The Future of Energy Supply: Challenges and Opportunities Nicola Armaroli* and Vincenzo Balzani*
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Essays DOI: 10.1002/anie.200602373 Renewable Energies The Future of Energy Supply: Challenges and Opportunities Nicola Armaroli* and Vincenzo Balzani* Keywords: hydrocarbons · natural resources · photochemistry · renewable energies · science and society · solar energy conversion Dealing with Change help in solving the energy problem? Will it be possible for all the Earths “Questions are never indiscrete, answers inhabitants to reach the standard of sometimes are.” living of developed countries without Oscar Wilde devastating the planet? Will science and technology alone take us to where we Each generation is confronted with need to be in the next few decades? new challenges and new opportunities. Should we, citizens of the western world, In a restricted system like the Earth, change our lifestyle and shift to innova- however, opportunities discovered and tive social and economic paradigms? exploited by a generation can cause Can people living in poor countries challenges to the subsequent ones. Fossil improve their quality of life? fuels have offered astounding opportu- Forty years ago, looking at the first nities during the 20th century in the rich Figure 1. In this 1970 picture, an average photos of the Earth seen from space, we countries of the western world, but now American family is surrounded by the barrels fully realized that our planet is a space- mankind has to face the challenges of oil they consume annually. Now this con- ship that travels without any destination arising from fossil-fuel exploitation. sumption is about 40% higher. in the infinity of the universe. As The proven reserves of fossil fuels are passengers of this spaceship we are progressively decreasing,[1] and their deeply interested in finding solutions continued use produces harmful effects, is, a steady 13 trillion watts of power to the energy crisis. As parents, we wish such as pollution that threatens human demand. How long can we keep running to leave our planet in a good shape for health and greenhouse gases associated this road? the benefit of future generations. As with global warming. Currently the scientists, we do have the duty to con- worlds growing thirst for oil amounts tribute to the discussion on the impend- to almost 1000 barrels a second,[2] which ing energy crisis. As chemists, we can means about 2 liters a day per each “Currently the world’s growing help improving energy technologies person living on the Earth (Figure 1).[3] and, hopefully, finding scientific break- The current global energy consumption thirst for oil amounts to almost throughs capable of solving the energy is equivalent to 13 terawatts (TW), that 1000 barrels a second.” problem at its root. Finally, as citizens of the affluent part of the world, first class passengers of spaceship Earth, we [*] Dr. N. Armaroli should ask ourselves how can we really Molecular Photoscience Group Istituto per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotor- Energy is the most important issue help passengers now traveling in much eattività of the 21st century. Here is the funda- worse compartments of this spaceship. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche mental challenge we face, here are many We know that our lifestyle, based on Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna (Italy) vital and entangled questions that we consumerism, may cause disparities. Fax : (+39)051-639-9844 are called to answer. Can well-being, or Disparity is, indeed, the most prominent E-mail: [email protected] even happiness, be identified with the characteristic among the Earths inhab- Prof. Dr. V. Balzani highest possible amount of per capita itants and, in the long run, the most Dipartimento di Chimica “G. Ciamician” energy consumption? Should we pro- dangerous problem. Finding a correct Università di Bologna Via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna (Italy) gressively stop burning fossil fuels? Can solution to the energy crisis could offer Fax : (+39)051-209-9456 scientists find an energy source capable the opportunity to reduce disparity and E-mail: [email protected] of replacing fossil fuels? Can chemistry create a more peaceful world. Our 2 2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45,2–17 Ü Ü These are not the final page numbers! Angewandte Chemie generation will ultimately be defined by 100% in the 1980s and to 120% in ever, even the most educated people of how we live up to the energy challenge. 1999.[5] This statistic simply means that developed countries do not care much we are living above our possibilities. about its importance. There is indeed a Furthermore, we make extensive use of big disproportion between the extensive “Our generation will ultimately resources that cannot be regenerated by be defined by how we live up to the biosphere. This is not only the case of fossil fuels, that are irremediably “There is big disproportion the energy challenge.” consumed when used, but also that of between the extensive use we metals.