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Department of Engineering

Engineering for a low carbon future: a new cross-divisional seminar series

Engineering for a low carbon future: a new cross-divisional seminar series

To raise awareness of the potential of technology to help reduce demand for energy or to maximise the efficient conversion of existing sources, we have initiated a new cross-divisional seminar series on “Engineering for a low carbon future.” The series will mainly comprise “keynote” style talks to give an overview of key themes, and aims to allow sharing of ideas between disciplines about potential step change technologies.

The 4th IPCC report published this February has firmly established the link between human activity and global warming, but discussion about responses has largely been driven by economists on the assumption of ‘average rates of improvement.’ Where technology has been discussed – for example in the UK’s Energy White Paper – it is largely in the hope that innovative technologies will create electricity supplies from non-fossil fuel sources. There is little structured information available on the potential of technology to help reduce demand for energy or to maximise the efficient conversion of existing sources, yet this area is rich in opportunities.

The series will run every second Wednesday evening from 5.00-6.00 in LT4, and includes speakers from within the Department and externally – our guest speaker in the first term will be Ernst Worrel, the lead author of the Industry section of this year’s IPCC mitigation report.

The seminar series is open to everyone in the Department and is being co-ordinated by a steering committee comprising Matthew Juniper (Division A), Richard McMahon (Division B), Hugh Shercliff (Division C), Allan McRobie (Division D), Julian Allwood (Division E), Keith Glover (Division F), Peter Guthrie (Engineering for Sustainable Development) and Philip Guildford (Director of Research.)

Engineering for a low carbon future: challenges and opportunities

Julian Allwood

Senior Lecturer - Engineering - University of Cambridge

10 October 2007

Julian Allwood's presentation slides [695k PDF file] can be dowloaded at www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/elcf

Sequestration of carbon from conventional fossil fuel power plants

Andy Woods

BP Professor - BP Institute - University of Cambridge

24 October 2007

'The weather within'; 9 Bio-climatic designs

Alan Short

Professor of Architecture - University of Cambridge

7 November 2007

Material, Energy and Climate Change

Ernst Worrell

Lead-author of the 4th IPCC Assessment Report

21 November 2007

The industrial sector emits almost 43 percent of the global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions to produce materials and products. This presentation will discuss opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions by improving the efficiency with which society uses materials through product design, material substitution, product reuse and material recycling.

Ernst Worrell (Ph.D.) is the Manager of Energy & Climate Strategies at Ecofys in The Netherlands, focusing on energy and climate strategies for industry. He has previously led energy efficiency groups at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US) and Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Worrell has prepared studies for various governments, the World Energy Council, the EC and UN. Most recently he was a lead author for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (WGIII-Industry chapter). He is the (co-)author of over 250 publications and the editor of several international journals.

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