial light-gathering and reaction center complex Kodis et al, JACS 128, 1818 (2006) Crabtree and Lewis, Solar Energy Conversion, Physics Today 60(3), 37 (2007)
The Energy and Science Grand Challenges
BESAC and BES Reports
• Secure Energy Future, 2002
• Hydrogen Economy, 2003
• Solar Energy Utilization, 2005
• Superconductivity, 2006
• Solid-state Lighting, 2006
• Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, 2006
• Clean and Efficient Combustion of Fuels, 2006
• Electrical Energy Storage, 2007 • Geosciences: Facilitating 21st Century Energy Systems, 2007
• Catalysis for Energy, 2007
• Materials Under Extreme Environments, 2007 • Directing Matter and Energy: Five Grand Challenges for Science and the Imagination, 2007 • New Science for a Secure and Sustainable Energy Future, 2008
• Science for Energy Technology, 2010
• Computational Materials Sciences and Chemistry, 2010
§ Computational Materials Science and Chemistry, 2010 http://science.energy.gov/bes/news-and-resources/reports/basic-research-needs/ . . . And Policy
energy sustainability
environmental economic sustainability sustainability
a multidimensional, interactive challenge What Do We Need to Do?
Research and Develop new more sustainable technologies • materials and chemistry of greater complexity and functionality
Educate the next generation for energy literacy • scientists and engineers • regulators, government officials, business people, urban planners • private citizens – the ultimate decision makers
Policy encourage new technologies through policy and planning • evaluate and incentivize the most suitable options
Entrepreneuership sustain a culture of innovation and risk taking • deploy technologies through small companies The world is undergoing an historic transition. Get on board.
Intense immersion in energy and sustainability Lectures, tours of energy and sustainability sites Team “challenge projects” solving real-world problems
Summer 2012 http://sise.phy.uic.edu Perspective
Energy is making an historic transition fossil to alternative, clean, sustainable
The transition will take decades
The bottleneck for many alternative energy technologies is basic science understanding of materials and chemistry
Embracing the transition requires education – energy literacy for decision makers research and development of new technologies implementation through policy, planning, entrepreneurship