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Jason Chuang

Steven Koonin, a BP chief scientist, discussed the opposition inherent in trying to cut energy use while promoting economic development yesterday at the Arrillaga Alumni Center.

Stanford’s vocal environmental community heard an alternate view as Steven Koonin, chief scientist at oil-giant BP in London, delivered the annual Drell Lecture at the Arrillaga Alumni Center yesterday afternoon.

Koonin’s speech, entitled “Energy, Environment, Security: Can We Have it All?” was sponsored by the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

The scientist presented facts and statistics on the current environmental situation. Koonin made projections for the future and outlined potential technological solutions and sociopolitical obstacles that block those solutions.

“Energy use grows with economic development,” he said. “So energy use is not going to decrease anytime soon.”

“However,” Koonin added, “we won’t run out of hydrocarbons anytime soon.”

Rather, the problem lies with the security and climate dangers behind fossil fuel emissions, according to Koonin. Despite the imminence of these dangers, energy technology is difficult to change due to the scale, ubiquity and longevity of energy equipment, as well as the current economic market layout.

“Society is simply not very well equipped to deal with problems of this nature,” Koonin said.

Koonin cited advanced biofuels as the best candidates for future energy sources and said that such technology is within our reach. However, the scientist questioned whether there is enough political will or economic impetus to accelerate environmental reform.

Obstacles to environmental reform include the “race to the bottom” idea: if one state or nation institutes environmental regulation, corporations will simply relocate. Koonin is also concerned that increasing energy efficiency may lead to increased consumption rather than energy conservation.

“We could and we should address the dual problems of security and emissions,” Koonin said. “But we probably won’t.”

For that reason, Koonin suggested a “Plan B.” This back-up is comprised of adaptation, such as mass migration, and geo-engineering solutions, such as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“It was interesting to speak at Stanford, which is a university known for fusing technology and the social sciences,” Koonin told The Daily in an interview after his talk. “My reason for speaking is to educate. Only when people know better can they initiate change.”