The Red and Black

Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: News

Media Credit: LINDY DUGGER Dr. Jerry Schnoor, engineering professor and co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa, answers a question during the Biofuels and Alternative Energy Seminar Thursday. [Click to enlarge]

The world is changing from the fossil fuel age to an era with sustainable, energy-efficient resources.

But this movement will take a lot of work, engineering professor Jerry Schnoor said Thursday at the Biofuels and Alternative Energy seminar.

"We're transitioning out of the fossil fuel age," he said. "It just means we're going to have to substitute for oil and move out of the fossil fuel age."

Schnoor, professor and co-director of the University of Iowa's Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, spoke to about 80 students and faculty in the Student Learning Center about biofuels and their effects on the environment.

He discussed sources of energy used now - such as oil, gas and coal - and how they affected the atmosphere. The earth has seen an increase in temperature and the ice sheets have started melting, he said.

"Once that ice (in Antarctica) is gone, we're talking about millennia to get that back … and we're talking about a huge sea level rise."

"If you've got property on the coast of Florida, you better sell that property," he said jokingly.

Developed countries, such as the U.S. and several European countries, contributed the most to the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and these governments will have to change things, he said.

"We're talking about by 2050, an 80 or 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gases from the developed countries," he said.

Part of this could be achieved with simple supply and demand economics in the oil market, he said.

"My colleagues don't worry too much about oil and gas," Schnoor said. "They feel it's scarce enough that they will take care of themselves. What's more, the price (of oil) will rise ... and that means we're going to have to find a substitute for it."

Schnoor discussed ethanol, an alternative energy source made from corn.

"Ethanol from corn is not sustainable as we now practice it," Schnoor said. "The process (of turning corn into ethanol) requires a lot of very pure water."

Instead of using corn, Schnoor suggested finding a perennial crop that holds soil in place, and uses fertilizer and pesticides.

For now, he said, energy efficiency and conservation are the best strategies for turning the earth's current state around.

"It really means a whole different way of powering our economy," he said.

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