Today, humans will extract almost 100 million barrels of oil from the Earth, and roughly equivalent amounts of coal and natural gas. In the latest IPCC 1.5 degree report, the deadline for halving this extractive flow of fossil fuels is 2030, and eliminating it is 2050. Can we clean up these massive veins of fossil fuel energy in time to prevent irreversible climate damage? Do we have the technologies we need to scale up in time? The challenge of the energy transition is multifaceted – from providing zero-carbon fuels for ships to providing heat in our homes. These various demands require energy at different scales, in different places, and at different times. Eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels is not trivial, but one important, scalable technology is green ammonia. This carbon-free fuel is made from just air, water, and renewable electricity. That is it. Three ingredients: N2 from air, H2O, and renewable electricity. Fundamentally carbon-free. How close are we to deploying this technology? Announced investments for scaling it up are already in the billions of dollars, led by the Middle East and Australia looking to export their sunshine. What is this new 21st century oil? And what changes will it bring to our world?
Zac Cesaro is an R&D engineer for Siemens Energy and third year DPhil in Engineering
Science at the University of Oxford. He is an expert in “green” ammonia production and use
and has two years of experience operating the world’s first roundtrip green ammonia
demonstrator at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK. His DPhil in Systems Engineering focuses on modelling the role of green ammonia in decarbonised electricity grids of the future, specifically in India. Prior to starting his DPhil, Zac completed a BSc in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University and worked as a manufacturing consultant in Boston, USA for 1.5 years. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx