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Sustainable Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels to retain significant global role
Contrary to popular belief, fossil fuels are not going the way of the dinosaur, says SFU professor and energy expert Mark Jaccard.
Forget the commonly held view that fossil fuels are on a downward slide given supply scares, rising costs and environmental concerns. Jaccard predicts that oil, gas and coal will still satisfy 58 per cent of the world's energy needs in the year 2100, fueled in part by growth in nations such as China.
Jaccard's forecast is detailed in his latest book, Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy (Cambridge Press, 2005). The book is now available in Canada. It has also been launched in Britain and the U.S.
Jaccard says fossil fuels can be used with lower environmental impact or risk. They can be converted into clean forms of secondary energy - electricity, hydrogen and cleaner-burning synthetic fuels - in processes that capture and store the carbon that we don't want to reach the atmosphere, in the form of CO2 emissions.
"The costs of doing so, with technologies that are already applied in the economy for other purposes, are likely to be competitive with the usual suspects for clean energy - wind, solar, hydropower and biomass," he says.
"When all of these options are compared without prejudice, fossil fuels, the 'unusual suspect', are likely to retain a significant role in the global energy system through this century and far beyond, and the transition toward renewables and perhaps eventually nuclear will be gradual."
-- SFU
Contrary to popular belief, fossil fuels are not going the way of the dinosaur, says SFU professor and energy expert Mark Jaccard.
Forget the commonly held view that fossil fuels are on a downward slide given supply scares, rising costs and environmental concerns. Jaccard predicts that oil, gas and coal will still satisfy 58 per cent of the world's energy needs in the year 2100, fueled in part by growth in nations such as China.
Jaccard's forecast is detailed in his latest book, Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy (Cambridge Press, 2005). The book is now available in Canada. It has also been launched in Britain and the U.S.
Jaccard says fossil fuels can be used with lower environmental impact or risk. They can be converted into clean forms of secondary energy - electricity, hydrogen and cleaner-burning synthetic fuels - in processes that capture and store the carbon that we don't want to reach the atmosphere, in the form of CO2 emissions.
"The costs of doing so, with technologies that are already applied in the economy for other purposes, are likely to be competitive with the usual suspects for clean energy - wind, solar, hydropower and biomass," he says.
"When all of these options are compared without prejudice, fossil fuels, the 'unusual suspect', are likely to retain a significant role in the global energy system through this century and far beyond, and the transition toward renewables and perhaps eventually nuclear will be gradual."
-- SFU
Submitted on January 31, 2006 in By David.
