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As energy demands continue to rise, global warming from the consumption of fossil-fuels is now a serious
issue and finding alternate resources of clean energy is essential. At the same time, while we transition
into such clean energy, finding ways to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from
fossil-fuel consumption is also necessary. Finally, finding accurate methods to climate modeling for
predicting future weather patterns is also crucial for society.
Renewables like wind, solar, and hydropower are clean resources, but their seasonally varying energy-
supply leads to energy excesses and deficits, which cannot meet the current and future energy needs.
However, producing hydrogen during the periods of energy excess and using it for energy production
during energy deficits is a potential solution to meet the energy supply and demand from these
renewables. Geothermal energy is another clean resource with almost unlimited energy supply.
Additionally, many geothermal systems contain lithium, an energy-critical element, needed for high
performance battery materials and electrolyte solutions in electric vehicles and other clean-energy storage
applications. As we transition into these clean resources, it is however important to continue using fossil-
fuels, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their use, carbon capture, utilization, and storage
(CCUS) is a well-accepted method. Finally, climate modeling to predict the future weather-patterns require
modeling of the interactions between the hydrosphere and atmosphere, in which two critical parameters
are the oceanic temperature and salinity.
Geoscience and reservoir engineering will have major roles to play toward efficiently using the clean
energy resources, CCUS, and climate modeling. This presentation will provide a brief overview of these
roles. |