(454b) Technological Opportunities in Sustainable Energy and Water Systems

The disproportionate use of fossil fuels over the last 250 years has resulted in the accumulation of ~2000 GtCO₂ in our atmosphere and ~1.2°C global average temperature rise compared to preindustrial levels, which has led to significant weather extremes and other consequences.. There is headroom for an additional 1400 GtCO₂ of total emissions in the future if we are to maintain the global average temperature rise below 2°C . With today’s global emissions of ~40 GtCO₂/year, we have about 20-30 years left before the world exceeds this headroom. Therefore there is a critical need to develop sustainable energy systems.

Global water demand is projected to increase by 55% over the next three decades owing to population growth, industrialization and climate change. Anthorpogenic warming is also leading to severe droughts in various parts of the world. Desalination technologies can meet this demand by extracting clean water from saline sources such as ocean or contaminated sources such as produced waters, which are a byproduct of oil and gas extraction.

In this talk the speaker will provide an overview of various science and technology challenges which if solved can dramatically enable the development of sustainable clean energy and water systems.