The U.S. National Academy of Engineering has developed a very interesting list, which did not quite turn out the way that I thought that it would. I had anticipated that carbon dioxide reduction in general would have appeared rather than the subset item concerning carbon sequestration. Sequestration is an important aspect of CO2 management, but it is only one aspect. I was also surprised that so few of the challenges are directly energy related--no hydrogen, no batteries, no sustainable management of nuclear power and waste, etc.

Anyway, given the options presented, and possibly being influenced by a presentation that I just saw at the TMS Annual Meeting, I think that I'll make "Provide Energy from Fusion" my top choice, followed closely by "Restore and Improve the Urban Infrastructure" and "Provide Access to Clean Water."

What do you think?

I have to agree that this list seems to have several on here that would, in my mind, fall far behind general energy generation and storage issues. By adding the wording "affordable" on solar it automatically moves to something that doesn't seem as "grand" as some of the other challenges. May not be true, but interesting how the wording impacted the way I looked at the list.