June 2007 Issue - Volume 3, Number 3

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Energy: A Geoscience Perspective

Allison M. Macfarlane – Guest Editors

Overview

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2007 Topics

Overview

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2007 Topics

Thematic Articles

Energy: The Issue of the 21st Century

Energy usage makes modern life possible. Without it we would have no communications, transportation, food, health, and many other services and products that we rely on daily. Energy issues are moving to the forefront in the 21st century because of constraints imposed by increasing energy needs, climate change, energy security, and the apparent decline of fossil fuel resources. The main challenge is how to provide more energy for more people worldwide while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas and pollution emissions and providing secure and plentiful energy supplies. There is no silver bullet, so a variety of energy resources and technologies will be required.

Confronting the Climate–Energy Challenge

By Daniel P. Schrag

Combustion of coal, oil, and gas has raised the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to levels higher than they have been for millions of years. A brief review of the history of Earth’s climate puts the next hundred years in its natural context, suggesting that most predictions based on climate models may be underestimating the problem. Reducing risks of future climate change requires changes in existing energy systems. These changes will be in three areas: increasing energy efficiency, increasing the stock of non-fossil energy generation, and adopting technologies for capturing and storing carbon dioxide from fossil fuels.

Geological Carbon Dioxide Sequestration

By S. Julio Friedmann

Akey means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is to separate and concentrate CO2 from large point sources and inject it underground. The injection process, so-called “geological carbon sequestration”, uses off-the-shelf technology from the hydrocarbon industry and can be deployed at a useful scale. Widespread deployment will require a greater understanding of processes that trap CO2 underground, improved means of monitoring the injection stream, and a small number of large-scale experiments in settings with the most important representative geology. If successful, geological sequestration could greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while we continue to benefit from fossil fuels until true alternatives emerge.

Nuclear Energy and Uranium Resources

By Allison M. Macfarlane, Marvin Miller

The amount of electricity generated by nuclear power plants may increase in the next few decades, as this form of energy is one of the few that are proven, reliable, and relatively carbon dioxide free. A question often asked about nuclear power is how long its main resource, uranium, will last. In the face of a large expansion of nuclear power to deal with climate change considerations, we revisit the question of the adequacy of the uranium resource and show that there is adequate supply for at least the next century and probably more.

Tapping Methane Hydrates for Unconventional Natural Gas

By Carolyn Ruppel

Methane hydrate is an icelike form of concentrated methane and water found in the sediments of permafrost regions and marine continental margins at depths far shallower than conventional oil and gas. Despite their relative accessibility and widespread occurrence, methane hydrates have never been tapped to meet increasing global energy demands. With rising natural gas prices, production from these unconventional gas deposits is becoming economically viable, particularly in permafrost areas already being exploited for conventional oil and gas. This article provides an overview of gas hydrate occurrence, resource assessment, exploration, production technologies, renewability, and future challenges