This seminar was given on December 2, 2008 as part of the MITEI Seminar Series Abstract: The global dependence on fossil fuel is among the greatest challenges facing our economic, social and political future. The uncertainty of imported oil threatens global energy security, the pollution of fossil combustion threatens human health, and the emission of greenhouse gases threatens global climate. Meeting the demand for double the current global energy use in the next 50 years without damaging security, environment or climate requires finding alternative sources of energy that are clean, abundant, accessible and sustainable. Electricity and hydrogen, once produced, meet these criteria and are among the most versatile of energy carriers. Research challenges that would enable the production, storage, and use of electricity and hydrogen as sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel will be presented. About the Speaker: George Crabtree holds the dual rank of Argonne Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Materials Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He has won numerous awards for his research, most recently the Kammerlingh Onnes Prize in 2003 for his work on the physics of vortices in high temperature superconductors. This prestigious prize is awarded once every three years; Dr. Crabtree is its second recipient. He has won the University of Chicago Award for Distinguished Performance at Argonne twice, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Award for Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Solid State Physics four times, a notable accomplishment. He has an R&D 100 Award for his pioneering development of Magnetic Flux Imaging Systems. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a charter member of ISI’s Highly Cited Researchers in Physics, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.