CHF was recently privileged to have the 2008 Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture presented by Bernard Bigot, France’s high commissioner of atomic energy.  France has aggressively pursued nuclear power, which generates 80% of the country’s electricity. Bigot holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and is also a professor at the Ecole normale superieure de Lyon. 

Bigot first reviewed the world’s current energy outlook. Worldwide use, having increased by a factor of 16 in the 20th century, is forecast to grow by an additional 57% by 2050. Increasing costs and shortage of fossil fuels will cause political instability. But far and away the most critical issue is the increase in atmospheric CO₂, which could raise average temperatures by 2 to 4.5 degrees C by 2100.

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The future for energy sources was a primary topic addressed in several forums during Chemical Heritage Foundation’s recent annual Innovation Day. The discussions approached the subject based on fundamental chemical principles tempered by quantitative analysis. Participants had the opportunity to think in a broad sense and for the long term.

A few numbers describe the challenge.  Energy flow in the U.S. is channeled to three major uses:

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After nearly two years the longest presidential campaign in the history of the United States is finally over. We all know a few things for sure. This administration and this Congress will be faced with historically unprecedented challenges, including record debt, an economic recession, widespread job loss, a fractured health care system, ongoing military engagements, and as President-elect Obama put it in his speech on election night, ”a planet in peril.”  

But viewing things from the perspective of an entire planet in peril is too grand a view—and much too daunting. What are the pieces that contribute to this planet in peril? What are the specific issues that the coming president and Congress should be paying attention to, not just so they can rescue a planet but also so they can make it more hospitable, healthy, and sustainable?

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Between 1998 and 2003 the NIH budget doubled. The increase was intended to secure the future of American science, medicine, and technology. Times change, and the doubling is but a distant memory compared with the daily toil scientists face as they constantly write and rewrite grant applications amid the uncertainty of funding. With the recent election of Barack Obama will this trend be reversed?

In 1995 Harold Varmus, the director of the NIH during the doubling, praised the 40 years of continuous growth (1945 to 1989) at the NIH, viewing increased funding as an investment in the future. However, funding for American scientists has leveled off in recent years, and the situation requires urgent review. But in the midst of the economic hardship facing our country, it is difficult to pinpoint where the money should go. How do we distribute limited funds among the neediest programs, people, and wars?

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Most people are very aware that the fuel that powers their cars and often heats their homes comes from crude oil. The connection is made for us every day on the news.

But the fact that most of the things we wear, from rayon slacks to “technical” hiking garb also has its origins in a barrel of oil seems not to be part of our collective consciousness, so little is it remarked in the press or popular culture. 

So I was very pleasantly surprised when this month’s issue of Runner’s World, in a feature called “The Runner’s Footprint,” noted that “with a few rare exceptions … our shoes are made exclusively from heavily processed crude oil. We’re wearing a gusher.” 

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Humans have always relied on photosynthesis for food, be it directly (eating plants) or indirectly (eating animals that eat plants). However, now it looks like we may be relying on it for our energy needs as well.

This month’s Technology Review cover article featured the findings of an experiment that mimicked plants’ photosynthesis process and could one day be used to solve ever-growing global energy demand.

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