“We are using up the fuels made from sunlight that the Earth stored up for us over those many hundreds of millions of years. Obviously, we have, unintentionally, created a trap for ourselves. We will, so to speak, run out of gas. There is no question about that. There’s only a finite amount left in the tank. When will it happen?”
So asks Caltech professor of physics and vice provost Dr. David L. Goodstein. In his new book Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil he hopes to make us consider the consequences of becoming dependent on non-renewable energy sources, and argues for a transitional methane-based fuel economy until we become
able to rely fully on nuclear and solar power sources for all our needs. We are pleased that Dr. Goodstein has agreed to an interview with SciScoop!
Goodstein’s interest in the future of energy is only the latest endeavor in a varied career. His 1975 book States of Matter launched the field of condensed matter physics. He was responsible for the 80’s television series The Mechanical Universe, 52 half-hour programs on physics, and his other books include Feynman’s Lost Lecture, co-authored with his wife, Judith, who is also a Caltech professor. The articles available on his homepage are a great read (check out the one on cold fusion!).
Here at SciScoop, YOU ask the questions! Submit your questions for Dr. Goodstein all week long on this story. If you don’t already have a free account, sign up now and rate each other’s posts during the week to determine which questions will be passed on to Dr. Goodstein. At the end of Sunday, March 28, the top-rated questions will be sent to him, and his responses will be posted here when ready.