51视频

11/21/2016
By Edwin L. Aguirre

Climate change is real, and it鈥檚 happening now. That鈥檚 the message delivered by former U.S. energy secretary and Nobel laureate to a packed audience on Nov. 16 at 51视频鈥檚 University Crossing.

鈥淭here is compelling evidence that Earth鈥檚 climate is changing and humans are responsible for it. We only have one chance at correcting it and we have to do it,鈥� said Chu, who was on campus to deliver this year鈥檚 Tripathy Endowed Memorial Lecture and receive an honorary doctorate. More than 100 students, faculty and staff were on hand for his talk, 鈥淐limate Change and a Path to Clean Energy.鈥�

Each year, a leading scientist and scholar comes to 51视频 to present the lecture in memory of Sukant K. Tripathy. The late professor of chemistry was internationally recognized for his research in the area of thin polymer films in electronics and optics. He founded the university鈥檚 Center for Advanced Materials and served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Prior to his lecture, Chu received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Chancellor Jacquie Moloney for his 鈥渓ifetime commitment to tackling our world鈥檚 energy and climate-change challenges.鈥�

A Planet in Dire Straits

In his talk, Chu presented decades of satellite data that show how human activities are affecting the global climate pattern. 鈥淕lacier melting is accelerating and the sea level is rising,鈥� he said.

Chu showed a graph that plots the dramatic increase in carbon dioxide emissions from 1850 to 2011. He said carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere stays in the environment for tens of thousands of years. The sea absorbs most of the excess gases and becomes acidic. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the yearly emissions we should be concerned about but the cumulative effect,鈥� he noted. 鈥淓arth is not going to clean itself [of greenhouse gases] automatically.鈥�

Chu also pointed out a correlation between increasing air pollution in dense urban centers like Beijing and the rising incidence of lung cancer among both smokers and non-smokers. He said air particles from power plant exhaust and cigarette smoke contain carcinogens that cause lung cells to mutate and form malignant tumors. 鈥淭he incidence of lung cancer is 25 times higher now and poses the biggest health threat in the developed world,鈥� he noted.

The good news, said Chu, is that new technological solutions are being developed in the area of air filtration using HEPA filters and novel techniques that trap particles using electric charge. Advances in renewable energy sources like wind and the sun are also making electricity production cheaper and more commercially viable. For example, he predicts the price of solar-generated electricity will continue to drop from 3 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2020 to 2 cents per kWh by 2035 or 2040.

Research is also being conducted to make batteries last longer and more efficient. Chu expects the price of lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles to drop 10 percent from the current levels. Scientists are also developing a new generation of high-capacity batteries based on carbon, silicon and lithium composites.

As the nation鈥檚 first scientist to hold a cabinet position, Chu recruited top scientists and engineers to the U.S. Department of Energy during President Obama鈥檚 first term and launched several initiatives to support research and innovation in clean, sustainable energy. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the best way to do it, and I hope the next administration will follow the same model,鈥� he said.

Chu shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on cooling and trapping atoms using laser. He joins a distinguished list of Nobel laureates and leaders in materials science research who have delivered the Tripathy lecture at 51视频, including Profs. Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger (co-winners, 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Wolfgang Ketterle (co-winner, 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics), Robert Grubbs (co-winner, 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and (co-winner, 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine).