Abstract
We need a science-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; particularly after the emission of an estimated Trillion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels (http://trillionthtonne.org/, http://www.climatecommuniques.com/, http://www.carbontracker.org/). In this lecture I will explain that the answer to this billion dollar question 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 global economy, producing fuels and chemicals, a stable climate, a clean environment, and a sustainable and safe renewable energy future for society. The vision of a new CO2 economy that I will describe in this lecture presents a credible science and engineering paradigm, with a calculable cost, assessable risk and definable benefit over a quantifiable development time period. By contrast, the protracted climate change debate with its opposing forces appears to be grid-locked, increasing the economic and human cost of not having a credible plan B.
Biography
Geoffrey Ozin studied at King’s College London and Oriel College Oxford University, before completing an ICI Postdoctoral Fellowship at Southampton University. Currently he is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Materials Chemistry and Nanochemistry and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Toronto. Internationally he has been Global Chair at the University of Bath, Distinguished Research Professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Professorial Fellow at The Royal Institution Great Britain and University College London University, Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Colloid and Surface Science, Sherman-Fairchild Scholar at Caltech and 3M Research Fellow, Minneapolis-St Paul.