Winter 2007
In This Issue:
Focus On Energy
Scaroni on Energy: An Interview with the Energy Institute's Interim Director
Focus on Materials talked with Dr. Alan Scaroni, interim director of the Energy Institute. Scaroni is professor of energy and geoenvironmental engineering, and associate dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. He is an expert on hydrocarbons fuels.
FoM — Dr. Scaroni, the energy community appears to be divided on the possibilities of alternative energy as a solution to our energy needs.
Scaroni — On the contrary, I find the energy community has never been so united. I don't hear much criticism of competing fuels, except for a general objection to those fuels linked to global climate change. It is hard to deny that with the world's population and standards of living increasing the demand for energy will increase to at least an extent that will require a significant contribution from all energy sources. What the energy supply pattern will be 50 years from now is of less concern to me than how we will meet demand while protecting the environment over the next 10 to 15 years. There is no debate but that alternatives will play an increasingly important role, even among those in the tradition fossil fuel business.
FoM — Much of the emphasis in recent alternative energy sources seems to be focused on bioenergy, such as ethanol, cellulosic biomass, and microbial fuel cells. Do you see a need for a strong materials research component in solving our energy problems?
Scaroni — New and advanced materials will have a significant effect on future energy usage patterns. The energy firms that will increase their market share in the next 10 to 15 years will be the ones in which breakthroughs in materials occur. Materials set the limits on efficiency, control costs, etc., and improvements in materials are what overcome many associated environmental problems.
FoM — Will the fall in oil prices that has discouraged alternative energy research in the past once again hamper alternative energy research?
Scaroni — Almost everyone in the energy community realizes that our greatest challenge is to meet increasing demand. President Bush announced that we are addicted to oil and that is no longer an acceptable situation. It doesn't mean we won't continue to drill for and produce oil. It does mean, however, that regardless of the price of oil, research on other sources of energy will continue.
Energy executives will tell you that the current situation is much different than was the case in previous ‘oil crises.’ You can see a difference in their actions, in their investments in long term research and development partnerships, not just in their advertising slogans. You can see the change in the university community, with the word energy appearing in department names and energy courses and degrees added to their offerings. And it's appropriate that a major research university like Penn State take the lead in this regard.
FoM — What about carbon sequestration (capturing and storing atmospheric carbon)?
Scaroni — I am of the opinion that carbon sequestration is a necessary component of any viable energy strategy, given that hydrocarbon fuels will continue to be needed. This is political and economic reality. There are many different approaches to carbon sequestration, however. At Penn State there is ongoing work on porous materials for concentrating CO2 for economically viable storage. There is ongoing work on membrane separation. There is work on mineral carbonation — reacting minerals with carbon dioxide to form a solid carbonate. Penn State has patents in this area. There is molecular modeling and other work on CO2 sequestration in coal seams, and using it to enhance recovery of oil from marginal wells. What better place is there to store CO2 than in the reservoir from which the hydrocarbon was extracted? It is obviously the right kind of geological formation for long term confinement of a pressurized gas.
FoM — How serious are we as a society about the energy issue?
Scaroni — More serious than we've ever been! I recently participated in a congressional outreach event for high school students. The last couple of years the panel discussions at this event have focused on energy. On the panel were representatives of academia, industry, and government. Energy executives and environmental advocates participated. There was unanimity on the seriousness of the energy issue in the near and long term. The students were engaged and posed probing questions. They were clearly informed and interested. Energy has been elevated in the public agenda to the level of public health and national security.
FoM — What role should education play in securing our energy future?
Scaroni — Educational institutions have a responsibility starting in high school to educate students and the public on the necessity of an affordable and available supply of clean energy. In the UK and throughout Europe energy has been on the public agenda for quite some time. And it is likely not simply a consequence of their higher energy costs. Europe had always been somewhat at odds with the U.S. in its strategy to achieve energy goals. They have elevated climate change to a level of urgency that we haven't seen in the past. The U.S. is slowly moving towards sharing their position. The best public policy emanates from an informed citizenry, so the role of education is obvious.
FoM — What are we doing here at Penn State?
