Solar energy is the best bet for escaping the “energy trap” of reliance on low-cost, energy-dense fossil fuels, an executive of one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies said Jan. 14 at an MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI)-sponsored talk.
Leonardo Maugeri, group senior vice president for strategies and development at Italy’s Eni SpA, told an overflow crowd in Rm. 4-349 that there is no shortage of supply, so people will need to face the “uncomfortable reality” that our heavy dependence on carbon-rich fossil fuels—coal, petroleum, and natural gas-will persist for another two to three decades, even in the face of environmental problems associated with their production and use.
A global expert on petroleum and gas, Maugeri is author of The Age of Oil: the Mythology, History, and Future of the World’s Most Controversial Resource and an international councilor for the Washington, DC, think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Maugeri, to dispel “rumors” about the end of oil, said that only around one-third of the world’s oil reserves have been discovered, and the latest techniques for tapping unconventional sources are not yet in widespread use. In addition, there is plenty of natural gas, and coal reserves can last for 140 years at the current rate of production, he said.
Two other promising energy sources—nuclear and hydroelectric—are in decline, he said. New construction of nuclear power plants is not keeping pace with the closing of older plants, and hydroelectric dams are located too far from high-demand markets to be feasible.
The challenge will be to replace fossil fuels despite their economic attractiveness, flexibility of use, relative ease of transport and storage, and ready availability. Maugeri said that public opinion about environmental concerns “have taken root” and will ensure that R&D on alternative fuels doesn’t disappear when oil prices drop.
In addition, Maugeri suggested a six-faceted strategy for escaping the energy trap: use fossil fuels better and more efficiently; create strong regulations surrounding energy use to ensure increases in efficiency; create cost-effective alternative energy sources through science; use targeted government subsidies to spur development of alternative fuels; consider alternative energy a long-term proposition worthy of sustained funding; and create worldwide environmental and energy policies that even the playing field between developed and emerging countries.
Maugeri alluded to the new MIT/Eni research partnership, announced this week, under which Eni has become a Founding member of MITEI and will invest $50 million in MIT research to meet global energy challenges. Fully half will be devoted to the Eni-MITEI Solar Frontiers Research Program, focusing on the development of advanced solar technologies, with the other half supporting projects spanning the energy spectrum from traditional oil and gas to methane hydrates to global change to transportation options. Noting the solar centerpiece of the new collaboration, Maugeri said, “I am convinced solar energy is the best hope for humanity over the long term. I’m fully confident that research will find a way to make this dream come true.”
Maugeri’s talk was one of nine events of Energy Futures Week, which featured “innovation, research and education for a sustainable future.”