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Many of us will remember 2022 as a year that brought the reality of climate change closer to home.
The impacts were hard to ignore: catastrophic heat waves followed by flooding in Pakistan, drought and disappearing rivers across Europe and major flooding throughout the United States were just a few of the disasters that marked a year of extremes.
Now that we moved into a new year, we're struck yet again by the urgency of the situation and the critical role that institutions of higher education play in combatting climate change, while also addressing the need for energy transition.
Nationwide, some progress has been made -- notably this year's Inflation Reduction Act that targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Unfortunately, the road to net zero is bumpy and not well-defined, but what we do to limit harmful emissions and remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses from our atmosphere is the best way we can reduce global warming.
However, as geoscientists at Penn State who study global environmental change, past and present, we have the privilege of working with those who are inheriting the massive challenge of implementing sustainable solutions to get us to net zero in just a few decades.
So how do we support this transition?
To start, in spring 2022, Penn State hosted a roundtable on energy and climate with experts from several large energy and utility companies, as well as leaders at the Department of Energy and other public-sector agencies and non-profits. The group discussed how the U.S. could develop an energy system with zero net greenhouse gases by 2050.
The assembled experts agreed -- predictably -- that there is not an on and off switch for how we transition energy.
Instead, a broad array of technologies to support net-zero-carbon energy production, including some legacy technologies and fuels such as natural gas, were discussed.
Fossil fuels will likely remain a critical source of energy, supporting the global economy for the near future, and carbon capture and storage at a massive scale will be necessary to meet emissions reductions targets.
Renewable energy sources, especially wind and solar power, coupled with electrification will increasingly support our energy needs, but issues of critical minerals supply, energy storage, and expanded distribution-related infrastructure needs will limit the rate of electrification.
Expanded electricity generation from nuclear energy, including safer, small modular nuclear reactors with recycled fuel, could help. But we are likely approaching a tipping point and must act quickly to transition the nation's energy systems while maintaining reliability.
As our country moves through its necessary energy transition, so too must higher education, and that requires universities to arm today's students with the skills that will help them perform in the current dynamics of the nation that still depends on fossil fuels but teach them in an agile way that enables these fundamental skills to transfer to new technologies.
Embracing a mix of research and technologies, both old and new, is the powerful combination needed to move us forward.
The energy transition is complicated and messy, but our response need not be.
By offering a multidisciplinary systems approach, institutions can prepare students for the reality of an energy transition that is happening in real time.
Knowledge can be shared and built upon, and we can adapt as we learn, together.
But efforts must go beyond education. Campuses too, can reflect a more sustainable existence. At Penn State, we share the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and we are proud of the variety of programs and partnerships working toward that effort.
For example, in 2020, we began purchasing renewable electricity generated from three Lightsource bp solar farms.
As a result, 25% of our university's power over the next 25 years will be provided by the largest solar farm in Pennsylvania history, helping us meet our goals of reducing greenhouse gases and regenerating farmland. In addition, the university has reduced its campus greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent since 2005.
Lastly, institutions of higher learning must embrace their position in society.
The roundtable we held this year concluded that the ability to bring together thought leaders for meaningful discussion may be one of the best opportunities to influence the energy transition now and in the future.
We have an enormous responsibility to educate, support and inspire the leaders who will shape our future.
The energy transition is ongoing, and complex - like most difficult and broad challenges. As educators, innovators and knowledge seekers, let us remember our mission to prepare students to face both the reality of today and the possibility of tomorrow.
Our planet depends upon it.
Kump and John Leon Dean work in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.