For my first post, I thought it would be helpful to consider this question, possibly my favourite question. This question invites us to cast our attention across all the aspects of the monstrosity that is the problem of climate change, and all the opportunities that engineers have to make a difference towards solving it. What is the most useful thing we can do with our careers? Though many if not all of the possible answers, I suspect, will be of interest to any motivated individual.
First of all, it’s important to explain my approach to this
question. We know that the pursuit of a world that maintains warming below 1.5°C
above pre-industrial levels requires changes to just about every aspect of
human civilisation. Even though the goal can be summarised simply: maintain the
natural balance of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere to maintain the
natural temperature range on which the biosphere depends - achieving this will
require attention in countless areas. These include:
·
Agriculture: According
to Eco Watch (2019), agricultural emissions account for 11% of GHG emissions
worldwide. The principal source of agricultural emissions (40%) is from methane
produced by the digestive systems of ruminant animals such as cows and sheep.
o
Agriculture also contributes
to atmospheric GHG imbalance by incentivising deforestation. This means the
destruction of the planet’s main natural carbon sinks. This is perpetuated by
the demand for 4 commodities: beef, soy, palm oil and wood (Figueres and Rivett-Carnac,
2020). So agriculture is inextricably linked to deforestation too.
·
Textile Production: The
fashion industry produces 10% of the world’s carbon emissions (McFall-Johnsen,
2019). This is likely due to its long, complex value chains with many energy-intensive
stages.
·
Power Generation:
As we know, burning fossil fuels to produce electrical power releases GHGs.
Supplying reliable, affordable and equitable power to all is not simple without
these fuels.
…To name only 3 examples. So clearly, when we ask ourselves:
“how can I best help to stop climate change”, there will not be one, simple
answer. Therefore, I have chosen to present 4 ways
to break this question down into the knowledge we would like to have to make
answering this question easier.
1. Which area or process is proving the hardest to decarbonise? That is where I am most needed.
Some carbon-intensive technologies have proven easy to
replace in developed economies, and replacing them has been quick and total.
For example, in western countries, it is no longer easy to find filament light
bulbs. They are just too energy inefficient!
Similarly, with determination and innovation, huge leaps in decarbonisation
can be made. For example, the UK has all but removed coal from its power
generation mix, and in 2019 in the third quarter, renewables produced more
power that fossil fuels for the first time (Carbon Brief, 2019).
But there is always the hard part: the figurative “final 20%”.
The areas that remain until last because they are the most difficult. Taking the
UK power grid, this is the reliability issue for the power supply. What happens
when there is no sun or wind and the power demand peaks? At present, this
scenario is dealt with by increasing the output from natural gas power plants
(Carbon Brief, 2019).
For our example, someone in the UK might decide that they want
to work on that final 20%. Energy storage, smart grids and Carbon Capture and
Storage (CCS) have all been suggested as ways to deal with that. Jobs in businesses
providing these services will hopefully become more common in the short term.
In fact, when I spoke one-to-one with a head engineer in the UK Department for Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), he gave me his personal opinion explaining
that artificial intelligence and IoT technologies will be the biggest source of
jobs for engineers concerned about climate change in the next few decades.
This is certainly my favourite way of answering our central
question of what we can do as engineers to help fight climate change. Advances
in the areas mentioned above are really crucial. Everyone is counting on them
as they are bringing solutions where none currently exist! Being part of breakthroughs
like these are iconised in movies like “Interstellar”. They are every
engineer’s dream.
2. Where do my skills lie?
It’s helpful to think where you would be able to contribute
the best. It is not unreasonable to try to find opportunities which you are the
best suited to take.
Not only that, but there are many areas where skilled
personnel are actually in short supply. For example, in the UK, there is a
shortage of electrochemical engineers, who could be important for clean water
treatment in the future (Bullen, 2020). If you have skills that will be needed
in the changes to come, that can serve as an obvious signpost towards a job
filled with important contributions.
3. Which area or process is driving climate change the most? I will put my efforts into working on that.
For example, in Israel in 2015, the sector with the greatest
emissions was Industrial Processes, within which the biggest source of
emissions was “Consumption of Halocarbons and SF6” (UNFCC, 2015). I was not
able to find out exactly what this meant, but these chemicals are potent GHGs
and their release would likely have a large impact on emissions recordings.
So, someone in Israel might think about researching where
these chemicals are most used and for what purpose. It is likely that causing changes
in industrial consumption patterns would need to come from the government
level. Many engineers find fulfilling careers in government bodies such as the
Environment Agency in the UK, where expertise is needed to properly understand
the regulated parties.
