Richard Sears (Stanford '76), Vice President, Academia,
Shell International Exploration & Production Inc., and
Visiting Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
Abstract: The world's energy systems today are dominated by oil and gas, and it is likely to be that way for the next few decades. As we look 30-50 years or farther into the future, our energy systems will need to evolve to meet future energy demands while recognizing increasingly stringent environmental and social constraints. For a global integrated oil and gas company like Shell, it's critical to think about how we will respond to these forces of change while making the investments necessary to provide for the world's increasing energy needs. This talk will examine different paths that society and companies like Shell might choose to take, along with data that supports those options. We will consider the scale and complexity of the challenges that face us, and while not pretending to have the answers, we believe that we can make some definitive statements about how we need to be thinking about and addressing our future energy challenges.