Energy in Wyoming and the World
May 16, 2017
John J Hebberger Jr., Geologists of Jackson Hole
Essentially everything that you use, eat, work & play with, that you literally depend on for your very existence, requires energy for its creation & transportation. Indeed, our modern, high-tech global society and the now 7 billion people alive on earth are utterly dependent on reliable and diverse sources of energy. But how many people realize this, or take time to think about it? And how many know or consider that the future holds great challenges for providing the energy that our children and their children will require through the 21st Century and beyond?
This presentation will give the audience an understanding of how we have travelled from a population of ~1 billion in 1850 with an economy dependent on burning wood, to one that today is in excess of 7 billion on earth, with incredible technology and a global economy. It will review the current energy mix of fossil fuels (>85% of used energy), nuclear, and renewables, and how this energy mix and its size will necessarily change as population grows beyond 9 billion, and as the majority of earth’s human population demands the same quality of life that we enjoy in the United States and in other “developed” countries. Discussed will be the costs that all energy sources & choices result in – and the great challenges that lie ahead to ensure our ability to meet those demands. Critical will be the choices that we individually, and all of us as a global society MUST wisely make for our children’s and their children’s sake. Video