Signs for Transitioning Change - talk by Dr.Susan Krumdieck, Invercargill

Come and hear about some of the technical challenges and solutions for our future. Guest Speaker – Dr. Susan Krumdieck, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury.

Thank you to Southland Forest and Bird for organising Susan's visit to Invercargill.

Entry by koha.

"I am now pretty sure that the only thing left to do is change." - Dr Susan Krumdieck

From Dr Susan Krumdieck:

I gave my first lecture on climate change and future energy supply issues in 1985 to a group of high school teachers doing a summer course at the university.  At time, it seemed to me that we needed to understand the problems, and then the solutions would naturally follow.  I did research in wind, solar, bio-fuels and fuel cells.  I worked professionally in energy management and energy efficiency.  I am now pretty sure that the only thing left to do is change.  Change is not a problem for us, we do it constantly.  But the transition engineering required for the changes which are inevitable and essential is immature.  My passion is to move the engineering profession to be the provisioners of sustainability in all our built systems in the most rapid time frame possible.

Will the development patterns of the next 70 years be a continuation of the trends from the past 70 years? Even five years ago, when the oil price was $25 a barrel, a price of $80 a barrel would have been hard to imagine.  And yet here we are, with no real choice about the price, still driving petrol cars and diesel trucks, despite interest in bio-fuels and hybrid vehicles and hype about hydrogen and electric cars.  The Advanced Energy and Material Systems Lab has been conducting research into both understanding future conditions, and into developing engineering tools for adaptation. Our research is providing analysis tools that help us understand the context for infrastructure investment and land use planning, particularly in transport and energy.  This presentation will give some of our results about future resource supplies and technology development.  I will also show several examples of our work that addresses community response and council planning.