First, I want to thank guest editor Bob Armstrong for assembling a superb issue on the challenges in moving forward to meet both the growing demand for energy and the growing concern of global warming and its impacts on the lives of those who do and who will inhabit the Earth.

In this issue we ...

The Challenges of Meeting Energy Demands in Environmentally Responsible Ways

Growing global energy demand, driven by population growth and rising standards of living in developing countries, suggests a global appetite for energy in 2050 roughly double that of today. At the same time, the IPCC ...

Global economic and population growth are driving energy, land, and water use, and there are complex connections between the use of these resources and the world’s climate and natural environment.¹ A significant engineering challenge is to develop and deploy technologies that reduce human ...

Robert B. Jackson is Douglas Professor of Energy and Environment in the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences and senior fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University. Pierre Friedlingstein is Chair in Mathematical Modelling of ...

Natural gas has many advantages as a fuel compared to coal and oil. It is abundant and can often be produced at low cost. It has significantly lower combustion emissions of numerous species including greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide), heavy ...

Approximately 10 percent of energy use worldwide is derived from direct or indirect combustion of biomass, providing as much energy as hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind combined.

Energy produced by combustion of biomass or biomass-derived compounds is bioenergy, of which liquid biofuels are a ...

Solar energy utilization poses a vexing conundrum: at present, we cannot afford to use it, but eventually we probably cannot afford not to use it. The promise rests in the unmatched size of the solar resource: more energy from the sun strikes the Earth in one hour than all of the energy consumed on ...

As the harmful environmental effects of burning fossil fuels are increasingly recognized around the world, the carbon-free energy generated by nuclear power plants could support increased use of nuclear power. But the progress of the civilian nuclear power enterprise in the United States is at a ...

Climate change is coming surely and swiftly. Studies by atmospheric scientists indicate that substantial global warming (>2°C) is likely within about 60 years if current economic and energy consumption trends persist.¹ Without a transition to a low-carbon energy economy within that ...

An Interview with . . .

Charley Johnson

Ron Latanision (RML): Good morning, Charley. We’re so glad to talk with you. How are you? We understand you had some health issues.

Charley Johnson (CJ): I’m fine. I’ve been accepted to a stem cell treatment for my hip and my knees.

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