Cubic Mile of Oil: Realities and Options for Averting the Global Energy Crisis

Dr. Ripudaman Malhotra at the UoH

Dr. Ripudaman Malhotra, Associate Director, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, SRI International, San Francisco Bay Area, USA delivered a Guest Lecture titled “A Cubic Mile of Oil: Realities and Options for Averting the Global Energy Crisis” at Sir C. V. Raman Auditorium, University of Hyderabad on Nov. 05, 2013.

The talk aimed at exploring issues concerning energy and sustainability. The debate about energy supply has often been portrayed as a tension between the moral imperative of protecting the environment or preserving the economic interests of the energy industry. This simplistic view misses the larger challenge that we face in balancing the tension between protecting the environment and the moral imperative of improving the lives of people around the earth.

We had energy crisis in past such as the one in 1917 in US. Crisis brings with it precious opportunity to learn useful things but, unfortunately the humankind has wasted many such avenues that could have resulted in addressing some of the key energy questions effectively.

Account of My First Phase Stay (2006-11) at the University of Hyderabad

Receiving Achievers Award from Dr. Y. V. Reddy, the Former RBI Governor in presence of Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, Former VC, UoH and Prof. V. Kannan, Former Pro-VC, UoH

I’m from Rosera town in Bihar. My stay at the University of Hyderabad while pursuing my Integrated Masters Programme has been a journey to discover myself. By the time my name was shortlisted for admission interview for the Integrated Masters Programme at the UoH, I was already admitted to an engineering college at Kolkata in IT stream and my visit to Hyderabad was more to see the city than to attend my interview.

But, when I interacted with the interview board at the UoH, I got highly impressed by the infrastructure, teachers, and the course plan itself. Everyone falls in love with the natural beauty of the campus and I was no exception too. When I finally got admission in Integrated Masters Programme in Mathematical Sciences here, many people didn’t find it rational on my part to leave an engineering course in IT and join the first batch of 5-year Integrated Masters Programme in Basic Sciences at the UoH. Although, I was also not completely sure in the beginning if it was a wise decision but, very soon I was able to substantiate and justify my decision.

In initial first two years, we had courses from various streams of basic sciences, humanities and social sciences with good level of flexibility to choose courses of choice with excellent supporting infrastructure and faculty support. The course has the flexibility to completely shift to other discipline after 2 years, subject to fulfilment of curtain criteria and it’s very unique in the country. I did some courses in Economics and discovered my high interest in that discipline. After 2 years, I was allowed to shift from Mathematical Sciences to Economics; I got my final masters degree in Economics.