Speaker
Description
Global warming is a central issue for our civilization. While it has broad impact, it is at its core simply a matter of energy balance. Given its fundamental nature, global warming has attracted the attention of many physicists over the years. This includes climatologists, of course, many of whom hold a physics degree, and whose main work focuses on describing and understanding the impact of greenhouse gases on the evolution of the climate. It also includes physicists interested in developing critical fundamental and applied solutions to move away from a fossil-based society as well as those interested in planning the transformation of our energy system or in.
Yet, even though energy transition involves a lot of technology and science concepts, to contribute to such a transversal transformation, physicists must expand their traditional training: unlike physical systems, social transformations are not deterministic, requiring scenario-based thinking largely foreign to physics training.
Building on my own experience working on the energy transition, I'll present examples of how physicists do contribute to this challenge by building on the fundamental scientific knowledge and problem-solving tools that are part of our physics training and how we can use those skills for her society-wide problems.