By Li Jing, Cao Feng
Dr. Jan van der Eijk, CTO of Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest energy and petrochemical companies, gave a speech entitled “The Global Energy Scene and Technology Innovation in the Energy Industry” at Tsinghua University on October 24, 2007.
In his speech, Dr. van der Eijk analyzed future trends in energy development. In this age of modernization, the demand for energy has been increasing together with the seriousness of environmental problems like global warming. Dr. Jan suggested that we are on the eve of what is called the energy technology revolution, in which society wants more energy sources and expects alternative sources to be developed to cope with the pollution problems. He introduced some of Shell’s new energy technology innovations, like the development of biofuel production process, to respond to this revolution. H ealso talked about other energy-related frontier issues. He stressed that a single company, like Shell, or even the whole energy industry, cannot solve all the pollution problems on its own. The private and public sectors need to assume some level of social responsibility and work together for the betterment of the environment.
Dr. Jan also shared with Tsinghua students his experience and understanding of talent cultivation and career development in the energy industry. During the Q&A session after the speech, a student asked if Shell would carry out research and development on the usage of solar energy. Dr. Jan responded by pointing out that solar energy was good but, when compared to other energy sources , like bio-fuels which Shell currently emphases, solar energy lacked the sponsorship to be the leading research candidate as the company’s leading alternative source for conventional power generation. “A company cannot simply do everything,” he added. “There are a lot of great things in this world, but you will have to choose what to do and set your goal. If you want to do everything, then eventually you will not accomplish anything.”
Another student raised an interesting question about innovative energy sources. He asked if Shell was looking into developing technologies that utilize energy sources fromouter space. Dr. Jan answered that although Shell had been renowned for its willingness to think big and far, it is impossible to put a lot of effort and money into such fields. “Because sometimes,” he continued, “thinking too far away may make you neglect the things nearby, especially in the energy industry.”
This speech was part of the series Global Vision Lectures, a new selective course launched this semester aimed at enhancing Tsinghua’s international atmosphere and widening the students’ global vision and knowledge. The Tsinghua Global Vision Lectures include two parts—the Global Leadership series and the Advanced Studies series. The Global Leadership series features such speakers as foreign state and international organization leaders, board chairmen, CEOs of international companies, overseas university presidents, and world-famous scholars. They will address topics mainly in the humanities and social sciences. The Advanced Studies series will invite renowned academic prize winners including Nobel Prize winners, Fields Medal winners, Turing Award winners, and renowned scholars to speak on cross-disciplinary knowledge, frontier studies, and recent research in related fields.
The Tsinghua Global Vision Lectures has also been incorporated into Tsinghua’s elective courses system. Students who attend eight lectures can apply for one credit.
(Photo by Guo Haijun)
