Feature

Science, Technology Class Hears from Industry Expert

Robert Rosner, president of UChicago Argonne and director of Argonne National Laboratory, spoke to a Harris School class about energy policy issues. He addressed the most important global challenges for the next 50 years and outlined how policy students can take part in creating solutions. Central to the creation of good energy policy, he noted, is staying educated on the energy issues themselves.

The class--Science, Technology, and Policy--introduces students to a range of issues in science and policy, exploring how policy influences and is influenced by science. Co-taught by Edward Kolb from the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Robert Michael from the Harris School, the course features guest speakers on everything from cyber security to bio-ethics.

Speaking on one contemporary energy issue-climate change-Rosner said, "Certain topics are so controversial, that it is quite difficult to find any two people who agree on that topic." He was shocked when he realized that some scientists were willing to downplay the impact of climate change because of partisan agendas. "Energy should not be a partisan issue-it's a national issue. This means that we [scientists] need to speak the truth, no matter how inconvenient."

There is a misperception that energy issues have not changed over the last 50 years, he said. "Our energy problems of today are not the same as those of the 1970s. Then the problem was an international political problem; today, it is not just politics," but reliance on cheap and easy energy options that pollute. Rosner said that now the challenge is to craft good policy in response to climate change.

For instance, the biggest driver of the climate crisis is coming from the developing world-not from their population, but their expectations. Last year China surpassed the United States as the world's largest contributor of carbon dioxide because they are improving their living standards and attempting to live like North Americans and Europeans. "The problem is that there is no incentive for China to curb its usage. Why would they listen to us if we tell them to stop?"

Building strong incentives for conservation and clean energy will be the biggest test for policymakers. Today, for example, there is not motivation to create energy-efficient apartment buildings or single-family homes, and the responsibility for energy conservation is left to the end user. However, Rosner argued, conservation is only one part of the solution, and it will not solve our energy problems alone.

"Ultimately, the problem is that we do not have a 'social contract' within society which assures that all parts of our society-government, industry, academia, the media, and the general population-can agree that our energy future can only be guaranteed if we concur on what it takes to address global climate change together with [prioritizing] alternative energy options."

Rosner added that one part of the solution lies in putting more emphasis and funding on research and development. "[The United States has] a terrible history with R&D," because we have a history of funding projects just long enough to get them off the ground and not to sustain them; as a result, many alternative energy projects go bankrupt. And while there is private development, companies are constrained by making profits. Rosner hopes to see research coordinated across agencies and research areas.

Designing and implementing the policies necessary to improve both the reliability of and the access to green energy will not be easy, but scientists and researchers can help, Rosner said. For example, life cycle analyses, an important research tool that evaluates the environmental and economic impacts of a given product or service, have been developed for various energy technologies, but the key next step is to use these analyses to guide national R&D policies. Rosner concluded with a cautionary note to policy students, "Without having some considerable content knowledge of the issues, you cannot make good policy."

By Elizabeth Vivirito