Stevens Institute of Technology: Academic Colloquium Remarks - Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

How Innovation has Changed the World

Speaker: US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu

Synopsis: Advances in science, technology and innovation have redefined the world. The Industrial Revolution liberated us from the constraints of human and animal power and we achieved remarkable successes. In this brief instant in the history of humankind, the world has grown from 700 million to 7 billion people, and the living conditions of an ever-increasing fraction of humanity has been elevated to heights that were unimaginable to the kings, queens, and emperors of earlier times. Our homes are warm in winter, cool in summer, and lit at night. We enjoy a breathtaking mobility of information, goods, and people, made possible by science, technology and innovation, and fueled by energy.

Those same achievements have created new challenges, and our present path is not sustainable. Although we are becoming increasingly adept in our ability to find and extract fossil energy, there is no debate that the supply of these fuels is finite. While technology advances will likely be able to supply our rapidly growing appetite for fossil energy in the coming decades, we will still need to dramatically de-carbonize our use of energy. The scientific evidence that the climate is changing and is largely due to human greenhouse gas emissions grows more compelling with each passing year. In order to mitigate the most dire risks, we will need to make substantial changes in an arena where established technologies are naturally favored and the time scale of change is slow.

Secretary Chu discussed how innovation transforms the world. He will summarize the energy and climate challenges, and the scientific and technological developments needed to transition to a sustainable world.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• [stevens
• institute
• of
• technology]
• coloquium
• academic
• school
• hoboken
• inauguration
• nariman
• farvardin
• college
• university
• innovation
• engineering
• nanotechnology
• president
• yt:crop=16:9
• steven
• chu
• secretary
• energy