EDUCATOR’S CORNER
Geoscience Education and Energy Transition
Rasoul Sorkhabi, Ph.D., CPG-11981
Dr. Rasoul Sorkhabi is a professor at the University of Utah’s Energy & Geoscience Institute, Salt Lake City. Email:
rsorkhabi@egi.utah.edu
Geoscience education, enrollment and employment are
facing daunting challenges for a variety of reasons: (1) Competition from other sciences and fields such as biology, chemical engineering, business, and computer and informa- tion science; (2) public misconception of geologists as field workers (mostly men) hammering, digging or blasting rocks in rough and remote places or chasing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; (3) insufficient efforts and outreach programs to educate the public and the youth about the significance and relevance of geoscience to life and society; (4) lack of modern courses around big questions and real issues to attract minds and monies; and (5) a sharp decline in employment by the oil and gas industry (Figure 1), which was traditionally a major employer of geology and geophysics graduates.
The modern world has been shaped by fossil fuels: coal, oil, and gas. These still constitute 80% of energy consump- tion (Figure 2) although renewables are and will be steadily increasing their shares. The burning of fossil fuels, which has steadily increased since the mid-19th century on par with growth in populations and industries, has increased the atmospheric carbon dioxide, a key culprit in the current global warming manifested in melting glaciers, floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires. Many rightfully fear that if we do
100
Percent of employed graduates
80 60 40 20
2YC 4YC K12 State Govt Federal Govt Agriculture Oil & Gas Mining Prof Services Construction NGO Info Sci Institute Res Other
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Figure 1. Employment of MS geoscience graduates 2013-2020 by various sectors. Note the significant decrease in the oil and gas sector and significant increases in mining and teaching. (Source: American Geosciences Institute, Christopher Keane)
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not do something big and fast, these climate-driven phenom- ena will intensify and will be accompanied by sea level rise, inundation of islands and coastal cities (loss of land), ocean acidification, and habitat destruction for wildlife.
We are living in the midst of a major technological revolution in history – a transition to low-carbon industries, economies, and lifestyles. The energy transition is not going to be easy or fast. However, its challenges also come with real opportunities for innovation, research and development (R&D), new funds, and being part of the solutions.
Carbon Capture and Storage/Sequestration (CCS) and Utilization (CCSU)
To avert the global warming catastrophe, it is necessary to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide (and methane). It is
also necessary to remove the extra CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbon capture methods may be applied before (partial oxi- dization in a gasifier), during (the Oxy-fuel combustion with pure oxygen instead of air), or after the combustion process. Post-combustion carbon capture includes (1) direct air capture (DAC), which is less efficient because it requires considerable
energy input to remove the dilute atmospheric CO2 (414 ppm), and (2) point source capture (PSC) from flue gasses at power stations and other industrial plants.
After CO2 is captured as a concen- trated compressed stream, it needs to be
transported and stored safely in under- ground rock formations, or utilized, for example, in producing chemicals such as methanol or injecting into oil fields for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). There are five mechanisms for geological
trapping of CO2: (1) Structural trap- ping in a porous reservoir capped by an impermeable seal rock; (2) capillary trapping in the pore space of reservoir rocks; (3) solubility trapping by dissolu-
tion of CO2 into formation waters; (4) mineral trapping by reacting dissolved
CO2 with fine-grained metal oxides (notably ultramafic mine tailings) to produce carbonates; and (5) biological trapping either naturally (tree planta- tion or reforestation) or artificially, for instance, fertilization of the oceans with iron to enhance phytoplankton activity and CO2 uptake.
www.aipg.org
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