It is also noteworthy that the government can only mandate use of technologies and techniques that exist, and as such government-instigated changes require a healthy R&D sector. I am particularly inspired by the breakthrough in Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage technology that emerged from my university in Leeds. Check it out here. But R&D can also be a day-job within a company.
There are also a huge range of emissions sources that are
not easy to decarbonise at all. For example, long-range aviation. Developments
in this field will likely be very exciting and crucial (Committee on Climate
Change, 2019).
4. Finally: What do I love?
I hope by now I’ve convinced you that this problem is COMPLICATED
and its reach is unfathomable. There are so many different ways to approach it
and none of them are “more correct” than any other way. It will essentially
take effort from everyone on the planet. What that leaves is the decision in
each of our hands. Whatever your passion is, you are needed. You do not need even
need to be wearing a hard-hat. Influencing others to take notice and change
their consumption patterns and behaviour through music, for example, can also
be extremely impactful.
I mentioned a head engineer in BEIS above. Before he mentioned
to me that he thinks the biggest green career opportunities for engineers will
be in IoT and other hi-tech, he caveated insistently that WHATEVER I chose to
go into, I could make an enormous impact.
Howard Thurman put it the best: “Don’t ask what the world
needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.”
A Closing Thought
Putting my engineering hard-hat on, though, and putting
inspirational quotes aside - I cannot deny that I have noticed a pattern.
I’d like to argue that there seems to be a common thread
through all of the most high-profile breakthroughs in decarbonisation that I’ve
seen in the UK.
We know that businesses can’t create game-changing
inventions without investment and a market waiting for them. For example, no-one
will want to buy a sulphur-scrubbing unit for their coal plant until the
government has required every coal-fired power plant to do so. Otherwise they
won’t be competitive against their less environmentalist competitors.
The chicken-and-egg problem extends in the other direction,
too. Any attempt to pass new legislation based on shaky probabilities and
untested technologies will not go down well for any democratic, accountable government.
For bold and progressive policies to be accepted, the technologies they rely upon
need to be developed and proven by experts in the field.
Therefore, I would like to suggest that the biggest opportunity
to make a difference is right at the interface between the public and private
sector.
Many jobs like this exist. I was lucky enough on my
internship in BEIS this year to sit-in on an important board meeting discussing
funding for projects in home energy efficiency. They were discussing huge cash
prizes for anyone who could demonstrate a design for a home energy efficiency rating
at a certain level. If you read The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato
(do this), you will see how the government has always been at the forefront of spectacular
changes through schemes just like this one.
Conversely, careers at the interface between government and the
private sector exist in the form of trade associations such as the Renewable
Energy Association in the UK. Working in bodies like these gives you the potential
to acquire and use intimate industry knowledge to inform and influence the government.
This can nudge them to prioritise and act with the real expertise of consensa
of seasoned industry experts behind their reasoning. This is the kind of job I personally
see myself pursuing long-term.
Whatever you choose, I commend and applaud you. We are a talented
generation who really cares, and I hope to know about as many of your breakthroughs as possible. Please Gd, we should be blessed with iron
determination and abundant success in our endeavours to create a happy and
prosperous future for humanity, and preserve the natural beauty of the gift
that is our planet.
References
Bullen, C.
2020. ELECTROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION - WHAT IS THE FUTURE? Power
and Water. See https://www.powerandwater.com/news/2020-07-10-electrochemical-engineering-education-what-is-the-future
Carbon Brief.
In the third quarter of 2019, the UK’s windfarms, solar panels, biomass and
hydro plants generated more electricity than the combined output from power
stations fired by coal, oil and gas, Carbon Brief analysis reveals. See https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-renewables-generate-more-electricity-than-fossil-fuels-for-first-time#:~:text=In%20the%20third%20quarter%20of,biomass%20and%206%25%20from%20solar.
Committee on
Climate Change. 2019. Letter: International aviation and shipping and net
zero. See https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/letter-international-aviation-and-shipping/
Eco Watch,
2019. 5 Questions About Agricultural Emissions Answered. See https://www.ecowatch.com/agricultural-emissions-2639558750.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
Figueres, C.
Rivett-Carnac, T. 2020 The Future We Choose. Manilla Press.
McFall-Johnsen,
M. 2019. The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights
and maritime shipping combined. Business Insider. See https://www.businessinsider.com.au/fast-fashion-environmental-impact-pollution-emissions-waste-water-2019-10
United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). 2015. Emissions
Summary for Israel. See https://di.unfccc.int/ghg_profiles/nonAnnexOne/ISR/ISR_ghg_profile.pdf
