SAMPE Journal - January/February 2012 - (Page 12)

Perspectives Steven Rodgers SAMPE Past President and Consultant, EmergenTek LLC Steven.R@EmergenTek.com The World of the Future: What is SAMPE’s Material Contribution? (Part 1) At the SAMPE Tech conference in 2005 Wade Adams gave a keynote presentation called "Become an Engineer and Save the World". In that presentation Dr. Adams built upon some themes that had been heavily promoted by his good friend Rick Smalley. Dr. Smalley scrutinized the list of 10 most significant technologies needing to be addressed in the coming decades by the next generation of engineers. He came to the conclusion that all of those technologies require energy, which automatically elevates energy concerns to the top of the list. Without energy, all of the other technologies are doomed to failure. Humankind has become utterly dependent on sufficient supplies of energy to sustain life as we have come to know it. Here we sit at the end of 2011 and those thoughts are now considered much more mainstream than they were when they were originally proposed. We find that the call for engineers to provide solutions to these problems is becoming much clearer and more urgent. As the population of earth passes seven billion, the thought of a future with insufficient energy resources paints a sobering picture. But “energy” is an awfully large category to address without breaking it down into its constituent elements. These four elements represent four major categories within the energy sector that are the most important areas for materials development in support of new technologies in the next decade: 1. Energy Creation 2. Energy Transportation 3. Energy Storage 4. Energy Conservation The neglect of any of these elements will lead to a radical constraint in future technological and economic growth. Let's be more specific. Energy Creation - We must seek to develop clean energy alternatives that can add affordable energy to the grid (whether that grid is global or local) that has a minimum of environmental impact. That impact must be defined in terms of not just the operating impact on the environment but the impact of manufacturing, the materials used and the end-of-life considerations such as disposal of spent materials and process byproducts. Without adequate supplies of appropriate energy the current rate of technological development is unsustainable. Energy Transportation - Energy is seldom restricted to the location at which it is created. Whether it is petroleum-based, natural gas or electricity, infrastructure is an important part of the picture, even if it is merely transporting electricity from the wind plant on your roof to the inverter in your home. The efficiency of each system has an impact on the efficiency of the whole, even if the impact appears minuscule. Many small effects can have a large additive impact. Energy Storage - One of the great challenges in energy supply is matching the total energy supply with the shifting demands of the public. Traditional energy supply is typically fairly stable with little or no attempt to match output with the public need during peak and offpeak usage. Wind power output depends on the velocity of the wind and solar power is dependent upon the time of day, the day of the year and specific weather conditions on that day. Current energy storage strategies are in their infancy as we continue to pursue development of batteries, fly wheels, kinetic storage (such as pumping water into dams or pressurizing air to be used later to run traditional generators), hydrogen storage and others. Energy Conservation - Without effective energy conservation strategies we simply will not be capable of creating, transporting and storing enough energy to meet global demands. It has been estimated that by the year 2050, given current growth rates, the daily energy needs of the planet will be more than three times what they were in 2011. The fossil reserves upon which we have become so dependent are a savings account of solar energy from the past. Plants converted sunlight to energy, which was consumed by animals and when they died the energy was stored in coal and petroleum. To put this concept into economic terms, we have been living on our “savings” and have not learned to live on our “income”. If we continue to consume our savings at the current rate without learning to use energy more efficiently it is not difficult to imagine a day in which our resources have been effectively consumed while our needs exceed our "income". In our attempt to assure that the needs of future generations are met, we must learn to do more with less. So with all of that in mind, what roles can SAMPE play in this world of development? The answer to that question depends on how you define SAMPE. How we view the SAMPE of the future and how we approach these issues will be the subject of the follow on article in the next SAMPE Journal. 12 SAMPE Journal, Volume 48, No. 1, January/February 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - January/February 2012

SAMPE Journal - January/February 2012
Contents
President’s Message
Technical Director’s Corner
In-Process Fiber Orientation Measurement and Foreign Object Damage (FOD) Prevention for Complex Preform or Prepreg Lay-ups
The World of the Future: What is SAMPE’s Material Contribution?
Corporate Partners
Europe News & Views
SAMPE Europe’s SEICO 2012, Paris
SAMPE Tech 2012 Call for Papers
SAMPE Books & CD’s Order Form
SAMPE Proceedings
New Processes for Large Scale Automotive Production of Composite Applications
The SAMPE Foundation
Materials & Products
SAMPE LinkedIn Communities
SAMPE Journal Editorial Calender
Welcome SAMPE’s Newest Members
SAMPE 2012|Baltimore
SAMPE 2012 Exhibition
Industry News
SAMPE Asia 2012|Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
SAMPE Tech 2011 Ft. Worth Review
Upcoming SAMPE Events
12th Japan International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition – JISSE-12
SAMPE China Review
Advertiser’s Index
Resource Center
Membership Application
Industry Events Calendar
Chapter Meetings Dates and Contacts

SAMPE Journal - January/February 2012