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SUMMARY:Solar Powered CO2-to-Fuel - Prof. Geoffrey Ozin\, University of To
 ronto
DTSTART:20151111T153000Z
DTEND:20151111T163000Z
UID:TALK62048@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Michael Gaultois
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Geoffrey Ozin is the RSC Centenary Prize 2015 winner\, f
 or his work in defining\, enabling and popularising a chemical approach to
  nanomaterials for innovative nanotechnology in advanced materials and bio
 medical science\n\n--\nThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC
 ) reported in October 2013 that it is 95% certain humans are the cause of 
 anthropogenic climate change from the increasing concentrations of carbon 
 dioxide greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere from the combustion of 
 fossil fuels. In March 2014 the IPCC announced that our planet now faces i
 rreversible climate change and our only choice going forward is an assessm
 ent of risk\, vulnerability\, mitigation\, adaptation and cost (http://www
 .ipcc.ch/). Let’s refer to this ‘burn-and-adapt’ scenario as Plan A.
  It appears to me that what is missing from the ongoing greenhouse gas cli
 mate-change debate is a credible Plan B\, namely an alternative course of 
 action for use if Plan A should fail. What I mean by Plan B is a ‘scienc
 e-based technological solution’ with an accompanying action road-map to 
 enable a global scale energy transition from our current one – which is 
 dependent on the finite supply of oil\, coal and gas - to one founded on a
  new energy source that would be able to sustain a global society\; partic
 ularly after the emission of an estimated Trillion tons of CO2 into the at
 mosphere through the burning of fossil fuels (http://trillionthtonne.org/\
 , http://www.climatecommuniques.com/\, http://www.carbontracker.org/). \n\
 nIn this lecture I will explain that the answer to this billion dollar que
 stion is to be found at the scale of billionths of a meter in the emerging
  field of solar energy nanomaterials that I believe will power a new CO2 g
 lobal economy\, producing fuels and chemicals\, a stable climate\, a clean
  environment\, and a sustainable and safe renewable energy future for soci
 ety. The vision of a new CO2 economy that I will describe in this lecture 
 presents a credible science and engineering paradigm\, with a calculable c
 ost\, assessable risk and definable benefit over a quantifiable developmen
 t time period. By contrast\, the protracted climate change debate with its
  opposing forces appears to be grid-locked\, increasing the economic and h
 uman cost of not having a credible Plan B. 
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\,  Department of Chemistry\, Lensfield Ro
 ad
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