EDUCATOR'S CORNER
fields indicating that the subsurface geology does not provide a proven concept or analogue. Nevertheless, research is underway to examine if hydrogen can be stored in subsurface salt caverns.
Energy Storage
The good news from Physics 101 is that energy comes in various types which can be converted from one to another. However, a key component of energy transition will be our capability to efficiently store energy for electricity not only in the short term (hours in the case of batteries) but also sea- sonally (months) where energy production and consumption from renewables (solar, wind, and geothermal) are localized. Various types of energy storage systems are undergoing sig- nificant R&D innovation and experimental improvements in terms of cost and benefit, size and capacity, efficiency (“round- trip” energy loss effect), discharge (how long) and response (how fast) time, and so forth. Geoscientists can help identify and characterize underground formations or optimize earth materials for energy storage.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is the small brother of Big Oil. However, it emits respectively 50% and 25% less carbon dioxide than coal and crude oil4; moreover, natural gas is more abundant and is an established source of electric power. For these reasons, natural gas is often viewed as a bridge from today’s fossil fuel- dominated civilization to a low-carbon world in the near future.
We witnessed the vital importance of natural gas sup- plies for energy security in early 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and threatened to cut its pipeline exports of natural gas to Europe, which has depended on Russian oil and gas for decades. For a foreseeable future, geoscientists will be needed to explore, discover and develop natural gas reservoirs in vari- ous sedimentary basins and regions of the world. Natural gas is a versatile resource: Dissolved gas and gas caps associated with crude oil, non-associated (free) gas fields, shale gas, coal- bed methane, coal gasification, methane hydrates, synthetic gas, and even mantle volcanic gas. They all require various technologies. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants to transport this hydrocarbon fuel across the oceans as well as natural gas power plants will increasingly grow in the coming years.
Energy-Environment Nexus
Perhaps one of the most important subject areas for geosci- entists is to investigate the impacts of energy sources, explo- ration, production, maintenance and consumption of various energy sources on the environment.
The public is well aware of the fossil fuels’ role in global warming; however, they are little aware of the environmental impacts of other energy technologies; for example, deep sea mining, wind turbine landfills, limited life of batteries, water availability for hot dry rock EGS, and so forth. In other words, no single energy technology today is all clean or all capable of meeting the demands of populations around the world. All types of energy sources and technologies need to evolve and improve to be efficient, abundant, and with minimum adverse impact on the environment. Environmental sustainability of energy technologies adds another dimension to R&D and careers in energy transition.
Towards New Geoscience Curriculums
With the exception of natural gas, which is an established industry, the above-mentioned subject areas are at the fore- fronts of R&D with funds in hundreds of billions of dollars offered by the US Department of Energy, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, Canadian Office of Energy Research and Development, European Commission, European Research Council, UK Research and Innovation, as well as major foundations and corporations. These subject areas are yet to be incorporated in new geoscience curriculums in universities.
The geoscience community should embrace the current energy revolution in their teaching and training, and in doing so, two important trends need to be considered: Firstly, many of the research grants related to energy transition require collaborations between geoscientists and engineers. This means designing team-teaching “geoengineering” courses, assignments and research work in order to train graduates comfortable with data science, modeling, and working with professionals in the entire value chain of upstream (exploration and production) and downstream (distribution and marketing) processes. Secondly, a large number of the energy transition ventures are conducted by start-up entrepreneurial compa- nies. Therefore, geoscience students, in their training, need to be exposed to business practices and economic knowledge base.
Information Sources
In recent years, various professional organizations have offered conferences and publications on how geoscientists can be part of the coming energy transition. These are great sources for creating educational materials on energy transition by universities and institutions. For more information visit their websites and publications.
(1) American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) publishes the monthly AAPG Explorer and orga- nizes annual meetings including The AAPG Energy Transition Forum, held so far, in September 2018 (Amsterdam), October 2019 (Edinburgh), and May 2022 (London).
(2) Society for Exploration Geophysics (SEG) publishes the monthly Leading Edge, and since 2020 SEG/AAPG have organized IMAGE conventions where special ses- sions and panel discussions on energy transition and geoscientist workforce have been held.
(3) European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) publishes the monthly First Break, and since 2020 it has organized the annual EAGE Global Energy Transition & Exhibition every November in The Hague.
(4) The Geological Society, London, has organized a series of webinars on Geosciences and Energy Transition dur- ing 2021-2022, and in May 2022 it hosted a two-day conference in its headquarters (Burlington House) in London.
(5) GEO ExPro, a bimonthly magazine published in Europe, often includes articles on energy transition, renewable energies, and industry issues.
(6) Energy Transitions Commission is a global coalition of energy industry experts advocating the net-zero emis- sions; their website offers many informative reports and analyses.
https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php.
www.aipg.org Oct.Nov.Dec 2022 • TPG 51
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