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Academic Lectures / Courses
Seminar: Mining & Energy Transition 12/5 | 12pm FREE PIZZA!
Department / Organization: Research and Technology Transfer Office
Dr. Doug Wicks, ARPA-E, "Catalyzing the Renaissance of American Mining to Enable the Energy Transition"
Climate change is perhaps humankind's largest existential crisis, with unabated emissions wreaking havoc on global environmental systems. Great technological leaps, unimaginable until recently, are scaling up to meet the challenge. BUT deployment of these will be hobbled by the looming lack of mineral-derived resources and workforce, leaving humankind unable to execute the transition.
The talk will put forth ideas and concepts to stimulate discussion about how mines of the future could not only supply the transition but also, at the same time, address environmental and social needs. Some thoughts to be broached are how we:
• Adapt mining to be a carbon-negative solution to the metals industry's emissions issues (e.g., CO2 sequestration within CO2-reactive ore bodies during mining) • Unleash the potential of geologic hydrogen (i.e., hydrogen produced from geologic formations) to be a boundless clean energy source • Develop mining approaches to access deep deposits with little to no disturbance to the environment (e.g., in-situ solution mining) • Reimagine minerals processing to be more like an oil refinery - valorizing everything dug out of the ground • Foster the ideas and approaches that will create the new generation of technology startups and leaders needed to tackle this opportunity
The answers literally lie in the rocks beneath our feet, please join in the discussions of how to unleash what is there.