Dr. Brian F. Snyder
About me |
Why Energy? |
I came to Louisiana in 2008 to work at LSU's Center for Energy Studies. Since then, I have conducted a variety of analyses on a wide variety of energy systems. For the past several years, my work has largely focused on a negative emissions system called biomass slurry fracture injection, but I remain active in other climate and energy systems as well.
I've been fortunate to work in LSU's Department of Environmental Science since 2016. Prior to coming to LSU, I got my B.S. from the University of Maryland and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. |
Energy is a fascinating concept that weaves its way through physics, ecology and economics. Einstein's work and the laws of thermodynamics imply that all of the energy we use on earth has been wandering around the universe for 13 billion years. When we use energy to boil water or power our cars, that ancient energy is dissipated as heat and lost. Yet, energy use on earth also means that the disorder of the universe has to increase. Sometimes, this increasing disorder is called pollution; other times it is called carbon dioxide emissions. But whatever we call it, it has profound impacts on human and non-human systems.
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The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation - well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the Second Law of Thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it to collapse in deepest humiliation - Arthur Eddington