Escaping from Our Energy Trap
Speaker: Leonardo Maugeri, Group Senior Vice-President for Strategies and Development, Eni SpA, Italy
Date: Monday, January 14, 2008
Time: 2:00 pm-3:00 pm; reception follows
Location: 4-349, Pappalardo Room
Sponsor: MIT Energy Initiative
Abstract
The world is searching for a new energy paradigm that would eliminate its dependence on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, we are prisoners in an "energy trap."
Carbon-rich fossil fuels-coal, petroleum and natural gas-have a superior density of energy and power relative to all other sources of energy, with the exception of nuclear. Translation: fossil fuels produce enormous and concentrated quantities of energy. What's more, their flexibility of use, relative ease of transport and storage, ready availability and comparatively low costs provide additional competitive advantages. Today's alternative energy sources cannot match these advantages. This means fossil fuels will be with us for the next several decades—but their disadvantages are extremely problematic from a climate and environmental perspective.
It is essential then that serious energy policy—one that factors in the environmental and climate impacts of energy consumption—accommodate these uncomfortable and unhealthy realities. This means a significant and accelerated investment in energy efficiency and an even greater effort to develop promising alternatives to fossil fuels. We must also invest heavily in new technologies and support a suite of policies and laws that will enable the world to survive—and thrive in—this 25-year "shot-gun" marriage between fossil fuels and our need to establish a paradigm for a sustainable energy future.
About the speaker
Leonardo Maugeri is Director of Strategies and Development at Eni SpA, one of the world's leading oil and gas companies. He is a member of the board of directors of Eni subsidiary Polimeri Europa SpA, Italgas, and the Mattei Foundation. A global expert on petroleum and gas, Mr. Maugeri has published widely on the subject, recently contributing the cover story of the 2006 special edition of Newsweek International devoted to energy issues. He is the author of The Age of Oil: the Mythology, History, and Future of the World's Most Controversial Resource (Praeger, 2006), in English and translated into 11 other languages. Mr. Maugeri serves as an International Councilor of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and as a member of the Energy Advisory Board of Accenture. He is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association, the Rand Business Forum, and MIT's World Economic Laboratory.
