A "Transforming Energy" Lecture by Jefferson W. Tester
September 15, 2006

Abstract

Faced with the enormous challenge of providing clean, secure and sustainable energy that is essential to maintaining our social and economic well-being, many argue that the U.S. and other developed countries should be pursuing options more aggressively. There are many reasons why a transition from our current fossil fuel-based energy supply system is needed for the long-term. While renewable energy systems from solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydro sources offer the potential for achieving a more sustainable system, the transition to a renewable energy future has been painfully slow. This seminar will examine both the context and the options for accelerating such a change. Two specific technologies will be explored in detail as examples for understanding the potential and engineering challenges for creating a sustainable energy supply: 1) developments of geothermal energy; and 2) the conversion of biomass for transportation fuels.

Biography

Dr. Tester is the H.P. Meissner Professor of Chemical Engineering. For three decades, he has been involved in chemical engineering process research as it relates to renewable and conventional energy extraction and conversion and environmental control technologies. He has published extensively in the energy area with 190 research papers and 7 co-authored books. His other assignments included director of MIT's Energy Laboratory (1989-2001), director of MIT's School of Chemical Engineering Practice Program (1980-1989) and a group leader in the Geothermal Engineering Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory (1974-1980). He is a member of the advisory boards of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as chair, The Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust as chair, American Council on Renewable Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Cornell University, and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He was a member of the Energy R&D Panel of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in 1997 and has served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Research Council in areas related to concentrating solar power, geothermal energy and other renewable technologies and to waste minimization and pollution reduction. Dr. Tester received a B.S. and M.S. with distinction in chemical engineering in 1966 and 1967 at Cornell and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at MIT in 1971.