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SUMMARY:Energy Transitions: Slow Transformations and Difficult Substitutio
 ns - Dr Vaclav Smil - Distinguished Professor\, University of Manitova
DTSTART:20100217T170000Z
DTEND:20100217T180000Z
UID:TALK22679@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Leal-Ayala
DESCRIPTION:The first half would be about the inertial nature of transitio
 ns in general\, in the second part I would concentrate on the two big proc
 esses that (unappreciated and forgotten) underpin our civilization: primar
 y iron production and Haber-Bosch synthesis of ammonia that makes it possi
 ble to feed some 3 billion people.\n\nVaclav Smil is Distinguished Profess
 or at the University of Manitoba and the author of many books\, including 
 Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems\; Ener
 gy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties\; The Earth’
 s Biosphere: Evolution\, Dynamics\, and Change\; and Energies: An Illustra
 ted Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization\, all of which are published b
 y The MIT Press. He was awarded the 2007 Olivia Schieffelin Nordberg Award
  for excellence in writing and editing in the population sciences.\n\nHis 
 interdisciplinary research encompasses a broad area of environmental\, ene
 rgy\, food\, population\, economic and public policy studies\, ranging fro
 m quantifications and modeling of global biogeochemical cycles to long-ran
 ge appraisals of energy and environmental options. He has been also applyi
 ng these approaches to energy\, food and environmental affairs of China.
LOCATION:LT2\, Engineering Department\, Inglis Building
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