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Q & AJune 30, 2008Penn State's Craig Grimes(page 3 of 3)ERN: What are the important social questions related to energy? CG: It's a finite earth, with finite resources. The world has some 9 billion people on it now, racing to ten billion. Push will come to shove when the resources start to run out. If you read much history you'll know everyone gets along fine when supply of a precious resource, e.g. food, water, energy, exceeds demand, but not so when demand exceeds supply. ERN: What are your thoughts on the state of public understanding of energy and energy research? CG: I would like to think that the average person understands the issues associated with fossil fuels, and the issues associated thereof. We've lived in a golden age of good times, where all the public marketing of research has gone towards finding a cure for afflictions largely brought on by our wealth. The public should but probably doesn't understand how little basic energy science research goes on in our country -- in fact up until two years ago solar energy was, at least in government circles, largely ridiculed and written off. Almost 30 years ago Ronald Reagan was our visionary who tore the solar panels off the White House roof Jimmy Carter had installed, and slashed to almost zero funding for solar energy research. It would have been really helpful to us all to have spent the past 30 years working on new solar energy technologies. ERN: What could be done to improve the pursuit of energy research in terms of business trends, politics, and/or social trends? CG: The best thing to do would simply be to realize basic energy research is important, and dedicate significant resources to the science and engineering that will lead to new solar energy technologies. What do I mean by 'significant resources'? Something comparable to what we have spent on the invasion of Iraq. ERN: In terms of energy and anything affected by energy, what will be different about our world in five years? In 10? In 20? CG: I think our future is one of inelastic demand. Imagine what happens when supplies of food, water, and energy are not sufficient to meet demand. There is a reason we keep a vast military presence around the middle east. ERN: What do you imagine you will be working on in five years? 10 years? CG: Improved materials for solar energy conversion. ERN: What got you interested in science and technology? CG: Curiosity of the world around us..... or maybe random chance. ERN: What's the most important piece of advice you can give to a child who shows interest in science and technology? CG: "Isn't that interesting? And, by knowing X we can hopefully figure out Y and then do Z!" ERN: What's the most important piece of advice you can give to a college student who shows interest in science and technology? CG: I tell them to work hard, it's a tough world out there. ERN: What books that have some connection to science or technology have impressed you in some way, and why? CG: I'm a great fan of Evan S. Connell, e.g. The White Lantern, and some of the earlier work of Diane Ackerman, e.g. A Natural History of the Senses -- well-written discourses on various aspects on the world about us, and our part in it. ERN: What are your interests outside of work, and how do they inform how you understand and think about energy, and science and technology in general? CG: My kids. Without them I'd probably punt the slog and go surfing, let the world sort itself without me. ERN: What question would you like to be asked in an interview like this? What's the answer to that question? CG: Question: What would you tell the President of the United States if you had a brief audience with him or her? Answer: Unless we come up with a means of providing cheap solar fuel it's game over for modern civilization. We need to be spending something like DoD's ~$1,000,000,000,000/year budget on solar energy. Doing so will avoid the collapse of modern civilization while providing us with a safer, cleaner, and healthier world. ERN: Is there anything else you'd like to say? CG: I wish I saw more reasons to be optimistic about this topic. But as it is mankind seems to have bet on a faith-based energy policy: So let's hope for a miracle! Think of it this way. You have a cabin in the woods that you have surrounded with latent heat in the form of dried wood. Now you could carefully and slowly burn some of this latent heat, logs, in the fireplace and all would be well. Or you could go crazy and decide to burn all the wood in a comparative instant because you're really (really really) cold. That's effectively what we are doing on a global scale -- burning many millions of years of stored latent heat, in the form of fossil fuels, in a comparative instant. Since we are not actually, as a society, really doing anything about this we are in essence betting our future that somehow, someway, something will save us. A faith based energy policy. single page | < previous 1 2 3 Back to ERN June 30, 2008 |
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