Tomorrow’s Needs: Energy and the Environment

This is the second in a series of opinion pieces from leaders around campus on the
role that Michigan Tech innovators will play to define the world’s emerging needs. 

In President Rick Koubek’s recent Michigan Tech News article, he asked: “In 2035, what will society’s most pressing questions be? And what are
Michigan Tech’s best opportunities for answering those questions?” As a leader in
research and education, Michigan Tech must answer the call to identify and address
key questions that address the needs of tomorrow. These needs are rapidly changing
as technology advances at an ever-increasing pace, with big data needs for artificial
intelligence skyrocketing and robotics and automation redefining how we manufacture
things. These technology leaps in a time of changing climate make energy and the environment
two key areas where Michigan Tech leadership is needed. 

Below are three pressing energy and environment questions that society will be facing
in 2035, and ideas for how we at Michigan Tech can position ourselves to answer these
questions.

How can we move toward a climate-safe future for all?

Efforts to reduce the rate of climate change have been ongoing for over a decade now.
Slowing this rate of change is critical, but no matter what we do to slow down these
changes, we know that climate change will continue to drastically alter our everyday
lives. In both urban and natural settings, people will need to adapt to shifting climate
patterns and weather events, as well as policies designed to reduce future changes
to our climate. 

As we adapt, we need to acknowledge that climate change will affect communities differently,
and often those who least contribute to climate change will be the most vulnerable.
From such a scenario, challenging questions arise: How do we identify and recognize
inequities that arise from differences in geography, affluence, political influence
and social inequalities? How do these inequities result in differences in access to
the tools and technologies needed to adapt to a changing climate? 

Michigan Tech is poised to address these questions. The University has ongoing work
and shows strengths in the wide range of disciplines needed to design effective and
equitable climate action. With input and collaboration from all of our discipline
areas — sustainability, manufacturing, natural resource stewardship, environmental
policy, social justice, big data and many others — our STEM-focused institution can
provide opportunities to work on answering these questions in ways that, to quote
Michigan Tech’s vision statement, “promote mutual respect and equity for all people
within the state, the nation, and the global community.” 

How will we meet the clean energy needs of our future society?

Central to designing effective and equitable climate action is improving how we generate
and consume energy and how we manage power. We are in the midst of a major energy
transition driven by climate action, the digital revolution and manufacturing advances.
We are transitioning from carbon-based energy production (such as coal, oil and gas)
to non-carbon production (such as nuclear, solar, wind, hydrogen, geothermal) of electrical
power. 

Affordable access to electrical power has become as much an essential public good
and necessity as access to clean water and air.

With power being increasingly necessary for basic day-to-day living and communication,
designing resilient energy systems has become a societal imperative. Transitioning
to clean, affordable, reliable electricity while protecting all communities from pollution
and improving public health is now — and will continue to be — one of society’s most
pressing challenges.

We have begun the needed shift from fully centralized energy generation, storage and
transmission to a mix of distributed means of producing and delivering clean, affordable
energy — think vehicle to grid and back! In the future, we will also need to use that
energy more efficiently and sustainably. Improvement to battery storage systems, recycling
of nonrenewable components of batteries, increased energy efficacy of data storage
and processing facilities, and developing sustainable manufacturing processes. These
are just a few of the key challenges ahead of us — to which Michigan Tech will continue
to contribute.

What better place to address these challenges head-on than in the remote, rural, snow-laden
environment of the Keweenaw Peninsula? Ours is a place where cars, power lines and
electricity production facilities need to be tough and resilient to function. It is
also a place anticipating significant population growth as the things we love about
the Keweenaw become increasingly desirable in a changing world. Will solar panels
work with a foot of snow on them? Will autonomous vehicles work when there are no
lines visible on the road and no GPS to guide them? Michigan Tech is ideally situated
to answer such questions and provide vital leadership in energy technology and policy,
building on decades of deep expertise in managing power systems and energy generation
in real, unstructured environments. 

How will we retain the essential services provided by natural ecosystems?

Natural ecosystems provide us with food, materials for construction and ingredients
for essential medicines. Natural systems also regulate water quality and quantity,
as well as climate through carbon sequestration. Society depends on natural ecosystems
for recreational opportunities and for other services that benefit human health, many
of which — like the direct positive health effects of spending time in natural systems
— are only now starting to be fully understood. Understanding the economic value of
these services, as well as ways in which natural environments can be incorporated
into human-designed environments, will be essential to promoting the maintenance of
ecosystem services into the future. Michigan Tech can help address how both a changing
climate and increasing energy demands will influence the critical services derived
from natural ecosystems.

Michigan Tech finds itself well-positioned to answer key questions in this field,
like how can we optimize carbon sequestration in natural areas while balancing the
local societal needs for energy resources and land? We know that carbon sequestration
in peatlands is twice that of forests globally, so how do we identify, conserve and
become effective stewards of valuable resources like peatlands and forests? How can
we expand carbon sequestration through improved utilization of the products our natural
systems provide? Our knowledge of how effective stewardship of natural areas supports
biodiversity, which in turn contributes to the resilience of natural systems, will
be critical to maintaining the services derived from natural systems. 

Understanding the interactive effects of natural and human-designed environments can
best be achieved through the development of interdisciplinary teams, which has become
a significant strength of Michigan Tech. Those spaces where we transition from resilient
natural systems to engineered environments that are vulnerable to disturbance from
extreme weather events and other causes present further challenges for the future
— and perfect opportunities for multidisciplinary teams with diverse perspectives
to address them.

*****

So, how is Michigan Tech positioned to address the monumental challenges of climate
change, the clean energy transition and the stewardship of natural ecosystems? 

As a midsized, STEM-focused institution supported by STEM-infused expertise in the
humanities, arts, social sciences and business, our multidisciplinary teams can conceive
of and deliver transformational research and instructional programs that help address
the key questions and needs of a future in a changing world. 

The outstanding researchers and educators at Michigan Tech can define specific areas
of focus as they apply their expertise in posing pertinent questions and conducting
research to address those questions. Training future leaders will also be an essential
part of Michigan Tech’s contributions to addressing these complex questions. We need
to be intentional as we consider how we train future researchers, teachers and industry
leaders to prepare people for this new world. This may result in the development of
new Ph.D. programs. It may necessitate the further removal of barriers between disciplines.
Michigan Tech can do this and more — extending our long tradition as a place where
all ideas can be shared, where diverse teams can be assembled and where we can all
contribute toward the development of new knowledge to help meet the common goals of
society.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.