Scaroni — In the past, energy research has not been well coordinated across campus, but the need is now recognized with the recent release of the energy task force report. We do have traditional pockets of excellence in fossil fuels and nuclear, and are rapidly expanding our expertise in bioenergy, solar, etc. This is occurring across the colleges and institutes. Materials are an increasingly important component to achieving breakthroughs in a range of energy technologies, including catalytic and high temperature materials. To its credit Penn State has maintained a nuclear reactor and a nuclear energy program, which not many universities have done. Bioenergy expertise is expanding rapidly, as it is becoming a more important component of future energy scenarios. Cellulosic ethanol is an exciting possibility for the production of fuels, either hydrogen or liquid fuels that can be utilized in transportation applications. Penn State researchers are leading the way in this regard.
FoM — Do you think hydrogen is the solution, as President Bush seemed to indicate in his State of the Union address a couple of years ago?
Scaroni — The solution to what? Why put hydrogen on your list of fuels? Hydrogen is not a naturally occurring fuel. It is an energy carrier, like electricity, which has to be produced from a naturally occurring chemical. The unfortunate thing is that aside from water, hydrogen occurs in nature as a hydrocarbon, and when you produce hydrogen from a hydrocarbon you also produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. One advantage of hydrogen as an energy carrier, however, is that when you utilize hydrogen the only chemical byproduct is water. But you had better take care of the emissions problem when you first produce the hydrogen. And once again, the challenges with hydrogen fuel cells are in the materials. Linking hydrogen production to nuclear power is a possibility, in that it is hard to utilize nuclear power at the small scale. Hydrogen may have a role to play, but it is not the universal fuel of the future.
FoM — What about using solar cells to produce cheap hydrogen?
Scaroni — That is a possibility, although using solar energy to produce hydrogen from water is currently not efficient. It may be more viable to use solar energy directly to produce electricity. Efficient solar energy capture is a materials problem, and people are trying multiple materials and arrays of materials. The only way to get solar costs down is with new materials. We are trying every possible combination of materials, but we're still a fair ways away from large scale commercial viability.
FoM — Where do you think we should focus our research?
Scaroni — Solar is the long-term solution. Without solar energy we wouldn't have any of the other hydrocarbon fuels, which result from the inefficient conversion of solar energy. When a plant decays it produces carbon dioxide and water. If the degradation process is interrupted, and the right conditions exist, including the absence of oxygen, intermediate products such as coal, oil, or natural gas are produced.
From an energy perspective, hydrocarbon fuels are storage devices for solar energy, and are pretty inefficient at that. Why not go back to the original source and develop a better way to capture and store solar energy? If you bypass the hydrocarbon storage route, you eliminate the carbon dioxide problem. We utilize coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass because they are in a convenient form, provided by nature. Conceptually, efficient harnessing of solar energy without involving carbon is the best, long-term solution.
In the short term, we should continue to improve the efficiency of fossil fuel utilization, address carbon sequestration, and work to overcome the current limitations on bioenergy.
FoM — Where is the concern for energy conservation?
Scaroni — Conservation is really energy efficiency. People in energy research have had it in mind forever.Only recently have energy suppliers been promoting energy conservation. Now they supply their customers with tips for energy efficiency. When you are selling a product and you spend your money educating people in how to use less of your product, you know things have changed.
In the past the driving force for industry has been getting a cost advantage over the competition. Now it's more than that; industry is recognizing the role that energy plays in environmental protection. The last time we were serious about miles per gallon was because of contrived supply shortages and consequently high gasoline prices. Now we add to price and availability the benefits to the environment. It's a subtle but important difference.
FoM — How hopeful are you about our energy future?
Scaroni — I'm very optimistic. Now is the most exciting time in history to be involved in energy research. Until now there has not been a shared understanding among scientists, engineers, politicians, and the general public that we have a serious, long-term problem to which we need to find solutions. Energy researchers were once in the background, searching for acceptance of our work and recognition of our contributions. It seemed that nobody cared about our achievements in incrementally advancing energy technologies. The general public just didn't care that much. Now energy researchers are excited because they see recognition that their work is vital to society. Funding for energy research and energy education is healthy.
I am extremely excited about the role of the new Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment. This is a clear indication that the University is investing in energy. Student enrollment in energy disciplines is up. General education courses in energy are full. More faculty members are involved in energy research. I see a very bright future for energy at Penn State. When the nation mobilizes, progress is rapid. I predict major advances in energy technologies in the next 10 to 15 years.
Visit the Energy Institute on the Web at http://www.energy.psu.edu
Dr. Scaroni can be reached at Validate to view address - Send Email via form.
