Our Topic in 2024 - The Future of Power

We all have a keen interest in power - now and into the future. Our access to (relatively) affordable, reliable and secure power is fundamental to modern existence - be it for our homes, our places of work or all of the infrastructure we rely upon (manufacturing, agriculture, transport, finance, entertainment.....). There is very little that would not be severely impacted by the sudden absence of power infrastructure. As is all too apparent, though, provision of power is only half the story - we are keenly aware of the urgent need to migrate to sources of power that do not damage the environment - or at least (for the time being) are less damaging.

How did the 2024 AIP Physics in Industry Day contribute something new to this overcrowded topic?

Firstly, we set the scene with invited experts describing the situation as it currently stands. We looked at the constraints and trade-offs imposed by meeting current demands with the systems we have - and how these influence our options in the near and medium terms. We asked what needs to be done and by when to achieve Net Zero - and what does that involve when liquid fuels for transport and manufacturing are factored in.

Secondly, emerging and/or under-represented sources of generation were be presented by industry and key researchers highlighting the potential of new technology and the capacity to improve current sources before running into the limits of the laws of physics.

Thirdly, we turned the discussion around to lowering demand - and challenge the prevailing presumption that technology will somehow allow us to maintain our power consumption behaviour by solving the environmental damage problem. Does it not make much more sense to temper our consumption until clean sources come on line? We learned what options are being proposed around the world and how would they might work in Australia.

About the Physics in Industry Day:

The annual Physics in Industry Days has been an initiative to bring together researchers, industry, service providers, decision makers, educators and the general public to connect and learn around a chosen topic - either an industry sector or an area of science with significant industrial or national impact in the future. It is intended to be an informal gathering with interesting and informative speakers pitched at a level to engage with an informed general audience. Hosted at CSIRO at Lindfield, the program for the day builds in time to network as well as engage in a site tour to experience first-hand some of the research and development conducted on site by CSIRO, the National Measurement Institute (NMI) or on of the high-tech companies co-located at the Lindfield Collaboration Hub (LCH).