[6] Clearly, spaceship Earth has a limited carrying capacity. It has been make of energy and the scarce An Unsustainable Growth in an calculated that if all the worlds 6.5 bil- knowledge we have of it.” Unequal World lion inhabitants were to live at current North American ecological standards, “My grandmother used to say: there are we should look around for another two but two families in the world, have-much Earths to accommodate them.[5] Of use we make of energy and the scarce and have-little.” course also Europe is heavily contribu- knowledge we have of it. This situation Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote ting to unsustainable Earth exploitation: is not good for a society willing to European terrestrial biosphere absorbs become knowledge-based as Europe is Energy is the number one but, by no only 10% of Europes anthropogenic supposed to do.[8] [7] means, the unique problem for human- CO2 production. If you ask simple questions to com- ity. Food, water, health, environment, mon people, for example, How energy is education, population, war, democracy produced? How much energy do you are other important problems. It can be Known and Hidden Costs of consume? What is the cost of electric- noted that all of them, perhaps except Energy ity? How can you save energy? you will for democracy, are strictly dependent on most likely get poor answers. As educa- the availability of energy.[4] It is easy to “The struggle for existence is the struggle tors we should ask ourselves: how understand that a hospital consumes a for available energy” energy is taught in our schools and huge quantity of energy. Perhaps it is Ludwig Boltzmann universities? more difficult to reckon the colossal In recent years the price of energy amount of energy embodied in and What is energy? The answer is not has substantially increased; the common consumed by a stealth bomber. Modern simple. We might apply to energy what belief is that energy is now extremely agriculture, which provides any kind of Saint Augustine argued about time expensive. But can we really complain? food and delicacies to Western consum- (Confessions, XI, 14): “What is time? If The current “high” price of the most ers, is one of the most energy intensive nobody asks me, I know; if I wish to valuable energy source, oil, is around human activities. For example, the en- explain to him who asks, I know not.” $70/barrel, that is, $0.44/liter. Hence, ergy of 7 liters of oil is needed to Energy is an ubiquitous entity look- crude oil is cheaper than some mineral produce 1 kg of beef. Some people say ing like heat, electricity, motion that, waters one can find on the supermarket that modern industrial agriculture is, in unnoticed, shapes and drives every sin- shelves. Currently, the cost of petrol in a fact, the use of land to turn oil and gas gle instant of our life (Figure 2). How- gas station in Europe (ca. E1.3LÀ1)is into food. Excluding the light coming from the Sun, the Earth is a closed system. The second law of thermodynamics states that, in a closed system, there are limitations that cannot be overcome; apparently, several economists are not acquainted with this simple principle. We must never forget that human econ- omy vitally depends on the planets natural capital (e.g. oxygen, water, bio- diversity, etc). Fortunately, part of this capital is regenerated for free by the direct and indirect action of sunlight on the biosphere, but drawing on the nat- ural capital beyond its regenerative Figure 2. The power at the disposal of energy-affluent people: to run a TV set the continuous capacity results in depletion of the muscular work of 2 people would be needed, while for a complete cycle with an energy-efficient capital stock. Humanitys load corre- washingmachine the number is increased to 15. To take-off a fully loaded Boeing747, sponded to 70% of the capacity of the 1.6 million “energy slaves” would be required. These examples give an idea of how much energy global biosphere in 1961, and grew to we use. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 2 –17 2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.angewandte.org 3 These are not the final page numbers! Ü Ü Essays lower than that of water in a restaurant. (Figure 3). Even in peace time there is a change are deprived people, as shown in Thus it is still cheaper for a car to drink gigantic security machine operating to the aftermath of Katrina in New Or- than for a human being.[9] safeguard key energy corridors and leans. In other words, affluent energy Our energy bonanza, however, facilities (pipelines, sea routes, refiner- consumers will mainly generate the comes at a price that is not paid directly ies, etc.) and these costs are not directly damage, the poor will suffer most.