Whales to Wood, Wood to Coal/Oil" What's Next? Daniel Nocera,
The Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy and Professor of
Chemistry; ; ; Description: In 1845, the Dietz Company of New
York introduced the sperm oil lantern, which nearly wiped out
some whale species. A decade or so later, Dietz began to
manufacture lamps using other oils, and gas lighting fixtures,
giving whales a reprieve. More than a century has passed, and
we're "about to do it again," says Daniel Nocera, consuming a
precious resource and endangering this time not whales but our
world. Nocera wonders, "What will be the savior," the answer
that will save the entire planet? He ticks off the grim details
of our fossil fuel habit -- how the world is rapidly moving from
its energy consumption of 12.8 terawatts per year, to 28
terawatts by 2050. This is a simple calculation, Nocera tells
us, requiring only population, GDP per capita and energy
intensity. The upshot, unfortunately, is that though we do have
enough carbon"based energy (oil, methane, coal