(336e) The Chemical Engineers' Role in Energy and Economic Security

The Chemical Engineers’ Role in Energy and Economic Security

James A. Trainham

RTI International and NC State University

Transportation—not power generation—is the real energy challenge.

Energy Independence for the U.S. is really North American Energy Independence because Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are interconnected, linked by geography, geology, infrastructure and economics.  Together we can detox North America from OPEC’s monopoly.

Until now no substitutes for oil existed.   Unconventional natural gas (UG) reserves are plentiful and increasing.   The opportunity is for UG to diversify the fuel choices.  UG will change the geopolitics of the world as UG recovery and use technology, applied globally, substantially reduce oil dependencies.

Chemical engineers must lead this migration to UG, reducing the investment intensity of UG based fuels in the short-term and in the longer-term reduce the carbon footprint of UG usage..

These circumstances and the leadership legacy of Professor Prausnitz demand that we chemical engineers develop the fundamental understanding to make the new technologies economic reality and eliminate transition barriers.