During the 20th century, world primary energy consumption has increased over ten times, leading to an unprecedented improvement of the quality of life in some regions of the world. This was made possible thanks to a massive exploitation of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that, in the decades to come, has to be significantly moderated due to environmental constraints. In particular, anthropogenic climate forcing caused by the dumping of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.1 Solar energy, in its multifaceted forms, is the most abundant, reliable, sustainable, and safe primary energy source that can profitably replace fossil fuels.2,3 The transition to a solar-powered world will be a long and difficult process4 in which some key trends can be already envisaged: (1) growing share of electricity in energy end use;5 (2) increase of efficiency in energy production and consumption;2,3 (3) establishment of technologies for the manufacturing of "solar fuels";6,7 (4) recycling the equipment used for converting renewable energy flows, that is often made of materials available in very limited supply (e.g. precious metals).8 The solutions to the tremendous challenge of energy transition require the mobilization of huge human and economic resources in all scientific and technological fields. In this context chemistry, and particularly inorganic chemistry, will play a prominent role, as it will be discussed in selected examples, related to materials for solar energy conversion9 and efficient lighting technologies.10 1N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, The legacy of fossil fuels, Chem.-Asian J., 2011, 6, 768-784. 2N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, Energy for a sustainable world. From the oil age to a sun powered future, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2011. 3N. Armaroli, V. Balzani and N. Serpone, Powering planet earth - energy solutions for the future, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2013. 4N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, The future of energy supply: Challenges and opportunities, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 52-66. 5N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, Towards an electricity-powered world, Energ. Environ. Sci., 2011, 4, 3193-3222. 6J. Barber, Photosynthetic energy conversion: Natural and artificial, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 185-196. 7RSC - Royal Society of Chemistry, Solar fuels and artificial photosynthesis: Science and innovation to change our future energy options, 2012, http://www.rsc.org/ 8B. K. Reck and T. E. Graedel, Challenges in metal recycling, Science, 2012, 337, 690-695. 9J. Iehl, M. Vartanian, M. Holler, J. F. Nierengarten, B. Delavaux-Nicot, J. M. Strub, A. Van Dorsselaer, Y. L. Wu, J. Mohanraj, K. Yoosaf and N. Armaroli, Photoinduced electron transfer in a clicked fullerene-porphyrin conjugate, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 1562-1573. 10R. D. Costa, E. Orti, H. J. Bolink, F. Monti, G. Accorsi and N. Armaroli, Luminescent ionic transition-metal complexes for light-emitting electrochemical cells, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51, 8178-8211.
Energy for the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities for chemistry
Nicola Armaroli
2013
Abstract
During the 20th century, world primary energy consumption has increased over ten times, leading to an unprecedented improvement of the quality of life in some regions of the world. This was made possible thanks to a massive exploitation of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) that, in the decades to come, has to be significantly moderated due to environmental constraints. In particular, anthropogenic climate forcing caused by the dumping of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.1 Solar energy, in its multifaceted forms, is the most abundant, reliable, sustainable, and safe primary energy source that can profitably replace fossil fuels.2,3 The transition to a solar-powered world will be a long and difficult process4 in which some key trends can be already envisaged: (1) growing share of electricity in energy end use;5 (2) increase of efficiency in energy production and consumption;2,3 (3) establishment of technologies for the manufacturing of "solar fuels";6,7 (4) recycling the equipment used for converting renewable energy flows, that is often made of materials available in very limited supply (e.g. precious metals).8 The solutions to the tremendous challenge of energy transition require the mobilization of huge human and economic resources in all scientific and technological fields. In this context chemistry, and particularly inorganic chemistry, will play a prominent role, as it will be discussed in selected examples, related to materials for solar energy conversion9 and efficient lighting technologies.10 1N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, The legacy of fossil fuels, Chem.-Asian J., 2011, 6, 768-784. 2N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, Energy for a sustainable world. From the oil age to a sun powered future, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2011. 3N. Armaroli, V. Balzani and N. Serpone, Powering planet earth - energy solutions for the future, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2013. 4N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, The future of energy supply: Challenges and opportunities, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 52-66. 5N. Armaroli and V. Balzani, Towards an electricity-powered world, Energ. Environ. Sci., 2011, 4, 3193-3222. 6J. Barber, Photosynthetic energy conversion: Natural and artificial, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 185-196. 7RSC - Royal Society of Chemistry, Solar fuels and artificial photosynthesis: Science and innovation to change our future energy options, 2012, http://www.rsc.org/ 8B. K. Reck and T. E. Graedel, Challenges in metal recycling, Science, 2012, 337, 690-695. 9J. Iehl, M. Vartanian, M. Holler, J. F. Nierengarten, B. Delavaux-Nicot, J. M. Strub, A. Van Dorsselaer, Y. L. Wu, J. Mohanraj, K. Yoosaf and N. Armaroli, Photoinduced electron transfer in a clicked fullerene-porphyrin conjugate, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 1562-1573. 10R. D. Costa, E. Orti, H. J. Bolink, F. Monti, G. Accorsi and N. Armaroli, Luminescent ionic transition-metal complexes for light-emitting electrochemical cells, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012, 51, 8178-8211.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
