On Thursday, Oct. 2, Dr. Karl Hausker of the Word Resources Institute gave a presentation at Villanova University concerning the current and future energy usage of the United States in the light of the global climate crisis.
Occurring from 2:30pm to 3:30pm in Drosdick Hall, the lecture reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of various future energy systems, concluding with the sentiment that the United States must transition to zero and low carbon means of producing electricity to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases.
The presentation began with an evaluation of top contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, including electricity, heat production, agriculture, transportation and industry as top contributing sectors. The main thesis of the lecture was the importance of implementing zero-carbon electricity as a source of power for all sectors in the United States.
“We can produce electricity with no CO2 emissions with many technologies—solar, wind, bioenergy, we can burn biomass and spin turbine hydro power has been around for decades— that’s zero emissions” Dr. Hausker said.
In addition to these zero carbon methods of producing electricity, Dr. Hausker stressed the increasing importance of utilizing geothermal and nuclear power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.
“The other key to solving the climate problem is substituting electricity for the burning of fossil fuels in other sectors” Dr. Hausker stated.
Not only can zero carbon electricity reduce the greenhouse gas emission of the electricity and heating sector, but it can also be implemented into agriculture, transportation and industry. Also discussed during the lecture was hydrogen electrolysis as a method of generating electivity with no greenhouse gas emissions.
“By 2050, we would need to triple electricity production globally to do that electrification of all these sectors in addition to population growth and that economic growth” Dr. Hausker explained.
Dr. Hausker stressed the importance of using a variety of electivity generation methods in the future to supplement the increasing energy demand of the United States, discussing the potential drawbacks of focusing entirely on renewable energy.
Soley utilizing renewable resources such as solar, wind and hydro power can result in energy droughts as well as the rise of integration costs including load shifting, management, storage, and generation when not paired with other sources of zero carbon electricity.
The academic debate over nuclear energy usage was also discussed in the lecture. Individuals against nuclear energy implementation in the United States argue that the risk management, operations, disposal, and cost are not worth the energy which will be produced.
Dr. Hausker, siding with nuclear energy, argued that the drawbacks of nuclear energy are less than the potential reward, arguing that costs will eventually decrease with widespread implementation.
“If you believe this should be part of our future power mix, which I put myself in that camp, you will believe that the risks are manageable—they are real, but they’re manageable” Dr. Hausker noted.
The path to an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to Dr. Hausker, involves the widespread use of zero-carbon electricity, the tripling of current electricity generation, commercialized carbon capture for industry and the diversification of the energy portfolio of the United States.
Yet, there are many obstacles to face regarding these goals, including the increase in energy demand by AI, as well as the recent legislation regarding environmental policy in the White House.
“It makes the challenge even harder—particularly in the U.S., we’ve had almost flat electricity demand since the early 2000s and it is now picking back up 3% a year to 3% a year, very largely by AI, but other factors like the growth of electric vehicles, growth of e-pumps and a little bit of the reshoring of manufacturing in the U.S.” Dr. Hausker explained.
The current White House administration has rolled back various climate protocols enacted by previous presidents, cutting funding for clean energy projects and dismantling bills which control for air pollution, drilling and water pollution.
In addition to the reduction of domestic policy protecting the climate of the United States, Dr. Hausker underscored the notion that rising geopolitical tensions between nations in recent years has also created barriers to global cooperation on climate reform.
Overall, the Dr. Hausker’s presentation outlined current energy consumption of the United States as well as potential future energy plans which could be adopted, emphasizing the importance of expanding the usage zero-carbon electricity in all sectors of energy production.
While there are certain obstacles which need to be overcome to achieve the goals set out by Dr. Hausker, the United States has the natural and man-made resources to accomplish the feat of attaining clean energy in years to come.
